Peter looks at his sister’s legs, clad in white tights which appear much thicker than his pop socks. “Aren’t they warm?” he asks.

“Not really.” Sally replies as she put her foot on the bench and runs her hand over her stockinged leg. “They’re nicer than pop socks.” she adds.

 

With a little prompt from their mother, Peter follows his sister to her room where she routes out a pair of tights for him. She lifts her skirt to show him they should go ‘under’ his leotard.

“I know!” he blushes.

She asks him if he knows how to put tights on, before demonstrating how to gather them up to the toe and to pull them on carefully, “Otherwise you’ll ladder them.”

 

Peter goes to his room and strips down to his underpants. He carefully pulls on the tights, followed by his leotard and skirt before he finally slides his stockinged feet into the tap shoes. His mother is the first to see him and she tells him he looks ‘sweet’. His sister asks him how they feel. “Well… they are a bit strange… but quite nice I guess.” he replies, looking down at himself.

 

“I’ll buy you some of your own for next week.” his mother suggests.

“Aren’t they expensive?” Peter asked.

“Not at all.” his mother smiled. “The shoes are but we can easily afford a leotard and some tights.”

 

Peter does feel a little embarrassed being dressed as a girl. But he did feel like he did fit in at his first tap class… and as his sister and the dance teacher said, the other girls accepted him because he wasn’t dressed as a boy. “OK.” Peter timidly said.

 

The following Saturday, Peter and his sister go to their tap class and Peter attends wearing his sister’s old tap shoes and his own leotard, circle skirt and tights. He was self conscious at first but the girls didn’t seem at all bothered. In fact half of them said it was nice to see him back, which left Peter feeling warm inside.

The class is more or less the same; starting with a warm up and stretching, followed by a variety of basic routines. Miss Baxter claps the timing and shouts instructions, frequently reminding Peter to concentrate on keeping his head still. It’s easier said than done when ones feet are tapping away, but he tries his best.

After a short break, Miss Baxter drags a very large bag from the store room. “Right girls.” she announces, pulling the bag open. “We’ll do some pompom practice for the last half hour… so if you each grab a pair, we’ll get started.”

“Pompoms?!” Peter quizzes as he and Sally approach what looks like a huge pile of tinsel.

“Yes, pompoms.” Sally grins.

Back in line, Peter looks the reflection of the four rows of dancing girls, each holding a pair of big pompoms. “Now follow my lead girls!” Miss Baxter says, before pressing play in the cassette player.

Peter soon realises that dancing with pompoms is harder than it looks. Miss Baxter walks over and gives him some one-to-one tuition, “Follow my lead Peter, and don’t forget about your feet.” she says. He tries to keep up but struggles to do one thing with his feet and another with his arms. “Concentrate on the steps but don’t forget about your arms.” she reminds him. “Head up Peter… and remember, the mirror is your friend.”

Peter knows he has a habit of looking down. He looks straight ahead at his own reflection; one of many girls in a bouncy skirt, waving his pompoms as best he can. He drops his head again to concentrate on his footwork, but Miss Baxter shouts “Head up Peter!” After the pompom practice, Peter confesses to Sally that that was really hard.

Once the class is over, Miss Baxter approaches Peter and says she’s pleased he decided to return, and wanted to double check that he was happy dressing as a girl.

“It makes sense.” Peter replied, before telling her that his mother had bought him his own leotard, skirt and tights.

“Oh!” Mrs Baxter seemed surprised. “I thought you’d worn the one I’d left in the changing room for you.” she said. Peter bashfully shook his head. “As long as you’re happy, I’m happy… just don’t get offended if I forget you’re a boy and refer to the whole class as ‘girls’, which I do tend to do.” she smiled.

 

Peter felt himself blushing and said it was OK.

Miss Baxter then offered him some constructive criticism. “Whilst your foot work is excellent, you need to be more aware of your upper body. Your head and arms are all over the place, so you need to concentrate on being graceful as well as rhythmic.”
“I know… I can’t help but look at my feet half the time.” he replies.

“Yes I noticed.. but remember you can see your feet perfectly well in the mirror.” she advises. “..along with the rest of your body. Grace is everything so if you’re looking directly ahead, you’re halfway to being graceful”

“OK.”

“I think part of the problem is that you’re a little bit scared of your reflection.” Miss Baxter suggests. “The best advice I can give you is, don’t by shy when you look in the mirror and see a girl reflected instead of a boy. Be proud and keep that head up.”

 

The sound of heels on parquet grabbed both Peter and miss Baxter’s attention. “Hi Peter… how was class?” his mother asked.

“Good.” he sheepishly replied. “I need to work on being more graceful.”

Miss Baxter and Peter’s mother were already acquainted. They greeted each other before Peter’s mother asked how he was getting on. “Very well.” Miss Baxter replied. “You have two very talented children.” she complimented.

“Thank you.” his mother replied bashfully. She told Peter to find his sister and then get changed, before turning back to Miss Baxter. “I just wanted to check he was getting on OK and that you’re happy to have a boy in amongst all these girls.” she said, glancing around and wondering which was her son, then spotting him chatting with a group girls.

“He seems to be getting on fine… leaps and bounds as far as his dancing is concerned.” Miss Baxter replied. “And he seems to be fitting in perfectly with the girl’s.” she said.

“I hope so.” his mother replied, glancing around too. “He’s the only boy I guess?”

“Yes.” Miss Baxter replied. “It’s a pity not many boys attend, and those who do don’t stay long.” she said with a hint of reluctance. “Maybe if they tried to fit in like Peter does, it’d be different.”

“Yes.” his mother said.

After a brief silence, Miss Baxter asked, “So, how do you feel about Peter attending?” she paused, “I mean, attending dressed as a girl?”

“Well it’s a little unusual… but as long as he’s happy.” she replies. “It’s nice he and Sally have got something in common for once.”

“And you’re happy for him to attend as one of the girls?” Miss Baxter asked.

 

“Of course. I wouldn’t have bought him a leotard and skirt if I wasn’t.” his mother replied, trying to spot both her son and daughter amongst the various groups of girls. All of them are identical in their black tap shoes, white tights, black leotards and tiny flared skirts. “How does she tell them apart?” she thought before spotting Peter and Sally by the changing rooms, both looking just like the other girls; all legs and leotards. “He’s been practising at home a fair bit… have you any advice on where he can improve?”

“He seems a little reluctant to work with the mirror.” Miss Baxter adds. “I think seeing himself dressed as a girl is a little off putting… he keeps dropping his head, then his arms go all akimbo.”

“Well I suppose it’ll take a little getting used to… but he does seem comfortable enough.” his mother replies. “I’ve even started wondering what to do with his hair. He really needs a trim but I’m thinking I should let it grow a little more then he could tie it up in bunches.” she chuckled,  not sure if she was joking or not.