Une Fleure Fanée

Week 5 Part 6 (Saturday)

    "Hannah, you're doing a jazz piece. It is about Gypsy Rose Lee. You need to portray that character on stage, and you can't let her beat you. Do you understand that?" Ms. Abby asked Hannah.

     Hannah fully understood. She's torn. Should she save her friend or save her reputation? She's in a tough spot right now. A very tough spot.

     "Brady, you're doing a contemporary ballet piece. This is your swan song. Make this dance something that everybody remembers. We have given you all the tools, so fly high. Everybody out!" Ms. Abby tells us as we rush out to find the auditorium side stage.

     I wish everybody good luck before we start listening to the producers. Pressley's on first. I give Pressley a hug before she flinches away from me to listen for her. No hard feelings.

     Pressley enters, carrying her ballet shoes over her left shoulder. There is a tire track on her face. Her hair is neatly in a bun, and she's wearing a white dress. Cars start to play. She jumps and runs around leaving the shoes behind as she falls as a car "hits her." Then she starts to dance to "When We Were Young" by the Rigs. She's shaky on one of her turn sequences, but everything else goes fine. Her happy expression that begins the piece followed by the pained realization that she never gets to experience love is shown on her face. She tells a story.

     She walks off and we hug her. She did so well. But I don't know if the difficulty level is there compared to the other dances. We'll have to see.

     "Up next, please help me welcome Brady with, 'Swan Song,'" the announcer announces as Brady steps on for his last solo at the ALDC.

     A black triangle is on her forehead that goes up into a mohawk that is supposed to resemble a beak? Maybe? He has black leggings, and a bunch of black pieces of paper to resemble feathers are made into a sash and a collar. A modern version of the Swan Lake Song by the Tchaikovsky dude plays.

     It's perfect. There isn't a real storyline. It's just a swan prancing around doing crazy leaps and leg extensions and keeping the same glare on their face for the entire time. If this doesn't win, the judges don't know what they're doing. Brady did amazing.

     His serious face breaks into a smile as soon as he's hidden by the curtains. Sarah, Savannah, and I give him compliments and talk to him a bit before it's Hannah's turn. She looks nervous. This is nothing to what she's used to doing.

     She grips the curtain and peers out with a sassy smile and then moves her head back behind the curtain for suspense.

     "Faces, faces," I quickly remind her about making a sassy look. Brady playfully adds right before the music plays, "Get it!"

     "Strip and Tease" by Laurence Cottle plays as Hannah peeks her head back out and begins to do her solo. Her face has gone back to sweet Hannah. I sigh. Now "You Don't Own Me" by Daniel Farrant and Paul Rawson plays as she arches up. She got her face back.

     Her dancing is good, but the dance is A. Nothing like Gypsy Rose Lee and B. Doesn't show Hannah's true potential. Ms. Abby underestimates Hannah. She may be quiet, but she's a firecracker on stage. And she's using what she was given very well.

     She moves off stage, jumping like a jackrabbit. I jump up and down, excited about what she just did on stage. She seemed like she had the most fun that she had in a while on stage. Good for her.

     GiaNina is last. GiaNina needs to nail this. For Mimi, for her mom, for Ms. Abby, for her future. There is a lot at stake. She's on the edge of a panic attack, freaking out, as her name is called.

     "Up next, please help me welcome GiaNina with, 'Snowflake'" the announcer calls out, and GiaNina quickly composes herself before walking out, looking perfect as usual.