“Look!” Riley pointed to one vintage image of a dance troupe from the 1950s. “Is that the same Bailar Studio in Florida that we know?”

Our huddle around the white card got tighter as we read the fine-print description of the image.

“That’s bananas,” said Megan.

“That’s amazing,” Lily said breathlessly, clearly touched by what she was seeing.

“Whoa” was all I could add. Coming face-to-face with the sense of how many greats had performed on this stage kind of had us all at a loss for words. But in a good way.

Suddenly, I felt like being dancers could change the world.

Vanessa had to wave her hands in front of our faces to help us realize she was ready to take us to the performance hall. There, we took our seats among the dancers already camped out in the row of cushioned seats. And we sat there watching producers call teams by name backstage and then eventually onto the stage, where they, without revealing their performance moves, loosely ran through aspects of their performance. Things like how far apart to stand and how far forward and far back everyone could go were worked out.

After close to two hours, we were finally called backstage and shown our shared dressing area. It was huge compared to what we were used to.

“This is nice,” said Vanessa, nodding her head.

Riley snapped a pic every time Vanessa and the producer’s backs were turned. I could tell the act professional speech Vanessa had given was on her mind.

Next, the producer walked briskly to the stage, and we had to trot to keep up. As instructed, we remained offstage until we were given the signal.

“Go!”

And just like that, it was our turn to be onstage, examining the floors, the audience view, the feel of it. We could see the waiting dance teams chatting to each other in the audience. A few took interest in us, maybe because they recognized the name of our dance studio, or they were hoping for a glimpse of our routine. After our time was up, we were led back to the audience, where we would wait another two hours for our solo dance runs.

But throughout it all, the boost we got from the pop-up museum stayed super high. More than ever, I was ready to compete and show everyone what I was made of!

CHAPTER

11

Who knew Vanessa was so sneaky and secretive? After dropping off our bags, freshening up and having lunch together, Vanessa announced she had a surprise for us. She didn’t even drop us a hint. All she did was lead us out of the hotel. Even though Vanessa wasn’t saying a word, that didn’t stop us from getting into a guessing game.

“I hope it’s a Trey Thompson meet and greet!” wished Riley, squealing like the screech of a subway train brakes we could hear through the sidewalk grates underneath our feet.

“Barneys?” Megan asked hopefully.

“You want a meet and greet with the purple dinosaur?” Trina asked earnestly.