Delphie and the Glass Slippers. Darcey Bussell

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      Madame Za-Za sighed. “I am tired. Sometimes I wonder if I am getting too old for all of this.” She swept her hand around the dance studio.

      Delphie stared at her. “You’re not too old! Of course you’re not!” Madame Za-Za had greying hair and there were a few wrinkles around the corners of her eyes but she could still dance really well and she was very elegant and beautiful. “You’ve got to keep teaching ballet!” Delphie said.

      “Maybe it is just because it is my birthday next week that I am thinking like this,” Madame Za-Za spoke gently. “I will be another year older – another year will have passed.” She looked affectionately at Delphie. “Do not worry about me though, child.”

      Delphie joined Poppy and Lola feeling very worried.

      “What was Madame Za-Za talking about?” Lola asked.

      “I’ll tell you when we get to Poppy’s,” said Delphie.

      Back at Poppy’s house the three girls hurried up to her bedroom. “So what’s going on with Madame Za-Za?” Lola asked.

      Delphie sat down cross-legged on Poppy’s large double bed and told her friends what Madame Za-Za had said.

      “But she can’t give up teaching!” said Poppy.

      “No way. We won’t let her!” said Lola.

      “She didn’t exactly say she would give up teaching,” said Delphie. “Only that she was weary of it all. But maybe we can do something that will make her remember how good it is.”

      “Like what?” demanded Lola.

      They all thought hard for a moment and then Delphie’s eyes widened. “Perhaps we could try and cheer her up by learning a special dance? She said it was her birthday next week – we could perform it then. It would be our way of saying thank you for teaching us and telling her how much we love her classes.”

      “Oh yes!” breathed Poppy.

      “That’s a cool plan,” said Lola. “We could try and work something out now?”

      “Great!” said Delphie.

      They began to talk about what music they could use and what dance they could do. It was hard to choose.

      “I think Swan Lake!” said Lola. “We could all be swans.”

      “It’s not very birthday-like though, is it?” said Poppy, just as her mum called them all for tea.

      They sat down at the table. “How about we do a dance from The Nutcracker?” said Delphie. “We could use the music from The Land of Sweets.”

      They all nodded. “Let’s try and make up a dance after tea,” said Lola.

      But when they tried, the music from The Land of Sweets seemed very fast and they kept losing track of where they were, and all ended up doing different things at different times.

      “This isn’t working,” sighed Delphie. “If we show this to Madame Za-Za it’ll be sure to make her want to give up teaching altogether!”

      “Delphie! Lola! Your mums are here!” Poppy’s mother called up the stairs.

      “Let’s all think about it tonight and phone each other tomorrow,” Delphie suggested.

      “Good plan.” Poppy nodded as she waved Delphie and Lola off from the house.

      Delphie ran down the steps and into her mother’s waiting car. As she sat in the back seat on the way home, she stared out of the window. She so wanted them to perform something special for Madame Za-Za to make her smile. But what?

       2 Off to Enchantia!

      Delphie was still thinking about it when she went to bed that night and finally fell asleep. When she woke a little while later, the house was in darkness and quiet apart from a faint tinkling sound. Delphie’s eyes flew to the end of her bed. Her red ballet shoes that were hanging there were sparkling and glowing. Delphie’s heart leapt. Her friends in Enchantia needed her!

      Jumping up, she started to put on the shoes, wondering what was happening. She was only ever whisked to Enchantia when there was a problem. Where would she go? Would it be to the theatre, which was the entrance to the magical world, or maybe she would go to Princess Aurelia’s palace again? Excitement raced through Delphie as she crossed the ribbons around her ankles and tied them. She couldn’t wait to find out!

      As she finished tying the last ribbon she started to twirl round. The shoes spun her faster and faster until she was twirling in a haze of rainbow colours. She felt herself being lifted up and then coming down again. As her feet met the ground, the swirl of colours vanished and she opened her eyes.

      She was standing in a dimly lit room, which had a wonky table, a little stool, a threadbare rug and a small hard bed. It didn’t look like the beautiful royal palace and it certainly wasn’t the theatre. So where was she?

      Hearing the sound of crying, Delphie looked around. Behind her there was a fireplace with a few old embers glowing in the grate. A beautiful girl with long blonde hair was sitting beside it. She was wearing a ragged brown dress, an old shawl and she had a golden locket around her neck. She was so busy crying she hadn’t seen Delphie.

      “Um… hello,” Delphie said.

      The girl gasped. “Who are you?” She scrambled to her feet tucking the locket quickly inside her clothes.

      “I’m Delphie.”

      The girl looked at Delphie’s ballet shoes. “Of course. You’re the girl with the red ballet shoes! Oh, have you come to help me?”