Broadway Baby Read Free Page A

sounds the different steps make, and let my feet copy them. Sometimes if you get caught up in stuff like what this leg is doing and where that foot is supposed to go,you mess yourself up. You have a really good understanding of rhythm, so maybe focusing on the sound is what you should do.’
    I thought about that. I closed my eyes and listened to the beats of the taps: how some brushed, some scraped, some were solid thunks, and some were very light and brisk. Then I opened my eyes and watched how everyone’s feet struck the floor, and what sounds were made when they did.
    I squeezed Paige’s hand back. ‘Thanks,’ I said to her.
    Still, as the line rolled round to me, I felt the pressure to get it right building. It was like waiting to be pelted in the face with rotten fruit.
    Don’t think about it too much , I repeated silently to myself. Just do it, and see what happens.
    My turn.
    Two sounds , my mind chanted. A wing is two sounds. Out in, out in, scrape tap, scrape tap; out in, out in, scrape tap, scrape tap.
    Over and over in my head I said it until eventually my feet came into rhythm with my words, and I was doing it without thinking. No, the sound wasn’t as crisp as Paige’s steps, which came right after mine, but they were still there!
    I began to feel that, maybe, this wouldn’t be so impossible after all.
    My feelings and confidence got stronger when we had to do shuffle-toe-heel turns across the room. I caught sight of myself in the mirror, turning and tapping like I’d been doing it for ages. My imagination put a top hat on my head, shiny black tap shoes with pink bows on my feet, and a tailcoat costume that glittered and caught the light as I spun.
    I could do it. Tonight I would get Mum to ring the number on the flyer and book me an audition. And if I didn’t get in, at least I’d know I tried.
    But I really wanted to get in. And not just in the chorus. The starring role! I wanted to be Jane, who is one of the children Mary Poppins comes to look after.
    I was so busy dreaming about this that I came out of a turn and ran into the girl in front of me.
    â€˜Sorry, Violet,’ I muttered.
    â€˜That’s what you spot for,’ sassed Violet, but before I could give her a lashing of the Ellie attitude, Paige appeared at my side. Her blonde curls, angelic face and baby-powder smell straight away calmed me down.
    â€˜Killing it.’ Paige grinned at me. ‘Who knows, maybe one day we’ll be doing tap duos together?’
    â€˜Maybe.’ I laughed.
    But in my mind, I was already beyond tap duos. I was the tapping queen of Broadway.
    Only an audition stood in my way.

Chapter Six
    Nibble, nibble, nibble.
    Stop that.
    A big chip of nail polish came off my nails, which I’d painted pink especially for the occasion.
    The occasion being the audition, of course.
    I’d booked it!
    And now I was here!
    I’d filled out my form and handed it in. (I may have lied about how much experience I had, but who doesn’t? You don’t get a leading role by being a nobody.) Now I was waiting for the group audition, where we would learn a short tap sequence and a musical theatre number, which we would then perform for the director and the two choreographers of the shows (Billie and the tap teacher).
    The auditions were being held at a function centre in the city, but the actual rehearsals would be held at Silver Shoes. I took that as a good omen. To make myself feel less nervous, I imagined I really was going to audition for a big Broadway show in the 1920s.
    There I went, walking down an alley to the building’s side entrance, in a coat with a fur collar and a pretty hat with my pin curls poking out. When the porter held the dooropen for me I would say, ‘Why, thank you, sir’ and ‘Oh golly, well, I never’ and give him a sweet look with my big long lashes that fluttered like butterfly kisses whenever I blinked or closed my