"Any girl can look glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid."

It is the final days before this year's tap spectacular, and I am busy not only with still learning the routine, but finalising costume issues. Is there a wig for everyone for the second routine? What props do we need for our finale costume? Have all monies been accounted for? It certainly takes away from the glamour of the show when you are stitching people into costumes at the last minute, but I am sure that I will be ready for when the curtain goes up on Friday night.

On Saturday, we had our preliminary dress rehearsal. We roughly perform the show for our teacher, so she can ascertain any final polish that the routines require, and have a giggle at our costumes - which is the more usual response. Another less glamorous aspect of show production, is the fact that when you put over 200 women together in one room together - there are going to be "issues", the least of which is snide comments at the superiority of one costume over another.

While waiting in the hallway for our first routine, Miss D looked over at a member of another class attired in a hula dress, with coconut shells in situ as a bra substitute, and fake tresses tumbling down to their not insignificant thighs (use the picture at left as a visual prompt if you will). We both rolled our eyes at their state of dress, and she reflected to me that we should keep in mind to "never wear anything like that in future".

Of course, our ride atop our own costuming high horse was short-lived. It is probably hard to maintain a serious sense of superiority when your own bewitching outfit involves thigh length tulle. (We have used the picture at right as our inspiration - cringe at will!)