International Dance Day Eve

Dear Madonna,

Well tomorrow's the big day: our International Dance Day performance at the Eaton Centre. We have one more rehearsal tonight in the actual space, around the fountain. I'm coming on fairly early in the dance but I still have to pretend to be an ordinary shopper, feigning interest in a store window or something when the music starts - then running (and dancing) into position on cue.

I'm going to miss rehearsals at the National Ballet School. In fact I very nearly *missed* the last rehearsal there on Monday. In a panic to be on time I grabbed a cab and when I told him "400 Jarvis" he said right away: "Ah - the National Ballet School", asking if I was a ballerina. Not wanting to make things complicated I laughed and said something like "wannabee ballerina", though I don't know if he understood.

Then he starting talking about how I must like Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, and fiddling with the radio until he found a classical station. He may have even been Russian himself. We both fell silent when something sweet and soothing was found, putting my rattled nerves at ease so that I arrived relaxed and ready to dance.

He dropped me off at the same place all the other ballerinas were being dropped off.

Julie