Receiving

Chapter 17

 Brent’s POV

 The female solos are in the afternoon. The male soloist has already been decided and the winner was some person form studio I have never heard off before. The runner-up was the male soloist for Riley’s studio; I think his name might be Peyton.

 Amelia’s first round opponent was wearing a simple short silver dress with sparkles. She was good but not that good. I was standing in the wings as Amelia walked on. She was wearing the blue dress and she started facing the audience.

 I watched as she performed. It was almost perfect so she scored 88/100 to bet the other girl and move onto the 2nd round. Riley was up next, being the first in her pairing. She started on the edge of the stage, right in front of me.

 She was wearing a bright pink jacket. It came down to her knees and was very different to what I would imagine her wearing. She was holding a basket full of fake flower heads. She was wearing matching pink ballet flats. There was also a white bench in the centre of the stage.

 The music started and she walked further onto the stage. It was a chirpy song which I wouldn’t have picked for her. The steps were more like skips. She walked to the front of the stage right on the left. She had one foot forward and lent over placed the basket on the ground as he leg came up. Once the basket was on the ground she completed a tumbling section.

 She ran across the stage with a split jump in the middle. She picked up the basket and kicked her leg out. She performed a back arch with her hands still holding onto the basket. She kicked her legs over and kept going until she reached the bench. After dumping the basket on the bench she had a spinning section.

 Turning away from the audience she plunged her hands into the basket. She spun around and threw all the flowers forward and onto the stage, near the front. She threw the basket off the stage and it almost hit Amelia in the head. Sophie picked it up and stood beside us.

 The music changed and become sombre. Riley stripped the jacket off and revealed a black dress. It was very simple, no sparkles. It came down to above her knees and it had thick straps. She slipped into the splits. Rolled onto her stomach and came up it a push up position but with one leg in the air. She lifted one arm and flipped over so she was in a back arch. She pulled herself.

 Her dancing was very sombre. Her moves were graceful and full of emotion. She kicked her left leg up and had both arms were raised. She changed into a handstand and split her legs apart. She pulled her legs back together and they fell onto the bench. She was in a back arch and then she flipped her legs forward so she was in a forward arch. She let her legs split and now she was on the ground. She pulled her legs together and looked around like she was looking for someone to pull her up.

 She pulled herself up and made two split jumps before reaching the front right corner. She then acted like she was getting pulled in different directions and then slumped onto the floor and pulled herself in a ball.

 The music changed to something angrier. It was like she had learnt to stand by herself. She stood up and pulled one leg to her chest. She then would push it away with her hands and repeat a few times. She reached the bench and jump onto. She flipped off and landed facing the audience. She stalked to one side of the bench and pushed in off the side of the stage. She ran to the corner and completed another tumbling sequence and got to the corner diagonally opposite. She fell backwards onto the floor and acted like she was getting pulled. This time she pushed the figures away and stands up.

 She pulls off some sort of twist and is in the middle of the stage. She sinks onto the floor and raises her arms and as no one is there she pulls herself up. I listen to the music. The lyric is “I don’t need you anymore; I am strong on my own.” She flips over so she is crouching on her feet and then stands and slips into the splits and finishes with arm crosses across her chest.