"Next up are two girls on the international dance team at The Cambridge Academy of Dance. Performing to This Song is About You by Olly Murs, here are Vienna Cowell and Madison Collins." The announcer yells into the microphone and the crowd erupts into cheers. The stage darkens and we skip out, striking a pose. My heart is pounding in my chest and the adrenaline is pumping throught my veins. Our blue dresses were flowing around our thighs and the foot-undies were slightly unconfortable.
The music begins and a single spotlight falls on Maddie who begins to twirl, kick and spin. She freezes in the light and mine comes on. I do a pirouette and a split jump, facing the front. I do a few drags to get beside Maddie and when the music reaches it's chorus, we do a side-aerial and the crowd erupts into cheers, congratulating us. We run our hands in our hair, looking pained before doing three split turns in opposite directions. Maddies falls backwards onto the ground and does tricks on the floor while I stay up and do some tricks standing up. At exactly the same moment, we switch positions and I'm now rolling around on the floor.
I do a shoulder roll so that I'm standing up beside Maddie and we do chainé turns in the same direction. Our hair is flying around everywhere and getting stuck in our blood red lipstick. We have a little section braided back but the rest is down. In my head, I keep on repeating "don't fall, point your toes and don't mess up". The routine was coming naturally, even thought I had only learnt it a week and a half ago.
From the corner of my eye, I see Maddie slip and fall onto the ground. She continues to dance as if it were part of the routine and I just follow her lead. I do a few chassés to backaway from her while she does a walkover to get up and continues the dance where we left off. Finishing the dance with a grapevine and ending laying on the ground on our backs, breathing heavily, the lights dim and we exit the stage. We high-five Ivy and Peyton who are performing right after us. They smile nervously and wait for the announcer to introduce them to the crowd.
"We were so amazing!" Maddie whisper-yells and we both break out into a fit of giggles until we see Caila approaching us.
"Good job, girls. That was fine but Vienna, you need to work on pointing your toes more and straitening your knees. Maddie, you need to learn to not slip onstage but you both did a fine job at making it look like part of the routine. Also, work on your split jumps; they were sloppy." She tells us and we nod, mentally taking notes. "Good. Now, go get ready for your ballet dances."
We run off to our dressing rooms, giggling and congratulating each other on the amazing performance. I switch from my light blue dress into a dark purple, blue and red tutu with an embroidered top. The embroidery was of light pink flowers and dark green leaves surrounding them. It was definitely one of the most stunning and original tutu's I have ever worn. I change my make-up, doing a black smoky eyes instead of the simple eyeliner and mascara I was wearing for the previous dance. I re-apply the dark red lipstick and exit the dressing room, leaving Maddie to change into her ballet dress. Her's was just a long, white, flowy dress the layered ontop of each other. I got the best costume out of the two of us this week.
This was a solo and I was on two dances before her. I had about fifteen minutes before it was my category so I carefully sit on a stool to make sure I don't ruin my tutu and patiently wait for my turn. I watch the other dancers on the screen across the room and point out mistakes and things that were good to myself. About five minutes before I was due to perform, Maddie comes backstage and sits beside me.
"Nervous?" She asks.
"Not really. I just have to remember to point my toes and straighten my knees." I tell her, remembering what Caila had said earlier.
"And to not fall. And to not forget your routine."
"Those help too." I roll my eyes and she laughs. A stage-hand comes to pick me up and I gladly follow her, waiting in the wings.
"So to kick off the ballet solos ages 14-15, let's welcome back Vienna Cowell from The Cambridge Academy of Dance." The man announces and I step onstage with my legs turned out and my toes pointed when the lights dim. The music starts and it is very strong, with lots of harsh violin playing. I hit every one of my moves close-to-perfect and am very graceful, not landing too loudly on my feet. I do my split leaps, pirouette's, pas-de-chat's and pliés without messing up and I strike my final pose, the music ending at the same time. The auditorium fills with applause and I exit the stage.
"You were amazing!" Maddie gushes and I smile.
"Thanks! You will be too! Now, breathe and don't fall." I joke before I am ushered away. I go back into the dressing room and change into my team uniform: a light blue exercise zip-up sweater and black yoga pants that tuck in to a pair of light blue UGG's that match my sweater. The back of my sweater reads 'Vienna Cowell' at the nape of my neck, "The Cambridge Academy of Dance' in the middle of my back and 'International Dance Team' on the bottom. I could wear this around proudly. I exit my dressing room and people stare at me when they see the 'International Dance Team' written on my back and I can't help but feel a little smug. I go backstage and watch Maddie's performance, clapping wildly when she comes off. We hug and go back to the change room where she puts on her matching tracksuit and then leave for the auditorium together. People watch after us as we quietly enter the room to watch the others perform.
Two days and several other dances later, Ivy, Peyton, Maddie and I all sit together onstage while we wait for the award ceremony to start. Since we were the only ones from our team young enough to compete in these Nationals, we chatter animatedly among ourselves while we wait for the announcer to come onstage.
"Hello, everyone and welcome to the Brisk Nationals here in Sydney, Australia!" A middle-aged lady comes out and every one claps while she places herself behind the podium. "We have the best dancers from all over the country joining us today and for the past three days, we have had the pleasure to watch them in all types of different dances."
They started off by giving out medals and trophees to the younger kids, working their way up to my age group. I hate to admit it, but I was very nervous. You get medals for second and third place, but you get an medal and a trophee for first place, and I really wanted a trophee. They started with the lyrical groups, moving onto the lyrical solo's and then it was finally time to announce the duets.
"Now, for the girls 14-15 lyrical duets. We had five sets of girls competing in this category and they all did splendidly. In third place, we have Kylie Morgan and Paige Ferguson from Dance Elite. In second place, we have Ivy Carter and Peyton Lockhart from The Cambridge Academy of Dance." Everyone aplauses and they go to get their medals. Ivy and Peyton leave us and we clap for them, giving them a little side hug when they come back to sit with us, looking a little disappointed. Maddie and I hold our breath and grip onto each other's hand while we wait for the last two names to be read, announcing the winners of this category. "An our first place winners for girls ages 16-17 lyrical duets are... Vienna Cowell and Madison Collins from The Cambridge Academy of Dance!"
We grin and stand up to go get our trophees while the audience claps like crazy. We curtsy after they put the medals around our neck and then they hand us our trophee. We pose and on the side of the side of the stage while photographers take pictures befor heading back to our seats. Then, they read out the ballet groups and it is now the ballet solo's. I'm sure I have got this in the bag.
"Third place for ballet solo's for girls ages 14-15 goes to Ivy Carter from Ther Cambridge Academy of Dance! Second place goes to Madison Collins from The Cambridge Academy of Dance." I smile at them while they go up to get their medals. I nervously run a hand in my hair and wait for them to call out the first place winner. There were 16 girls that competed in this category so there was a good chance that I didn't get it but I could still stay hopeful. "First place for ballet solo age 16-17 goes to Vienna Cowell from The Cambridge Academy of Dance!"
I smile proudly as I go up to get my medal and trophee, posing for pictures once again before going back to my spot. The stage floor was really starting to hurt my bum. In my jazz solo I got first place again, in my contemporary duet with Peyton we got second, in the jazz group with Ivy, Peyton and Maddie we got first and in my jazz duet with Ivy we got first. The only bad position I got was fifth place in my hip hop routine but I saw that coming.
The Cambridge Academy for Dance was annihilating the competing dance schools and I felt my heart swell with pride when we placed second overall. There were only four of us competing for our academy and the school that got first had 24 dancers, 20 more than us. You see, when you place in the top 5, your dance academy gets points, five points for first place, four points for second place, three points for third place, two points for fourth place nad one point for fifth place. The top three academies get a trophee. Maddie, Ivy, Peyton and I all competed in 7 different categories each, three solo's, three duet's and one group number. The fact that we always placed in the top five is amazing since we only leaned our routines a week and a half ago. It was very impressive but I can just feel the hate from the other dancers radiating towards us. Oops.
By the end of the night, Caila was congratulating us on our wins and taking us out for pizza. She offered to go to some fancy restaurant but we insisted on the greasy goodness known as pizza. At around midnight, the five of us were dragging our lazy selves back to the big bus that brought us here. Cambridge Academy had bought it a few years back for when we travel around the country so that way the dancers would be a little more confortable while making the long trips across the country.
It was now officially Saturday and we couldn't wait to get back home. After the long nine hour trip from Sydney to Melbourne, we drop off Peyton and Ivy at their houses in Melbourne. Maddie and I are dropped off at the dance studio where my car was waiting to take us back to Langley. Forty-five minutes later, we arrive at my house and don't even bother talking with anyone, we go straight down to my room and fall asleep.