Ballet Mice

## Stats

**Ballet Mice** is the 28th episode of the series *The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures* that aired on March 22, 1999. The setting in this episode is Russia.

## Summary

At the Imperial School of Ballet in St. Petersburg in Russia, two school girls take off some things in a school cabinet room, one thing being a pair of ballet slippers that Alexander and Emily have traveled in. Emily can't wait to meet cousin Nadya as they are now in Russia, but Alexander can't wait to get out of the smelly slippers. Right when they slide down, they get run into by a cat. The two mice make their way on the big stage where they are saved by Nadya, who swings a sandbag at the cat, Mila. It still continues to chase them, until they dive under the floor where there's an underground mouse ballet school. Nadya says her job is to polish mirrors, but she wishes she could be a professional dancer one day. Emily wished the same thing too when she was younger. They watch a rat with swords named Nijinsky, practicing a routine. Alexander bet he can do that easily with a little practice, but Nijinsky stops and says there's more than "a little practice".

Nadya shows them to the big stage where ballet students are practicing, explaining that good dancers practice many hours a day, including Anna Pavlova. Emily is able to recognize her because she has a lucky feather headband. Nadya says she has the jitters which Alexander doesn't believe, but Anna steps on a bar of soap making her slip around stage, but her friend catches her in time and leaves to fetch water when Anna shakes. Nadya explains to Emily and Alexander that these accidents with Anna have been happening ever since auditions began, but Alexander inspects the soap and finds a bucket and a mop as well, coming to the conclusion it is cleaning day and no one is hurting Anna. But Anna says her feet are just clumsy and runs away crying.

Back in the mouse ballet room, Emily thinks who could possibly be doing such mean acts. Nadya says that she had been auditioning as well for the mouse ballet, and shows them. Alexander comments that he doesn't think that her big dress could fit well with the style, and Emily agrees. Before Nadya could do more, the mice run along to go solve Anna's case before time runs out. They go up to the place where Anna hangs her ballet shoes and find powder that helps the ballet slippers have extra grip, but they come to the conclusion that the powder Anna's slippers were dusted with were sneezing powder, which is true since it makes all three sneeze. Alexander mentions it's great for leaving fingerprints, which Emily says isn't necessary considering there are footprints anyway. They are lead into a room with doors, when they hear crashing in the basement. Going down, Nadya reminds them that the basement is full of surprises, such as a big mask from The Nutcracker. They adventure more and see Anna.

But before they can ask what is she doing in the basement, the mice run into Mina the cat again. They distract the cat using sneezing powder on Alexander's hat, and run off. Mina still chases them onto the stage, so they attempt to run to the ballet mouse room under the floorboards but the cat makes large sandbags fall. Fortunately, Anna scares the cat off. Emily is glad that she followed them up from the basement, but Anna says she would never go in the basement. A set piece suddenly falls onto them, so they quickly get out the way and luckily no one was hurt. However, Nadya remembers the floorboards. Unfortunately, Nijinsky had injured his foot, and cannot perform in the dance. Nadya gives Alexander a hat and swords, passing the role down to him, but Alexander is hesitant to perform. Nijinsky teases him for it, so Alexander says that he'll give him a performance to remember.

The mouse ballet then starts. Emily and Nadya talk about Anna's friend, Olga, who was the best ballet dancer, but is now second best. Alexander then comes on, dressed as a nutcracker. He does somewhat well with the other three dancers, especially with his swords, but then he starts spinning out of control, ultimately cutting the curtain rope and it goes down. Alexander is embarrassed afterwards. Nijinsky says that Alexander is "jealous", which then turns on Emily's mind knowing who is trying to spoil Anna's audition after all. For auditions, Anna is called onto the stage and Olga comes on, dressed up as her. She begins dancing, and the mice hurry along to the stage. Thinking it is Anna, they see Olga's face instead. Emily mentions that the jealous Olga knew that she wouldn't stand a chance against Anna, and she was just using Anna and is not really her friend. The three heroes rush to the basement where they hear Anna pounding on the inside of a dresser. Right when Alexander aims for the key, Mina returns once again, but Nadya takes care of the feline. Alexander, with the help of Emily and a slipper strap, frees Anna. She comes out a trap door and onto the stage, and wins the audition much to Olga's dismay. Back at home, Alexander wonders that if Olga was Anna's friend, why would she ever hurt her. Emily mentions it is referred to as the green-eyed monster, and jealousy makes you want to do bad things. Alexander then sees an advertisement in the newspaper for a ballet Nadya is in.

## Trivia

* This is the second episode to take place in Russia. The first episode was *Mousecovites*.