The Fairy Doll Ballet (4)

Chapter 12: A Long Break

Soon we were in the intermission or break. At first, we talked about the ballet and our favorite parts. However, after five minutes, we were thoroughly bored. The intermission was twenty minutes long so we went out to use the bathroom and take a stretch hoping that when we came back, the intermission would be over. Unfortunately, our plan didn’t work and we were out for only two minutes. We sighed. Clearly, the world didn’t like us at the moment. We went back to our seats once again and waited. We began to bounce in our chair, hum, tap our feet, strum our fingers along the armrest and look here and there. Every minute, I would check my watch to see if the intermission was over and each time, I was disappointed. Luckily, just before we were about to blow, the stage lit up and the curtains rose.

Chapter 13: Hey, It’s Her Again

In Act Two, the Fairy Doll woke up all the dolls with her magic and at once, the dolls began to laugh and dance. The dolls were all in harmony when they danced. First, the Bunnies danced then the Dolls and Soldiers, the Dolls with Balloons and the Japanese Dolls. Soon the Chinese Doll dance was up and once again, we saw Erin. It wasn’t quite as big as a shock but when she danced, everyone was blown away. The audience stared at Erin the entire time and had to use a lot of will and force to wrench their eyes away from Erin and to the other dancers who tried to attract attention by putting on their most pleasing smiles. In many occasions, the audience would applaud and cheer. The lighting turned on Erin, which made her stand out even more. She always did moves that no one thought was possible for her age. When she spun everyone gasped and when she leaped, everyone oohed and aahed. Erin was the spotlight. We waved and did a thumb us showing her that she was doing an amazing job. She smiled even wider as if she saw us and thanked us for complementing her. The audience stared in amazement until the dance ended. The audience still stared at Erin when she gracefully bowed and pranced of the stage.

Chapter 14: Pas Du Trois

After, the Spanish Dolls, Polish Dolls and The Russian Dolls danced and laughed until the Fairy Doll came out once again with two male mimes trailing after her. It was the Pas Du Trois dance or Not Three dance. The Fairy Doll was minding her own business when one of the mimes asked her to dance. They spun around and hugged each other. The Fairy Doll looked as if she was having a great time. The second mime was jealous and grabbed the Fairy Doll from the other mime who was about to spin again. He then danced with her. The two mimes kept fighting back and forth and they tried to attract the Fairy Doll’s attention. They started to pull her closer and pushed each other away. The Fairy Doll began to wobble and she tried to get away from the mimes’ grasps but they kept pulling and pushing. Annoyed, the Fairy Doll shook her hands free and left. The mimes stared after her and then met each other’s eyes and their brows knit together.

The first mime began to jump and do splits in midair. He spun 20 circles and ended in the spits. Everyone gasped and applauded but the other mime just yawned and pointed at himself. I can do better that meant. He also jumped and did the splits in the air 5 times more than the other mime did. After, he did a handstand and ended in a bridge. The audience cheered even louder this time but the first mime laughed and did moves even more complicated. The two mimes kept going back and forth doing moves better and more complicated than the other. Each time they became angrier and the stage grew tenser.  Soon they were arguing. One of the mimes pointed to the other mime and pointed to the door, which the Fairy Doll had left. The mime meant: It’s your fault that the Fairy Doll left. The other mime shook his head and did the same gesture. After a few minutes, they began to fight. They pushed and kicked each other and right before the fight would become out of control, the Fairy Doll came out once again.

At once, the mimes composed themselves and smiled at the Fairy Doll. One of the mimes outstretched his arms and invited the Fairy Doll to a dance. The Fairy Doll accepted leaving the other mime heartbroken. The mime dancing with the Fairy Doll pointed to his cheeks. Kiss me he meant. The Fairy Doll flicked her hand in disgust and walked to the other mime. The mime looked away ashamed and the second one began laughing and pointing to the first mime. He quickly composed himself when the Fairy Doll turned to him. She smiled and walked closer. The mime gloated and stretched out his arms. The Fairy Doll walked closer on her toes and just before she reached the hands on the mimes, she shook her head. The Fairy Doll turned and walked to the other mime who was trying to hold his laughter.  She smiled warmly before shaking her head again. Sorry, I’m not interested in you she told the two mimes. She stood in between the mimes before placing her fingers to her cheeks. The Fairy Doll asked Farewell kiss? The two men ran to her and just before they reached her, she stepped back leaving the two men crashing into each other. Just then, the assistant woke up to see all the dolls dancing and he too, began to dance. The audience clapped for the last time before the curtains fell.   

Chapter 15: Back At Home

We finally arrived home after the exhausting day. We began to discuss our favorite parts when my mother came in.

“I told you that ballet would be fun," my mother said triumphantly while trying not to put on her I won the bet and you didn’t face.

We reluctantly nodded our heads while scowling at my mother. She gave another of her triumph laugh before going to the washroom and wiping off all her makeup. My father also came in avoiding my mother who would probably ask him if he liked the ballet. He told us to go to bed before turning on the computer again. Some things just never change. When we were finally under the covers, we fell in a deep sleep while dreaming about dancing dolls.

The End

The Fairy Doll Ballet (1)

The Fairy Doll Ballet (2)

The Fairy Doll Ballet (3)

National Anthem at the Blue Jays Game 1

It was just a normal day in the school. Nobody's birthday, no one leaving.  I was waiting for the bus when it happened.

"Hey! Are you going?" Noor, my BFF, asked.

Going where? There's a field trip? Or a party? Am I invited? Noor must've seen the look of confusion in my face. 

She sighed.

"Haven't you heard? The Blue Jays invited the entire junior classes to sing the national anthems for the teams playing," Then she got even more excited. "We're going to be on the field! And on the jumbo tron!"

Does that mean we will be seen by thousands of people?

"Cool! Where's the permission form?! I just must go!" I asked hoping, by any chance, she got me one.

She handed me one.

Yes! Thank you Noor! I thought happily.

"I got this for you when you missed the meeting. I knew you would want to go. You owe me now!"

Whatever. This will be totally EPIC! Just like last year.

Last year, only the 5/6 French immersions sang at the game and the rest of us only watched with envy. We all wanted to be seen too! They got to stand on the field and be on the jumbo tron. Luckily this year, we get to be there as well! Watching was cool, seeing people you know on the field, however, this year would be amazing to do it like them!

This task sounded easy, singing only 2 songs on the field. Yes that's perfect-except that we're singing the national anthem. The national anthem is a very solemn and serious matter. We are representing both countries!

"This will be easy peasy for me," one student bragged.

We'll see about that... Maybe the singing will be easy, but the meaning from the heart won't be. You have to mean what you’re saying. 

A meeting was called. Everyone wondered why exactly we would need to meet for such an "easy" event. We all sang one round with ease.

"This is our first meeting," muttered Noor. "Soon this will be our last."

I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm. Hold it. The music teacher is about to say something. Everyone was shocked and surprised when our music teacher's face wrinkled in disgust when we all were expecting praise and shock at how 'beautiful' our singing was.

"What is this? You're singing it like as if it were a joke!" Her brows furrowed as she continued. "Stand up straight. This is the national anthem. It's no joke!"

Every one grunted as they stood straight and gained posture. Our music teacher was still furious.

"Get serious about this. We're not just representing the countries, but our school too! You think anyone would want to send their kids here, seeing how messy we are?"

Few of the kids managed to mutter a "no". The rest, with their heads hung low, staring at their shoes, only shuffled their feet. This was not as easy as they think.

"Get together and try again," our music teacher, Ms. Tai, said, still very disappointed.

The next round was worse. Everyone was singing as if they wanted to get it over with. A few of us didn't even sing at all! If this were the real thing on the field, the whole stadium would be buzzing with alarm as they see us muttering a few words. I mean-national anthems are supposed to be powerful, stating how successful that country is. Our singing sounded as if at any second, Canada or America will fall to the hands of another country. The words won't match our dull tone. 'True patriot love...' Our singing isn't very patriotic.

"Stop, stop!" Our music teacher yelled waving her hands frantically, trying to stop this horrible noise. "You are all singing as if you don't care for these two countries," Pause...

She's doing that teacher thing, waiting to let her words sink in. Well hooray, because it's working. Everyone was feeling uncomfortable.

"We're Canadian. We should be proud of that."

"Yeah, proud of what?" someone muttered.

Unfortunately, our music teacher overheard.

"Excuse me?" She glared. "Of course we should be proud! Canadians invented baseball! You all should be proud! Besides, you all live in Canada. Their providing you a home. And you're sill not proud? Or at least happy about it? Next week, I better hear some decent singing or at least some decent music," she said, sternly, as her eyes bore into ours.

"Yes, Ms.Tai..." A couple of us mumbled.

As we were exiting, (finally after what seemed like eternity) Noor trotted up to me.

"Wow, she's mean," she said.

"She's not mean, she's evil!" I retorted. "Seriously! We are just kids!"

Noor sighed.

"Well, hope we'll have better luck next time," Then she muttered under her breath, "If we are even alive by then."

So that's how the day ended, with everyone worrying about 'next time'

Now that I'm home, I should be practicing. Except, what should I practice? Singing the Canadian anthem with pride and the American anthem with disgust? However, I'm from the United States. It would be wrong to show disgust to them. So I should sing both of them with pride? Well that wasn't right either. 'No man can serve two masters.' Oh, who cares? I'll just sing both with pride. After I practiced both, one after the other, with pride, it still didn't sound right. Why does it have to be so difficult to be American and Canadian? Now that both the anthems are sung with pride, it feels as if I'm not proud for either of them. It's like gold. Since gold is rare, having one brick would be valuable. On the other hand, if gold were common, a brick or even 10 wouldn't be valuable.

"What am I going to do?" I moaned.

National Anthem at the Blue Jays Game 2
National Anthem at the Blue Jays Game 3
National Anthem at the Blue Jays Game 4

THE HORRIFYING RECITAL (a)

THE HORRIFYING RECITAL

A recital was the last thing we wanted.One day, my piano teacher announced that we would be performing in my music school recital. We groaned as we flipped through our piano books. I chose Fantasia by Georg Friedrich Händel. To my dismay the piece I chose was very fast, long and loud. My hands were not skilled enough to play the song but it was too late to change.

At home, I practiced my piece every day until I got the piece perfect. One night, I had a terrible dream. The announcer called me onto the stage to perform my piece. I walked up the stage unsure and I sat down on the piano seat. I started playing but the piano was tuned wrong and everyone thought I made a mistake! I tried to explain to the announcer that the piano was tuned wrong but he started yelling at me for making a mistake and the entire audience started laughing at me. I woke up screaming until I found out it was a dream. However, I didn’t get a lot of sleep after that.

The day of the recital finally came. I suddenly had a feeling that I was going to make a mistake when I play so I grabbed my books and dashed out to my family's van. The car ride was long so I began to “practice” in my head. It shocked me that there were parts that I did not remember for everyone in the recital should memorize their piece. I was relieved that I brought my books and I frantically searched for the right page. I spent the next twenty minutes humming the song and flexing my fingers.

I was startled when my father stopped the car and everyone went out. I looked around and found that we were at the church. I put my books back with shaking hands and walked towards the church that we would be performing in. Sweat beads began forming on my forehead and I started to get butterflies.

While we were walking down the path to the church, we passed a girl about my age. She was wearing a short black dress with fake diamonds and jewels sewed on. She was wearing flats with a lot of straps. They were also black to match her dress. Her hair was done up and she had lip gloss and rouge on. There were many adults around her patting her and saying nice things to her. Her eyes were red and swollen somehow as if she was crying. I suddenly realized that she was crying and her parents and other relatives were comforting her. Even my teacher was there!

My sister whispered, "That girl looks so nervous!" I realizes that she was right when we entered the church. 

The church where we would be performing in was very familiar because that was the church that we performed in for our last three performances. I began to practice again until our music school principal told us to get in the order that we would be performing.

The announcer began to call up the performers. The performers were all shaking from head to toe and they shook even more when it was their turn. I watched as the line became shorter and shorter. However, I noticed that all the other performers did not make one mistake. I was sure that I would make a mistake. It was my sister’s turn and she played her piece flawlessly. I began to panic and started to practice again while recalling the advice and tips my teacher gave to me. I heard my name and I jumped.

“…And our final performer of the day will be performing Fantasia by Georg Friedrich Händel!” the announcer announced.

My hands became clammy as I tried to ease the butterflies that were frantically flying around. My heart got caught in my throat and I climbed up the wooden stairs to the piano.

To Be Continued...

THE HORRIFYING RECITAL (b)

The Fairy Doll Ballet (3)

Chapter 7: Act 1

The ballet took place in a doll store so everyone was expecting many dolls. When the curtains lifted slowly, everyone gasped. A beautiful store appeared as if by magic. The once black background was now pink and orange. There were dolls everywhere. They sat with their backs straight and erect while their arms lightly rested on the armrest. Their legs were slightly curved to the side and they stared, while smiling, out into space. The audience were wondering how were people able to change the background so quickly when a man dressed in a dark red suit walked in. He bowed and gestured to the store behind him meaning I am the shopkeeper of this store.

Chapter 8: Which One Is Which

The shopkeeper began to inspect every inch of his shop just in case something was not perfect. He dusted the shelves and fixed the bows on the heads of the dolls. Soon, two well-dressed families came strolling in.

The shopkeeper was delighted when he saw them and escorted them into his shop. The father of the first family wore a tight blue suit with little black buttons. He had a rounded hat, which matched his suit. His “wife” wore a ridiculously poufy dress with poufy sleeves. She had a bonnet and a pair of white gloves. The two girls had matching ruffled dresses and poufy sleeves like their “mother”. The clothes told my sister and I that the first family was an English Family.

The second family dressed differently. The father had a cane with a black top hat. He wore a tailcoat with a white cuffed sleeved shirt underneath. The mother had a French braid and she wore a less poufy dress. Her dress was separated in the middle at her chest and was joined together with two ribbons forming crosses. The young boy dressed like the father and the young girl dressed like the mother. The clothes were French styled so my sister and I knew that was the Famille Français or French Family. My parents, on the other hand, were clueless

Chapter 9: Who Is That Doll?

The shopkeeper first showed the families the Colombie Doll who danced nicely. Suddenly, she went all jerky and wobbled while bobbing her head. She lumbered awkwardly a few more times before falling limp. The two families got up instantly to leave but the shopkeeper stopped them and begged them to stay quickly showing them the next doll, the German Doll.

The dance started and we got quite a shock. The German doll was very familiar. I remembered seeing a name that I knew under the category German Doll…Erin! Suddenly it hit me. Of course! Erin was smiling as she took a step when the music began. She instinctively stepped, leaped and spun. Like a leaf flowing in the wind, she floated and always balanced on her toes while she spun. The audience roared an applause. Erin was like a swan, bending her arms gracefully, her back always straight and her head held high. The other dancers tried to copy Erin’s moves and looked envious when Erin received another round of applause. The two families looked more interested when the German Doll stopped dancing and the children raced to the German Doll pushing and shoving each other to reach her first while they pleaded their parents. The parents sadly said no telling the children to look at other dolls.

Chapter 10: Oops, A Mistake

The shopkeeper brought out the Baby Doll and the Jester. However, each time, the parents refused to buy the dolls. The shopkeeper frantically showed the Clowns, the Strawberry Shortcake Dolls and the Roly-Poly Dolls.

When the Roly-Poly Dolls came up, one of the dancers, who was about three or four, accidently turned around and walked the opposite way and back onto backstage. The shopkeeper caught the girl just in time before she completely went off stage and steered her back to the line. Everyone chuckled as they thought she was cute because she was so small and young. A different effect would have occurred if an older child were to make the same mistake because many people would think older children are smarter and have more experience therefore they make less mistakes than younger children.

Chapter 11: The Fairy Doll

The families still hadn’t bought any dolls yet and the shopkeeper started to panic. Finally, he brought out his favorite and best doll, the Fairy Doll. He pulled out a white box tied with a pink ribbon. The audience was dying to see what was inside the box. The shopkeeper slowly pulled on the ribbon letting it fall to the ground. Then he found the crack of the door and slowly pulled the door open. There was a hush in the audience as they stared into the box.

Inside was the Fairy Doll. She was wearing a pink glittering tutu with a big pink satin bow on her head. She glided out of the box and she began to dance. Everyone stared in amazement as the Fairy Doll easily balance on her toes with her legs and back straight. She then spun 10 times and leaped. The entire time, she was smiling. Everyone was attracted by that smile, which was a natural and sweet smile full of happiness and brightness. She seemed lost in a state of mind where she didn’t see the audience and danced for the sheer joy of dancing. Everyone kept staring and instantly forgot about the other dancers. When she finally stopped, the children squealed as they tried to make her dance again. The English Family instantly fell in love with the Fairy Doll and they bought her at once.

The assistant of the shopkeeper was upset that the Fairy Doll was sold because he too loved the Fairy Doll. So in the middle of the night, when the two families left, the shopkeeper went home with a wad of bills and the Fairy Doll was back in her box, the assistant went to say goodbye to her. He stayed for a long time until sleep took over and he fell into a deep sleep.

Continued in Chapter 12: A Long Break

The Fairy Doll Ballet (1)

The Fairy Doll Ballet (2)

The Fairy Doll Ballet (4)