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.