Cool Competition (Pointe Perfect Book #1)

By Natalia Heaney

‘The new girl is called Sarah. And she’s better than me.’

Jessica Hamilton has two goals for the year 1997:
#1 Get promoted to the advanced ballet class.
#2 Dance the Winter Fairy solo in Cinderella.
Everything is going well, and it looks like she might earn both her dreams – and then a new girl arrives at the ballet school and changes everything.
Extra competition is the last thing Jessica needs, and just like that her goals seem far out of reach. No matter what she does, Sarah Webster does it better.
And right when things couldn’t get any worse at ballet, disaster strikes at school, too.
Suddenly it seems like it’ll be hard enough simply surviving the year. However, maybe, just maybe... luck will turn back on Jessica’s side.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Natalia Heaney
• Release date: Sep 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463390252

Natalia Heaney

Coming from a family that includes elite ballet dancers, state champion gymnasts, a nationally-ranked Irish dancer, and a national champion martial artist, Natalia Heaney knows a thing or two about growing up in exceptional circumstances!After hanging up her pointe shoes she completed a university degree in professional writing and English literature, but always kept her love of the theatre.Natalia has lived and worked around the world, but calls Australia home.You can find her on Goodreads, Twitter, and Tumblr, and at nataliaheaney.wordpress.com.

Book preview

Cool Competition

by

Natalia Heaney

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2018 Natalia Heaney

Table of Contents

Author’s Note

Glossary: Ballet Terms

Glossary: Australian English

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

About the Author

Also by Natalia Heaney

Step About: Chapter One

Friends and Rivals (Pointe Perfect #2): Chapter One

Author’s Note

Dear Reader:

Have you ever noticed that when things are going terribly, people try to tell you it’s all going to work out? Have you ever felt like you’re so far away from achieving your dreams that there’s no point even trying anymore?

Young dancers and athletes go through lots of ups and downs in their training, but sometimes the downs can be so big they’re almost impossible to cope with.

This is exactly what happens to ballet dancer Jessica Hamilton in Cool Competition. It’s not just one thing that goes wrong for her in her quest to dance her first ever solo role, but many things. However, no matter what goes wrong, and no matter how down she might feel, quitting isn’t an option.

I hope you enjoy this first book following Jessica through the last few years of her training at an elite ballet school, as she works hard to achieve her dream of becoming a professional dancer.

Natalia Heaney

Glossary: Ballet Terms

Arabesque: A ballet position where the dancer lifts one leg behind them while balancing on the opposite foot.

Backstage: The areas behind the stage. This includes the dressing rooms and the wardrobe department and the kitchen and relaxation areas.

Ballon: Having light movement in jumps. Dancers might refer to someone as having good ballon if they can jump high.

Barre: The rail that runs around the walls of a ballet studio. Dancers use it in the first half of a ballet class, in order to help with their balance while they work on their technique. The barre is often, but not always, wooden.

Bump-In: When a company moves into a theatre to perform. The term generally refers to the sets and costumes being moved into backstage, and the dancers and crew setting up the stage as they need it.

Corps de Ballet: The ensemble of a ballet company, like the chorus.

Demi-Pointe: When a dancer balances on the balls of their feet, with their heels off the floor.

Downstage: The part of the stage closest to the audience. Stages in the past used to be raked (tilted) a little bit so audiences could see the action at the back.

En Pointe: When a dancer (almost always female) wears special shoes to dance on the tips of her toes. A dancer often begins to dance en pointe at about twelve years old – but never before their teacher has given them permission!

Frappé: Often performed at the barre, a striking movement of the foot.

Jeté: A type of ballet leap. In a grand jeté a dancer might jump into splits in the air.

Marking: When a dancer conserves energy by walking through steps instead of dancing them.

Matinée: A performance held during the day, usually in the afternoon.

Partnering: See Pas de Deux.

Pas de Deux: A step of two – a dance performed by two people, usually a man and a woman. This is where you will see the woman being lifted in the air by the man.

Pirouette: One of a number of spinning moves performed by a ballet dancer.

Pointe Shoes: The ballet shoes worn by female dancers when they dance on the tips of their toes. The tips of the shoes are made of a thin layer of papier-mâché (not wood, like many mistakenly think!).

Port de Bras: the carriage of the arms – the positions and the use of arms while dancing.

Prompt/Opposite Prompt: The two sides of a stage. Also called stage left and stage right.

Side of Stage: The dark areas on the sides of the stage where the crew members stand, and where the dancers wait before they go on.

Soft Shoes: The shoes both female and male dancers wear when not dancing en pointe. Today these shoes are usually made of canvas, but in the past they were often leather.

Stage Door: The entrance to backstage. This is where the performers and the behind the scenes staff enter the theatre. It is also where fans wait to collect autographs after the performance.

Turnout: the outward rotation of the legs from the hips. This is what makes a dancer’s feet point outwards, and what makes a ballet dancer so distinctive.

Upstage: The part of the stage farthest from the audience. Stages in the past used to be raked (titled) a little bit so audiences could see the action at the back.

Wardrobe Mistress: The woman in charge of costumes (there can also be a Wardrobe Master to look after the male dancers).

Wings: The divided spaces on the side of the stage that dancers enter and exit from.

Woollies: Close-fitting knitted clothing dancers wear over their leotards and tights to keep warm.

Glossary: Australian English

Help with some of the terms used in this book!

Biro: A commonly used word for a ballpoint pen.

Boiled Sweet: the Australian and British term for hardy candy.

Car Park: Parking lot in America.

Chips: Australians call both hot chips (American French fries) and the snack food chips.

College: A senior high that students attend for their final two years of school.

First Floor: In a building, this is the first level up. In America, this is known as the second floor.

Ground Floor: As in Britain and Ireland, this is the ground level of a building. In America it would be called the first floor.

High School: In Australia, high school begins in Year Seven (when students are twelve and thirteen).

Maths: Outside North America, mathematics is shortened to maths.

Metric System: Like most countries, Australia uses the metric system for measurements, and measures temperatures in Celsius. (Thirty degrees is hot!)

Noticeboard: A bulletin board in American English.

Primary School: The school that students attend from kindergarten to sixth grade. It is called elementary school in North America.

Queue: In Australia and Britain, you wait in a queue. In America, you wait in a line.

Southern Hemisphere: In Australia winter is from June to August. Summer is from December to February.

Chapter One

Canberra, Australia. May 1997.

‘One more time!’

When you’re a ballet dancer, those are words you never want to hear your teacher call out. One more time usually means ten more times, and it usually means that when you walk out of the studio at the end of the day your legs will wobble. One more time is what you teacher says when they want to torture you to make you a better dancer.

Today, though, it’s not the teacher calling out; it’s me. We’re having too much fun to stop yet.

‘All right,’ Hamida, who’s running our class this evening, says after checking her watch. She gestures for the pianist to begin again and a few people in the studio groan. We’ve been jumping for fifteen or twenty minutes, but it’s one of those fun days with a fun teacher, and I still have energy to spare.

I dip my feet in the resin box before moving back to the corner of the studio. The yellowy-white powder crunches under my feet, leaving two tracks of white on the wooden floor as I shuffle into place.

‘Oh my God, Jessica. I’m dying!’ my best friend Katrina Hightower says melodramatically as she steps up next to me to dance again. At the moment her face is nearly the same shade of red as her hair – which is nearly the same shade as her freckles. Behind us Sarah wrestles a window open. It’s hot in the studio even though it’s nearly winter.

‘You’ll survive,’ I tell Katrina as we hear the first bars of the music. We both step onto one foot, the other pointed in preparation, and as the final introductory note sounds I open my arms and rise onto demi-pointe.

Our cue comes, and the two of us take off across the floor.

Chassé, pas de bourrée, glissade, grand jeté, glissade, grand jeté, chaînés, arabesque.

I love the big jumps, love flying across the room. Even though we’re not supposed to watch ourselves in the mirror, I look long enough to see my legs reach splits mid-air, and then I turn my attention back to the corner so I don’t pirouette into the piano.

Beside me Katrina actually does crash into the piano mid-chaînés.

‘Oof,’ she says loudly, grabbing the top of the instrument to stay upright.

It’s hard to not crack up before I’ve finished dancing, the crash is that ridiculous.

‘Well, that was embarrassing,’ she says once we’re done and I’ve managed to stop laughing. If Katrina’s face was red before, it’s nothing compared to the shade it is now.

‘No, it wasn’t. It was fantastic.’

She grins at me and we step out of the way for the next group to come through.

The moment last two girls step into their final arabesque Hamida steps into the centre of the studio and signals for the music to end.

‘Okay, we really need to stop now,’ she calls, and points to the doorway where the dancers for