On January 7, at 9:05 PM, in Boston, Massachusetts, Norvora Dumatora, principle ballerina of the North Church Dance Company leaped into the air in a _________ and kept on going up and higher until she was out of sight of the stunned audience.

At the same time, to the second, in Berlin, dressed in a white tutu, and wearing a new pair of slippers, Gretchen Bamberger twirled herself in a _________ and began to spin so fast that the audience lost sight of her body, seeing only what a appeared to be a swirling column of white dust, which blurred and suddenly disappeared from the stage.

Insurance companies on both sides of the Atlantic refused to pay claims from the ballet companies for “disappearance” of ballerinas.

Except for supermarket tabloids the story was barely covered by major newspapers, in fact, the dance critic of the Berliner ______ was suspended for a month on the grounds that he must have had too much schnapps or was suffering a nervous breakdown. The testimony of a thousand or more witnesses was ignored.

Church leaders demanded to know which ballets had been produced, and not being familiar with the medium, made judgments based only on the names of the ballets involved.

Medical men inquired as to the drugs or steroids that the ballerinas may have been using. Lawyers were dripping over the stage trying to get a piece of the case—but no one knew what the grounds for a suit might be. In Boston, one lawyer dressed in a three thousand dollar Armani suit had to be restrained when he began to repeat at the top of his lungs “We will prevail.”

The box offices of both companies had to hire extra help to contend with the demand for tickets that followed the news of the amazing incidents. In fact, all over the world ballet companies saw increases in subscriptions and ticket demand.

Ballerinas found themselves dived into two groups. The first adventurous group wanted to know exactly which steps led to the disappearance and began to practice the steps for hours on end every day. The second group, prudent, perhaps one might say, fearful wanted to know the steps so that they could avoid them.

In general, mothers all over the world withdrew their daughters from ballet schools, though a few persisted in the lessons with unknown goals.