Ann Stalcup

The Ballet Dress Ann Stalcup

Abarefoot Mary has dancedto soaring ballet music from an old gramophone, in her back garden ever since she learned to walk. Her head is filled with dreams of someday becoming a ballerina. Even when she is old enough to go to school, she rusheshome everyday and with brown paper wings pinned to her shoulders, she dances and dances until darkness falls. When, at last,a dance teacher comes to her small town, she learns to arabesque and pli and leap gracefully through the air. After a while she is chosen to perform a solo in a town hall concert. She is filled with both pride and anxiety. She needs a ballet dress. But there is aproblem