Showtime! (12 page)

“Watch your legs on the back
attitude
,” Toni reminded them. “And I want to see emotion in your faces—not just in your bodies. Clear?”

Scarlett heard the emcee announce their number: “Please welcome the Dance Divas performing a Broadway-style dance entitled ‘The Untouchables'!”

Red lights flashed and sirens shrieked as Scarlett and Rochelle raced onstage and “stole” bags of money from the bank safe. They leaped across the floor, narrowly “escaping” Gracie, the policeman, who cartwheeled from one end of the stage to the other.

Liberty and Bria
pirouetted
in perfect synch,
their fringed skirts spinning wildly. At the end of the number, the four girls burst out of the bank safe and fired confetti cannons at the audience. A net suddenly fell from the ceiling, “capturing” the criminals. Gracie did a front walkover and raised her hands over her head in victory.

The audience jumped to their feet in a standing ovation. “That was awesome!” Rochelle said breathlessly as they took their bows. Scarlett agreed. It was by far the best dance routine the Divas had ever performed. But would it be enough to beat City Feet?

The judges deliberated for thirty minutes before summoning all the contestants to the stage to announce the results. Scarlett felt strangely calm. She knew they had done their very best, and that meant more than any trophy or title.

“In the Petite Solo category, first place goes to ‘Leapfrog,' by Mandy Hammond from City Feet Dance Studio!” Mandy hopped back onstage and claimed her prize.

Scarlett saw the disappointment on Gracie's face.

“She probably has warts, Gracie,” she joked. “Get it? Frog? Warts?”

Anya took first place for Teen Solo. That was two top titles already for City Feet.

“Next up, the Junior Solo awards,” said the announcer.

Liberty hung her head. “I'm never gonna win,” she said. Scarlett had never seen her act humble.

“Don't say that.” She tried to reassure Liberty. “It was just a silly wardrobe malfunction. Every star has them.”

Liberty looked into her eyes. “Yeah, but I'm not a star,” she said softly. “My mom wants me to be, but I'm not Katy Perry or Beyoncé.”

“Not even Lady Gaga?” Rochelle teased.

“No,” Liberty replied. Scarlett saw there were tears in her eyes. She put an arm around her.

“No, you're not. You're Liberty—and we like you just the way you are.”

“We do?” Rochelle asked.

Scarlett shot her a look. “We do. Right, Divas?”

They all nodded and hugged. The emcee was
holding the envelope in his hand with the first-place winner inside. “No matter what happens, Liberty, you have us on your team,” Scarlett said.

“In first place, in the Junior Solo division, ‘Jackpot,' by Liberty Montgomery, Dance Divas Studio!”

Liberty looked positively shocked. Scarlett practically had to drag her to her feet to accept her trophy. But once the crown was on her head, the announcer had a hard time getting her to leave the stage so he could read the duo results!

“Please take a seat, Liberty,” he said into the mike. “Liberty, thank you. Please sit down!” Liberty blew kisses to the audience and reluctantly sat back down.

Since Dance Divas had no duos, Scarlett was barely paying attention when the emcee read, “In third place, Junior Duo, Gracie and Scarlett Borden, ‘Watch Out, World—Here I Come!'—Dance Divas Studio!”

“What?” She gasped. “We won for
Duo?
Gracie, did you hear that? We won!”

“You guys were a great sister act.” Rochelle beamed. “Now go get your trophy.”

Gracie ran up to the emcee and practically yanked the trophy from his hands. “Look! My first dance trophy!” she told Scarlett. “I mean,
ours
.”

Scarlett bent over and gave her a hug. “Nope, you deserve this one all by yourself for being so brave. And there'll be lots more. Just wait and see!”

Once all the individual prizes had been awarded, it was time for the group titles. This was the moment that all the dance coaches had been waiting for. Both Toni and Justine were sitting in the front row. This time, Scarlett had no trouble reading her teacher's face. It was beaming with pride and confidence.

Third place went to a Pittsburgh dance company. “No surprise there.” Rochelle sniffed. “They have their own TV show!” When the judge opened the next envelope, he looked surprised.

“Well, I have never seen this in a National competition before,” he said. “Only one-tenth of
a point separates our first-and second-place winners.”

Scarlett closed her eyes and held her breath. Gracie leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Let's both make a wish on our Lucky Stars.”

“In second place: ‘Frenemies Forever,' City Feet Dance Studio. And in first place: ‘The Untouchables,' Dance Divas Studio!”

The audience went wild. Miss Toni hugged and congratulated all the Dance Divas moms in the audience.

The trophy was over five feet tall—taller than Gracie—and it weighed a ton. It took all five girls to lift it in the air.

Mandy, Anya, Phoebe, and the rest of the City Feet team offered a congratulatory cheer: “Two-four-six-eight, who do we appreciate? DIVAS! DIVAS! DANCE DIVAS!”

“That's nice,” Bria said. But she spoke too soon. Mandy climbed on top of a pyramid of her teammates and added, “Eight-six-four-two, next time we are beating you! CITY FEET! CITY FEET! Go, CITY FEET!”

Liberty rolled her eyes. “Let 'em bring it. We're the best dance team in the country—and we've got the trophy to prove it.”

“You don't need a trophy to prove it.” Miss Toni had joined them onstage to celebrate. “I knew it all along.”

As the girls packed their bags and boarded the bus, Scarlett couldn't help feeling a little sad that the competition was over. As nerve-racking as it had been, it had brought the team even closer together. Liberty even let Gracie nap on her poodle pillow pet.

Their first-place trophy took up an entire seat next to Miss Toni.

“I'm looking forward to a little R & R now that this is all over,” Liberty's mom said. “Maybe a vacation in Saint Barts . . . or Saint-Tropez?”

“I'm looking forward to sleeping in late tomorrow!” Scarlett's mom added. “How about you, Toni?”

Toni let her hair down out of her tight ballet
bun. “I'm taking a few winks on the way home,” she replied. “We start rehearsals for the next competition bright and early tomorrow morning.”

The moms all groaned, but Scarlett smiled. There was no place in the world she would rather be than at Dance Divas Studio.

Arabesque:
a move where the dancer stands on one leg with the other leg extended behind her at 90 degrees.

Attitude:
a pose in which one leg is raised in back or in front with the knee bent.

Battement:
a quick kick either high (grand battement) or low (petit battement).

Chaîné:
a series of quick turns.

Développé:
a move where the dancer unfolds her leg in the air.

Fouetté:
a turning step where the leg whips out to the side.

Grand jeté:
a large forward leap in the air that looks like a flying split.

Pirouette:
a turn on one leg with the other leg behind.

Rond de jambe:
a move where the dancer makes halfcircles with one leg.

Sauté:
a jump using one or two legs.

Sheryl Berk
is a proud ballet mom and a
New York Times
bestselling author. She has collaborated with numerous celebrities on their memoirs, including Britney Spears,
Glee
's Jenna Ushkowitz, and
Shake It Up
's Zendaya. Her book with Bethany Hamilton,
Soul Surfer
, hit #1 on the
New York Times
bestseller list and became a major motion picture. She is also the author of The Cupcake Club book series with her ten-year-old daughter, Carrie.

Two to Tango

(coming soon)

Copyright © 2013 by Sheryl Berk

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

First published in the United States of America in September 2013
by Bloomsbury Children's Books
www.bloomsbury.com

This electronic edition published in September 2013

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury Children's Books, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Berk, Sheryl.
Showtime! / by Sheryl Berk.
pages cm. — (Dance Divas ; #1)
Summary: Drama ensues for the Dancing Divas, a team of eight-to twelve-year-old girls
who live to dance, as they rehearse in the studio and travel all around competing for titles.
[1. Dance teams—Fiction. 2. Dance—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.B45236Sh 2013     [Fic]—dc23     2013006300

eISBN: 978-1-6196-3183-0

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