The Next Step for Lost and Found

Belong

As A Troupe bounced their way through the final few moves of their choreography, Theo, John and Luke sang to the best of their abilities, knowing this performance had to count for something. As much as they'd want to be performing with James, the audience had to be convinced that everything had gone to plan. 

Noah kept his focus and tried to avoid looking too serious, as he concentrated on nailing the drums. He was relatively confident, and was relying a lot on his natural musical ability to carry him through the three minute performance. The last thing he wanted to do was mess up and let the boys down, there were probably talent scouts in the audience! 

The band watched out the corner of their eyes, as A Troupe's smiles and enthusiastic expressions, made the atmosphere electric. The audience were all smiling too, which was a clear sign of a successful show.

The dancers all then walked, with a strut in their step, and approached the front of the stage. They all hit a posed position and controlled their breathing, so the audience wouldn't see their chests moving up and down frantically, as they panted for air. They looked out into the bright lights, struggling to make out individual faces in the crowd.

The audience all stood as the performance ended, cheering and applauding everyone on the stage. Michelle kept the stage lights up, so both A Troupe and the band could absorb their recognition, a little longer. She clicked her headset on and communicated to Emily, who was backstage, peering at the dancers with a smile on her face, "Ready for the bows?"

"Yep, everyone's backstage." Emily replied and double checked that all the other dancers were waiting at the sides of the stage, ready to go and bow in front of their audience. Mr T was rounding all of the artists up, herding them like sheep, then he gave Emily a thumbs up to say that everything was on track.

Michelle watched and waited for the audience to begin settling, then started to play Stand Up, an iconic song for The Next Step. The band understood the cue, so subtly left the side of the stage, as A troupe filled out across the front of it. They weren't being exiled, or unincluded, they had briefly rehearsed all of the bows in the dress rehearsal.

A Troupe assembled together and all held hands, chuckling as they struggled to sort themselves into an order, and find each others' fingers. Eventually, their arms all raised in the air, interlinked, and they bowed together.  The audience clapped to the beats of the song, but as the dancers bowed, cheered and applauded A Troupe, yet again. 

Two people in the crowd remained seated and not applauding though. They watched the dancers' smiling faces, but the smiles on their own faces were nowhere to be seen. They were as serious as the suits they were wearing.

Emily listened closely to the instructions Michelle was giving her, explaining who was currently on stage and when she should send the next artists out.

Michelle professionally stated, "A Troupe off, B Troupe on." 

Emily had B Troupe lined up next to her, with Isaac at the front of the line and Gabi behind him. As soon as she heard the instruction, Emily lightly pushed Isaac out, and he strutted towards the audience. The other dancers followed him, eager to receive their applause.

Noah had ran around the back of the stage after exiting with the band, and was now helping Emily and Mr T to get the dancers into their bowing order. He whispered words of wisdom to J Troupe, as they lined up next to Emily. They were ready to go on once Gabi and Isaac had done an individual bow for their collaboration, and left the stage.