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Ballet
I remember holding my sisters hand standing on the wings of the stage, ready to walk on to do two pliés and be greeted by 'awes' and 'oh, how cutes'. I had the nervous butterflies that I strangely loved.
Me and Leah got our call to go on stage by my mum wishing us good luck and pushing us towards the opening of the wings to the smiley girl standing there ready to take our hands and lead us onto stage. I stood there next to my sister with her short curly brown hair, worn down as it was impossible for my mum, who was on hair and make-up, to pull it back into a ballet bun without making my sister cry. It was giving her a headache; after all she was only two. How opposite we looked, I had blond hair flowing down to below my waist that was pulled back into a massive ballet bun being supported by over one hundred clips and grips. I was wearing my purple butterfly hair clip which I had been given special permission to wear as it was the day after my birthday.
The smiley girl, who I now realised was wearing a white tutu let go of my hand and did some balletic runs towards the corner of the stage so all the attention would be on me and my sister. This was the time I loved the best, I changed into a different person now, not the quiet and slightly shy little girl in my dance class with only us as members, I was now the leader. My sister would follow my every move; even though we had been learning our dance to the Sugarplum fairy for the last six months my sister was hopeless at remembering what came next. I would do a tondú á la seconde, and so would Leah, I would do a glisé, and so would Leah, I would do a Développé, and so would Leah.

I could see my dad on the first row smiling up to us, sitting next to my cousins and my nan who had come to smile at us both. I knew that this was what I loved.

Tap
I remember sitting in front of a mirror in a dressing room having my hair put into two tight ballet buns. Leah was sitting next to me in a metal chair with a red cushion; she was also having her hair put in two of the same buns. We had both changed a lot in 4 years, my hair was still long but only reached to three quarters of the way down my back instead of reaching past my bottom. Leah had hair reaching her shoulders now as she had wanted to change from her usual bob and was growing it. I had lost more of my 'baby fat' and my chubby cheeks had become less obvious, Leah still had the same slim figure that she had had since she was around 1.
'Snowmen to the wings please!' Sang the tannoy system overhead alerting me and my sister that we needed to get up to the wings. We walked down the corridor trying to make our shoes make the smallest amount of noise as possible. We were dressed in all-in-one fluffy snowmen outfits with an annoying carrot-shaped nose that itched and made it hard to breathe.
I stood in the wings holding Leah's hand as I had done for as long as I could remember. 'Are you ready' said mum as she stood behind us wearing a belt that contained different brushes and sponges, and a plastered grin on her face as she wished us good look and told us that dad was sitting on the balcony of the theatre.
'Step-ball-change, step-ball-change' I thought in my head as Leah and I danced in the middle of the stage. I felt a sense of being older now as we no longer had a 'helper' to hold our hands on stage, we were old enough to do it on our own. It was when we were doing a 'time step' that I felt my usual on-stage courage coming on. I heard a 'wow' by some younger students who were watching me and my sister dance from the wings while we tried to make the steps we do look as easy as possible when actually my feet were killing. Leah no longer followed all my moves as she could now remember all of them, it was now a partnership rather than me leading her around the stage. This was amazing.

Freestyle
Leah and I jumped up and down in the corridor next the other 4 girls in our freestyle dance group. This was going to be a big dance, the last one before the finale of the show, prime spot in the running order. Our dance was amazing, we had worked on it for months and we all knew every beat and could do it in our sleep.
We were wearing fishnet tights with red hot pants and a red crop-top. Both our hair was now at the same length and reached to quarter of the way down our backs. We had our hair back-combed and held with enough hairspray to kill half of the polar bears in the Arctic. My mum spent about half an hour applying thick black eye make-up to our faces with bright red lipstick and orange foundation. My mum had spent ages applying the make-up to Leah and I as this year she was not helping on hair and make-up but was going to take us up to the wings and then go and find her seat in the auditorium.
We went on stage in a blackout and stood in our positions, Leah and I stood next to each other at the front of the stage. I stood holding Leah's leg in the air so she was in the splits. The music started and lights started flashing on and of as we changed position every second beat.

The dance picked up its pace and got louder and louder as we all moved in perfect synchrony with each other. We had a dance off in the middle of the stage where Leah and I now danced against each other instead of dancing together in a partnership.
The dance ended with a standing ovation and I walked of stage holding Leah's hand and feeling on top of the world. After we had got into the wings we had to form a line with the rest of our group and then run on in a line for our final bows in the finale.
We ran on and had a bow and then danced to the back of the stage. As the audience applauded I couldn't help but smile, 'I love this' I thought.