Toe, toe, toe, toe. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. Slap ball change, slap ball change, slap ball change, slap ball change. ‘I think I’ve got it,’ I whispered to the back of Paige’s head. She turned around at the barre and gave me a quick smile before switching to do all the steps on her left. ‘Unfortunately it gets a little harder than this,’ she whispered. ‘What?’ I said, because the sound of twenty kids tapping can get pretty loud. ‘It gets harder than this,’ she repeated, louder. ‘But you’re a natural, Ellie, you’ll be fine.’ So far I was breezing through my trial tap class. I was lined up with other kids, doing warm-ups in unison. What a terrific sound! It made me remember 42nd Street, and I got so excited that I mucked up the timing on my steps. Focus, Ellie, I told myself. You’re here to learn and to see how quickly you can master this tap thing. You can dream of fame and fortune later. Lucky I did focus, because things got harder pretty much straight away.
