Pirouette by Susan Scarlett

Author:Susan Scarlett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dean Street Press
Published: 2022-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

The company gathered round the notice board. They read the casting, The Match Girl, The Flame, The Angel of Death, The Goose, The Old Man, A Prostitute, A Bleeding Man, A Crying Woman, Fire Dancers, Children, Angels. They moved away in gossiping groups. Nadia was left alone. It was a large cast but her name was not on the list. She was proud and self-controlled, but a lump came into her throat and her eyes were full of tears. She was not on in the next ballet; she went slowly up the stairs thinking that perhaps she would find a corner to herself for a minute or two to get over her disappointment. Judith was not on in the next ballet either. She was hurrying down the stairs to tell Bill to tell Mummy that she would be as quick as possible after the curtain for she had wonderful news for her. She met Nadia face to face. Nadia had no time to disguise her feelings. It was as if all she felt were naked for Judith to see. Judith stopped dead. How awful, how awful to be Nadia! Nadia was not on the list! How miserable of her not to have thought about her. Not that she could have said anything, Nadia was not the sort to like sympathy. Nadia, caught unawares, spoke almost without thinking, the words torn out of her.

“She’s pushing me out. She’s given that new girl who’s only been out of the school six months a part, and she’s as tall as I am.”

Judith forgot about herself and her eagerness to tell Mummy the good news. She slipped her arm through Nadia’s.

“Come into my room.”

The two girls went into the dressing-room. Coq d’Or was being danced, the three girls who dressed with Judith were on the stage. Nadia struggled for self-control, but could not catch hold of it. Suddenly her head was down on the dressing-table and she was sobbing. Words burst from her.

“Don’t think I’m jealous, I’m not—I’m a fool to care—I’ve known it was coming—I haven’t minded being kept in the corps de ballet, I’ve always said wait till they put on the next new ballet, you’ll get a chance—nothing, nothing at all, not even in the twelve fire dancers. I’ve always been one of that twelve, anyway.”

Judith could offer no comfort. Nadia always had been one of the twelve. In being left out of this cast list she had not just been passed over, she had been pushed backwards. It would be insulting to her intelligence to suggest anything else. Judith stood by Nadia, her face racked with pity, but she did not dare to touch her, she might resent that. Presently Nadia raised her face. She looked in the glass.

“God! Look at my make-up! I was an ass to make a fool of myself, now I’ll have to do my face over again before Aurora.” She looked at Judith. “I haven’t congratulated you. I’m glad you’ve got the part, you deserve it, but it’s going to be a nasty knock for Paul.

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