TNS - Richozzy Oneshots

Set My Mind

Richelle's POV

Saturday afternoons have become a sacred time for me to detox from the week and dance out my feelings rather than choreographing for A-Troupe. I was honoured when Nick and Kenzie asked me to help the team out by choreographing the small group piece. It's been a dream of mine to choreograph for A-Troupe and it's part of the reason why I've always wanted to be dance captain, being able to take the ideas in my brain and see others capture that vision. A-Troupe have been amazing to work with as well. So different from my old team, but just as talented and so eager to learn and become better dancers.

Izzy has been coming to me for pointers and one of the main people asking me to teach them how to do some of the tricks I know, like the Russian and the B-Twist. Teaching has come more naturally than I expected. I always knew I would be a good leader, although it has been a difficult journey learning that I'm not nearly as good of a leader as I thought I was, being a good teacher and mentor has been a wonderful surprise.

Having struggled through regaining friendships, creating and developing Step Inside, regaining the public's good opinion of myself and the Next Step, and watching all of my friends walk away from what I thought was a shared dream, it's really humbled me and helped me to put things back into perspective. All I want to do now is to share all the things that I've learned throughout my dance career, help A-Troupe win Nationals and figure out what to do next.

The Step Inside journey has really pushed me to become self-reflective, re-evaluating how I see my friends, others and myself. After Dancemania, I was focused on regaining the team's trust and then redeeming the studio after we got "dancelled". My mind was set, blinkers keeping me focused, much like a racehorse, where I couldn't see the looks of concern from my friends or know where their hearts were at unless they spoke up like Kenzie did. I didn't understand then why Kenzie would bail on the team, but I do now. None of them were bailing on me or the team, but following where their hearts were yearning to go. Now it's my turn to see where my heart is leading, but I just can't hear it under all the noise surrounding and distracting me.

Ozzy has been an amazing support over the last couple of years and he has always seemed to be there for me, to be someone I can go to when the noise gets too loud. Everything in my head goes quiet when he's around. He's loud enough for the both of us sometimes, but I don't mind anymore. I'm used to his crazy ideas and theories, his love for food that he knows will probably make him sick and his enthusiasm for spending time with his friends, and now that he's not around all the time... everything seems a little too quiet.

Quiet is good though, it means I can focus on myself, become a better person who is more self-aware and enjoy these Saturday afternoons to myself where I can keep up my dance skills and let out any emotions from the week. Stretching out my limbs in Studio One, I go through a mini warm-up routine as I'm still quite warm from the morning session with A-Troupe. After a couple of tumbling passes, I let the music dictate my movement. 

This is new for me, I've always been so clinical and technical with my dancing, keeping my emotions out of it. But my therapist has suggested I try it out. I haven't been very successful so far in any attempts, my brain defaulting to anticipating every move and sequence before executing. The whole thing still seems like a waste of time, but my therapist insists that it will help clear my mind, which I desperately need right now after a long and emotionally tiring week.

A-Troupe have been bickering and fighting amongst themselves since Kenzie had Heath join the team. I think it was a smart idea to add such a strong dancer who's had the pressure of some form of dance competition into the troupe, but I can't really fault the team right now who distrust him for being the mole in our show. It takes a lot for me to forgive someone and although he helped me to realise I needed to finish the show, I'm struggling to let him back into that same place in my life.