Magic

Ballerina

Delphie and the Glass Slippers

Darcey Bussell

To Phoebe and Zoe, as they are the inspiration behind Magic Ballerina.

Contents

Cover Page

Title Page

Dedication

Author’s Note

Map

Prologue

1. A New Term Begins

2. Off to Enchantia!

3. Time For the Ball!

4. Playing with Time

5. The Cloaked Figure

6. Foiled Again!

7. The Golden Locket

8. The Birthday Dance

Darcey’s Magical Masterclass

Acknowledgments

Copyright

About the Publisher

Author’s Note

Welcome to the world of Enchantia!

I have always loved to dance. The captivating music and wonderful stories of ballet are so inspiring. So come with me and let’s follow Delphie on her magical adventures in Enchantia, where the stories of dance will take you on a very special journey.

p.s. Turn to the back to learn a special dance step from me …

Map

Prologue

In the soft, pale light, the girl stood with her head bent and her hands held lightly in front of her. There was a moment’s silence and then the first notes of the music began. For as long as the girl could remember music had seemed to tell her of another world – a magical, exciting world – that lay far, far away. She always felt if she could just close her eyes and lose herself, then she would get there. Maybe this time. As the music swirled inside her, she swept her arms above her head, rose on to her toes and began to dance …

1 A New Term Begins

Holding on to the barre with one hand, Delphie Durand drew her toe up to her knee and pointed her leg forward. Head up, back straight, shoulders down… The thoughts tumbled around in her head as she watched herself in the mirror of the ballet studio. Alongside her were nine other girls, all gracefully performing the same exercise.

Barre work was quite repetitive and not as much fun as actually dancing in the centre of the room but Delphie was just glad to be doing ballet again. Madame Za-Za’s School of Ballet had been closed for two weeks over the Christmas holidays and Delphie had really missed going to classes.

“Keep your knee turned out, Delphie. Graceful arms, please, Sukie.” Madame Za-Za walked along the line gently correcting each girl. “Keep your body centred and straight, Poppy.”

Delphie thought back to the last term. It had been such fun. The best bit had been dancing the main part in the school’s Christmas show. Actually, no, she thought, correcting herself. The very best bit of last term had been finding out that the old red ballet shoes that Madame Za-Za had given her were magic!

The shoes could whisk Delphie away to Enchantia, a land where all the characters from different ballets lived. Delphie had been there many times now and she had always had an amazing adventure. I wonder when I’ll go there again, she thought.

“Good,” Madame Za-Za said finally when she reached the end of the line but as she turned away, Delphie saw her pass a hand over her forehead and sigh. Madame Za-Za looked very weary. “And to the centre now, please, girls,” she instructed.

The girls began to repeat the exercises in the centre of the room.

By the end of the class, Delphie’s muscles were tingling from all the work. She felt tired but happy. Poppy and Lola, Delphie’s two best friends, ran over to her. “Come on! Let’s go and get changed!”

“In a minute,” Delphie told them.

She went over to Madame Za-Za. The teacher smiled. “You danced very nicely today, Delphie,” she said in her slight foreign accent.

“Thank you.” A warm glow spread through Delphie at the praise. She hesitated. “You… you look tired, Madame Za-Za. Are you all right?”

Madame Za-Za sighed. “I am tired. Sometimes I wonder if I am getting too old for all of this.” She swept her hand around the dance studio.

Delphie stared at her. “You’re not too old! Of course you’re not!” Madame Za-Za had greying hair and there were a few wrinkles around the corners of her eyes but she could still dance really well and she was very elegant and beautiful. “You’ve got to keep teaching ballet!” Delphie said.

“Maybe it is just because it is my birthday next week that I am thinking like this,” Madame Za-Za spoke gently. “I will be another year older – another year will have passed.” She looked affectionately at Delphie. “Do not worry about me though, child.”

Delphie joined Poppy and Lola feeling very worried.

“What was Madame Za-Za talking about?” Lola asked.

“I’ll tell you when we get to Poppy’s,” said Delphie.

Back at Poppy’s house the three girls hurried up to her bedroom. “So what’s going on with Madame Za-Za?” Lola asked.

Delphie sat down cross-legged on Poppy’s large double bed and told her friends what Madame Za-Za had said.

“But she can’t give up teaching!” said Poppy.

“No way. We won’t let her!” said Lola.

“She didn’t exactly say she would give up teaching,” said Delphie. “Only that she was weary of it all. But maybe we can do something that will make her remember how good it is.”

“Like what?” demanded Lola.

They all thought hard for a moment and then Delphie’s eyes widened. “Perhaps we could try and cheer her up by learning a special dance? She said it was her birthday next week – we could perform it then. It would be our way of saying thank you for teaching us and telling her how much we love her classes.”

“Oh yes!” breathed Poppy.

“That’s a cool plan,” said Lola. “We could try and work something out now?”

“Great!” said Delphie.

They began to talk about what music they could use and what dance they could do. It was hard to choose.

“I think Swan Lake!” said Lola. “We could all be swans.”

“It’s not very birthday-like though, is it?” said Poppy, just as her mum called them all for tea.

They sat down at the table. “How about we do a dance from The Nutcracker?” said Delphie. “We could use the music from The Land of Sweets.”

They all nodded. “Let’s try and make up a dance after tea,” said Lola.

But when they tried, the music from The Land of Sweets seemed very fast and they kept losing track of where they were, and all ended up doing different things at different times.

“This isn’t working,” sighed Delphie. “If we show this to Madame Za-Za it’ll be sure to make her want to give up teaching altogether!”

“Delphie! Lola! Your mums are here!” Poppy’s mother called up the stairs.

“Let’s all think about it tonight and phone each other tomorrow,” Delphie suggested.

“Good plan.” Poppy nodded as she waved Delphie and Lola off from the house.

Delphie ran down the steps and into her mother’s waiting car. As she sat in the back seat on the way home, she stared out of the window. She so wanted them to perform something special for Madame Za-Za to make her smile. But what?

2 Off to Enchantia!

Delphie was still thinking about it when she went to bed that night and finally fell asleep. When she woke a little while later, the house was in darkness and quiet apart from a faint tinkling sound. Delphie’s eyes flew to the end of her bed. Her red ballet shoes that were hanging there were sparkling and glowing. Delphie’s heart leapt. Her friends in Enchantia needed her!

Jumping up, she started to put on the shoes, wondering what was happening. She was only ever whisked to Enchantia when there was a problem. Where would she go? Would it be to the theatre, which was the entrance to the magical world, or maybe she would go to Princess Aurelia’s palace again? Excitement raced through Delphie as she crossed the ribbons around her ankles and tied them. She couldn’t wait to find out!

As she finished tying the last ribbon she started to twirl round. The shoes spun her faster and faster until she was twirling in a haze of rainbow colours. She felt herself being lifted up and then coming down again. As her feet met the ground, the swirl of colours vanished and she opened her eyes.

She was standing in a dimly lit room, which had a wonky table, a little stool, a threadbare rug and a small hard bed. It didn’t look like the beautiful royal palace and it certainly wasn’t the theatre. So where was she?

Hearing the sound of crying, Delphie looked around. Behind her there was a fireplace with a few old embers glowing in the grate. A beautiful girl with long blonde hair was sitting beside it. She was wearing a ragged brown dress, an old shawl and she had a golden locket around her neck. She was so busy crying she hadn’t seen Delphie.

“Um… hello,” Delphie said.

The girl gasped. “Who are you?” She scrambled to her feet tucking the locket quickly inside her clothes.

“I’m Delphie.”

The girl looked at Delphie’s ballet shoes. “Of course. You’re the girl with the red ballet shoes! Oh, have you come to help me?”

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