The kid who played the school teacher took the first curtain call, followed by the kids who’d played the pupils. Then one by one, those of us playing their dream doubles take the stage one final time; Teresa first. Then Mark with his trophy and laurel leaf. Then me with my bouquet of flowers. I performed a big dramatic curtsey and am given a second bouquet. I wasn’t expecting that! I take my place with the others and stand smiling as Mary, Brian, Rose, Robert and finally Susan take their curtain call. Susan gets by far the biggest applause because her space station scene is by far the most impressive. I’m a bit annoyed when she takes a bow… but I guess performing a curtsey in her spacesuit would be quite difficult. The stage crew take to the stage and get another round of applause, followed by Miss York; writer, director, drama teacher. The curtains closes. The applause continues. The curtains open once more and we bow and curtsey on last time. I glad it’s all finally over. But I know it’s not.
There’s a buffet in the gymnasium where there’s also a display of production sketches and photographs. Myself and the others are ushered through and are greeted by class mates, teachers and family members. Mum wastes no time in finding me and telling me how wonderful I was, and much to my surprise my old ballet teacher Miss Corelli is present. “Your routine was delightful Peter!” she gushes. “I almost burst into tears when you went on pointe… it was simply spellbinding!”
I’m sure she’s over exaggerating but I smiled and thanked her. She doubly impressed to learn that it was mostly my own choreography and that I’d learned the short pointe routine without a tutor. My feelings are mixed between pride and complete embarrassment. Whilst plenty of people approach and congratulate me, most of the attention in this meet and greet was on Susan’s space suit. Some of those who talk to me are a little taken aback to discover that I’m not a girl. I must have reiterated the tale that I was supposed to be a male dancer a dozen times. “I think it’s lovely that he played a ballerina instead of a ballet dancer.” my mother gushed to a small group of parents and pupils. “I only found out myself last night.”
“It was a last minute compromise… it was either that or drop the scene altogether.” Miss York told them. She explained that in she wanted to challenge the stereotype that ballet is for girls, “…a bit like Billy Elliot. Having a girl dreaming of becoming a dancer felt like a cliché but, that’s what we ended up with.” she smiled and looked me up and down.
“Having a boy play the ballerina does challenge some stereotypes.” Mum replied.
They both cast their eyes over me. “Yes I suppose it does.” Miss York smiled. “I hadn’t thought of that.” Everyone seemed to just stare at me for a few seconds. I’ve had this costume on for about five hours and there’s no getting used to how exposed it makes me feel. “Are you cold?” Miss York asks.
“No I er… just don’t know where to put my arms.” I replied. “I can only stand like a capital A for so long.” I told them as I demonstrated the only alternative to folding my arms and huddling myself. They chuckle. I suggest putting a couple of holes in the tutu to put my arms through. They chuckle some more before the small cluster falls silent. I glanced around and Teresa caught my eye. She beckoned me over so I sheepishly sauntered over. She was chatting with Rose and her parents but left them to meet me halfway. “I can’t get used to you being that tall.” I said. Her heels must be at least three inches high, putting her a good two inches above me.
“How tall are you when you do that tippy-toe thing?” she asked.
“I dunno.” I said. “I can’t wait to get out of this.”
“I bet you can’t.” she smiled. “You’ve been flashing your bum to like… everyone!” she grinned.
I grimaced and glanced around. “I know… I can’t help it.” I replied. “…and on Monday at school, everyone’s going to be like… I saw your bum on Saturday.” I whined. “Thankfully there’s only one week of term left and they’ll have forgotten about it after the summer.” I optimistically added.
“Until they start editing the footage for the DVD.” she said. “I’m quite excited about it.” she added, before explaining further. Apparently they’d kept the covert cameras secret so we didn’t get doubly nervous but it turns out that they’d put a number of ‘action-cams’ hidden on and around the stage in order to produce a DVD of the show.
“You’re kidding!” I gasped after learning that next term’s media studies class will be using the footage to learn video editing techniques. I nervously glanced around as I imagined the footage of me not only being part of the curriculum, but probably leaked and put on YouTube too so my cousins and… I don’t even want to think about it.