They were not flies on the wall.
Kevin Frazier and his crew showed up right on time, and quickly made themselves comfortable. Bright flood lights were being set up, tripods were being marked on the floors, and I was getting a mic clipped to me. I looked around and noticed my dance space had decreased significantly, which worried me for large group numbers. Two directors chairs were placed in the center of the madness, and I was guided over to sit in one. I anxiously looked around, waiting to start the interview. I haven't had cameras on me since I was fourteen when all of the Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition buzz died down. Kevin walked over and shook my hand, flashing me a bright white smile.
"Hi Madison, it's nice to meet you. Are you ready to do this?" He asked, sitting down with his question cards in hand.
"Hi, you too. I think so? I'm a little nervous." I admitted and he nodded, understanding.
"Totally normal, just think of it as a conversation. Bits and pieces will be cut out for the segment, so speak in full sentences since the questions won't make the final cut." A crew member clapped a board in our faces, and someone called action. "Four years ago, thirteen year old Madison O'Connor stole America's hearts by dancing on our televisions every Friday night and winning Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition. After studying at the Joffrey School of Ballet for four years, at seventeen years old, Madison is leading a benefit showcase for Dancer's Against Cancer. Tonight, we'll get an inside look on rehearsals, and get to talk to some of the performers, choreographers, and kids that Madison is fighting for." Kevin introduced, and my heart felt warm. I know he was just doing his job by hyping me up, but it made me feel special. "So, Madison," Kevin turned to me, "Tell me a little bit about the showcase. What or who can we expect see?"
"Well, the showcase is going to benefit Dancers Against Cancer, a wonderful organization founded by the dance community that helps fund treatments for childhood cancer patients. They work very closely with members of the dance community, teachers, performers, choreographers, who have been impacted by cancer. They also provide patients with isolated dance classes, in an effort to give them a sense or normalcy with after school activities. You'll see some of these lovely kids in the showcase, December fourth, in addition to some other special guests." I smiled, and Ricky gave me a thumbs up.
"Can we get any hints of who we'll see? Any friends from season one?"
"You'll for sure see some friends from season one, who have all been working ridiculously hard to help put together this beautiful showcase. Actually, the whole thing is choreographed by my favorite choreographer from season one, Ricky Palomino." Ricky rolled his eyes, jokingly, and I gave another smile.
"That's great, that's great. We'll chat with Ricky a bit later, but let's talk about your friends from season one that we'll get to see. What was it like reuniting with them?"
I thought back about the last few months and decided to give a majorly condensed version of the reunions.
"I returned from Joffrey about three months ago, and was really excited to find out some of my closest friends from the competition had moved to the area. Brianna, the runner up from the show and a beautiful dancer, and I really bonded during our time together on the show, since we were both there until the end, so having someone here who had almost the same experience as me was really comforting. Hadley and I clicked instantly, her, Brianna, and I were always together during the competition, so when we all saw each other it was like no time had passed. Jordyn has always been the little sister that I never had, so getting to watch her start high school with us is so fitting. I love getting to drive her to school, hear about all of her problems, help her with her homework, it's just great." I paused, wondering how to address Zack. We had been dating for a little bit now, and we had both posted on social media about it, so I guess it would be weirder if I didn't mention him than if I did. "And Zack," I paused again, trying to find the words, "Zack I had no idea would be here when I came home. After we went our separate ways a few years ago, I thought I was never going to see him again, let alone live across the street from him. I'm really glad though we found our way back to each other though." That felt right. Kevin seemed to like that answer too, and we moved onto the dancing footage. They quickly struck all of the equipment and moved to handheld cameras, clearing the space for me to dance, lifting my worries from before.
Ricky decided to teach me a new solo, in order to give the segment a sense of reality. We started working on Ballerina, by Jeremy Shada, which I had actually been really looking forward to starting. We talked about story, and even though it is a love song, Ricky really wanted this to be a solo. We talked about the elements of the dance, but in the end decided that the transitions and technique would be the most important aspect to this piece. We wouldn't focus too heavily on actual ballet, but there would definitely be some incorporated. With such a present beat throughout the song, we would play with isolations into my standard pretty lyrical, overall giving me a contemporary dance, something I was really excited about. The cameras sat on us for the whole discussion, which felt weird, considering this is usually a private, intimate, moment.
"Should we try it?" Ricky stood up and sent me to the center of the room. "Do you want to improv and feel the music first, or jump right in?" He asked and I decided to feel the music first, to which I jumped right into. I relied heavily on ballet and technique, being sure to show that four years at Joffrey paid off. When I finished, there was a smattering of applause, and Ricky nodded slowly. "Do you want to use some of that? I really like that turn sequence you did in the center, for the heavy guitar part. Show me it again." He stood slightly in front of me, so we could see each other in the mirror, and I did the turn section again, and we were off. The cameras came close to me, almost invading my personal space. They filmed a lot of my feet, so I paid extra attention to my technique and lines.
By the time Zack, Brianna, Hadley, Jordyn, and their moms all walked in, I had almost finished the routine. All the moms were dressed up so nicely, ready to be on TV again. The girls hair and makeup were all done up nicely, and Zack had definitely put some gel in his hair, most likely at the request of his mom. They were all ushered out by a production manager who was carrying a stack of clipboards filled with photo release waivers. Ricky was swept away to the next studio to do his interview with Kevin, and as everyone came back in, I continued to run the solo. Brianna sat in front of the mirror, playing the music for me, fully invested in the dance. Jordyn slid in next to her, and Zack and Hadley stood off to the side, watching intently. I got to the turn section we used from my improv, which is where we had ended.
"Mads, that's so good!" Jordyn clapped and I smiled, walking over to the moms, who nodded eagerly in agreement. Mom handed me my water and smoothed out my hair.
"Probably one of my favorite dances to date. It's different than what you usually do, but not too different that you're afraid of it." Mom smiled and she was entirely right. That's always been my greatest weakness as a dancer, and Ricky knew that, so I'm guessing that's why he chose today to show it off and learn it. I walked over to Hadley and Zack, who gave me a hug and rub his hand on my back in small circles.
"About how much do you have left on it?" He asked as I took a sip of water.
"Probably like thirty seconds? We did most of it, it's relatively short." I guesstimated and he nodded, impressed. He kissed my temple and I dragged them over to Brianna and Jordyn who were reviewing Party in the USA, which we learned the other day. Hadley and I jumped in, trying our best to work through the problem areas without Ricky. Hadley took charge, since that was her style, and did a pretty solid job of correcting us as needed.
"What's the plan today? What are we running?" Brianna asked me as we stretched out on the floor.
"Ricky said earlier that we'll learn a group dance to Levitating for about an hour, which will be hip hop, and then the little kids will come in and we will learn Shake it Off and vibe for about an hour and a half, and then be out around 6:00, and then the segment will air at 8:00 tonight." I explained, and they had the same reaction I did to the oddly quick turnaround time. "I know, I know. But we aren't the editors!"
"Harder! This is intense! Jordyn, come on! This is your style, I picked it for you! Give me more!" Ricky clapped out the beat as he shouted corrections at us. Jordyn was front and center for this dance, and was showing us all up, but Ricky still wanted more. "Zack, show Abby hip hop is your style!" Ricky joked and we all burst out laughing, since that was the reason Zack was sent home. We were in a triangle like formation, doing complicated formation changes throughout, and the cameras weaving between us were not helping. Our sneakers squeaked on the linoleum floors as we danced in sync. Ricky released us to work with Jordyn on her solo section in the opening of the number, but then changed his mind. "Jordyn, just take it from the top, guys, watch her. Watch how she hits each beat, each move, everything looks intentional." We sat along the mirror and watched her closely. Jordyn really was ridiculously talented. She had so much power and energy wrapped up in that skinny, 5'1" body. I marked the dance in my seat, which a videographer seemed to love, clearly zooming in on me from across the room. Jordyn finished demonstrating right as the production manager walked back in.
"Okay folks, the kids are here. We're going to take everyone that's not Madison, Ricky, and mom into the next studio to do some interviews and get some footage of just Madison meeting the kids. Move out." She announced and everyone quickly started following orders. Zack gave me a quick kiss before being rushed out the room, and a videographer set me up doing some turns for additional footage. The kids walked in, and there were at least fifteen of them, all wearing matching white "Dancer's Against Cancer" shirts, and buzzing with excitement. I waved and one little girl ran up and hugged me around my knees. She was very short, her shirt almost reaching her ankles, she couldn't be older than five, and her hair was almost entirely gone.
"Hi sweetheart, I'm Maddie. What's your name?" I squat down to meet her eye level. She had bright blue eyes, and the longest lashes I had ever seen.
"I'm Maddie!" She gasped, shocked to learn we had the same name, which made me laugh.
"You have such a cool name, I would know." I squished her cheeks with one hand and stood back up, but she latched onto my hand.
"Maddie, let go of Miss. Madison." A lady also wearing a matching shirt called out. I assumed she was a mom or a representative from the charity.
"Oh, she's okay. She can hang with me." I smiled and Maddie started jumping up and down, not containing her excitement. Ricky put on some music and all the kids started wiggling and dancing around the room, to which I happily joined in. They all looked so happy, like they didn't have a care in the world. Their parents all had tears in their eyes as they recorded the moment on their phones.
"Then you'll go walk, walk, walk, and pose." Ricky demonstrated, to which the five of us followed, all choosing our own fun pose. "Look, you can do a peace sign like Jordyn, or cross your arms like Zack, or squat down like Madison, or power pose like Brianna and Hadley." He pointed to each of us, with me being down in the center.
"Sheesh, we look cool!" Zack laughed and I have to admit, we did look pretty cool. Our poses weren't planned but they were pretty cohesive, especially with Hadley and Brianna bookending with the same pose. Each of the kids threw their arms up, creating their own fun poses, causing them all to giggle.
"Then that's it! That's your cool new dance!" Ricky exclaimed and the five of us clapped, giving the little kids high fives. As the kids all packed up to leave, Kevin informed me he wanted to do one final interview session with me, so I needed to stay close by. I started to wipe all the sweat from my face, and smooth out my hair when little Maddie ran up to hug me goodbye, and told me she was very excited for our next "wehesal". Everyone else backed up to the edge of the room and Kevin and I just stood for this interview.
"Okay, just a few closing questions. How do you like your new dances? Your solo and the group specifically."
"The dances I learned today were challenging for sure. Our group dance to Levitating is hip hop, which isn't my forte, but I think we all really showed out today for it, especially she Jordyn. She's a firecracker." I started to laugh and Jordyn exaggerated a hair flip behind the camera. "My solo to Ballerina is genuinely one of my favorite dances I've ever done. The music is gorgeous, it's choreographed so beautifully, it's very strong, but also really dainty. It's different from what I usually do, which is a new challenge, but Ricky is an amazing choreographer, so he makes the challenges not as scary. I think it's the dance I'm looking forward to performing the most." I smiled, getting excited about the dance again.
"That's great, thanks. How was it meeting the kids?" Kevin prompted, and my heart felt heavy. Those kids were a highlight of my day, my week, maybe even my life.
"Today was the first time I got to meet all of the kids, and it was honestly one of the most inspiring moments of my life. These kids have it harder than anyone else I've ever known, yet they are they happiest, most energetic little jumping beans I have ever seen. They went full out the whole time they were here, as if they didn't have a care in the world, and they were just happy to be here, and to be apart of something. They've endured more in their short lives than most people have by the time they're eighty, and you would never know based on their spirit. Just, really inspiring. I want to be like them when I grow up." I managed to let out a small laugh as I wiped away the tears swelling in my eyes, thinking about little Maddie going through chemo so young, but still being the purest human I've ever known.
"That's really sweet Madison. I think that's all we need, so that's a wrap!" Kevin clapped and everyone followed in light applause. He shook my hand and I thanked him for his time. The crew quickly left, rushing to their home base to edit the footage. Ricky wrapped me in a giant hug, and I could feel his smile.
"You were incredible today. So many crew members were telling me how professional you were, and how impressed they were with you. Thank you for representing me well." He squeezed me and opened up the hug to everyone. "All of you, thank you. They said all of my kids were so polite, which was such a relief to hear." He laughed as he poked Jordyn.
"I'm always polite!" She whined and we all sarcastically agreed with her.
We all curled up on my couch at 7:58, waiting for Entertainment Tonight to start. All the kids were lined up on the couch, nuzzled into each other, with our moms and Ricky sitting in the seats surrounding the living room. I scooted closer to Zack, practically in his lap, and he instinctually kissed the side of my head, which received a grumble from my dad, who received a swat from my mom. We heard the familiar intro to Entertainment Tonight, and I took a nervous breath, anxiously waiting to see what they would have to say about me. Kevin and Mario Lopez were standing in the center of our screen, introducing the nights lineup.
"We could have had Mario Lopez?" Yvette, Hadley's mom, exclaimed and we all excitedly hushed her, containing our laughter. I heard Kevin's intro that he used earlier, and everyone collectively awed and looked at me with proud faces, making me blush.
The segment started with me talking about the benefit, using my whole quote, and then quickly transitioned into my reunion with everyone. Every time someone heard their name and popped up on the screen, they smiled, feeling like a celebrity. They used some great dance footage for each dancer, and some footage of me laughing or talking with each of them, when I didn't even know they were recording. When I mentioned Zack, it showed him dancing, and then him kissing my temple after my solo. My face burned with embarrassment, thinking that sweet moment was just between us.
Ricky started talking about how he became involved with DAC, and how he came to know me. "I have worked with many, many, many dancers over the years, but Madison has always been a standout. I don't know if it was her talent, her age, her maturity as a dancer and a person, her heart, or everything combined, but at the end of the day she will always be one of my favorite dancers to work with. From the day I met her we just had a special connection. I figured since this event was for the kids, I would showcase some of the most talented kids I've ever worked with, and at the top of that list would have to be Madison." Ricky's voiced played over footage of him and I working through Ballerina today, and him and I laughing while messing around between takes. I looked over at him, my bottom lip puckering, because I was touched by what he had to say. He gave me a small smile and I looked back to the TV where I was talking about how much I loved my solo.
Zack's voiced filled the room, as footage of us learning Levitating appeared. "Ricky is such a rare choreographer, and Madison is such a rare dancer, so the fact that they paired up for this project is perfect. They both care so deeply for the people around them, and care so deeply about their craft that there's no doubt that this event will be amazing. I'm really lucky Ricky called and asked me to join this project, because any day I get to dance with Madison is a good day, especially if it's Rick's choreography." I squeezed his hand and Brianna, Hadley, and Jordyn popped up on the screen together, then transitioned to us dancing to Party in the USA.
"The four of us had a really special bond during our time on the competition together, and that didn't change when we all miraculously found each other again four years later." Hadley explained, as she did an Ariel on the TV. We all snapped for her and she laughed.
"Ricky was always our biggest supporter even if he wasn't our choreographer for the week. He always wants us to succeed, which is something him and Maddie have in common." Jordyn answered as the TV showed her and Ricky going off during Levitating and you could lightly hear him hyping her up.
"This is just such an important cause, and they're the first that come to mind when I think of people with big hearts, so it's really fitting for them to be doing this, especially together." Brianna's voice filled the room as she jumped into my arms, causing me to stumble backwards on the TV.
The interview switched back to me, using my quote about how much I loved working with the kids today, and showed footage of Maddie and I nose to nose, us dancing with everyone, them posing, and all the high fives and hugs we shared at the end of rehearsal. Kevin ended the segment with information on where to get tickets, how to donate, and a reminder how important it is to share the spirit those kids had.
We all sat there, quietly, proud of the work we were creating.