Just wanna say, I realise I put a rehearsal schedule in a while back for the amount of class hours they put in and I've decided I'm going to work around that and kind of ignore it because otherwise they're dancing all the time and there's no time for any drama to happen whatsoever so it's gonna get boring. Friday's classes will remain optional and their Nationals rehearsals will remain to running late. They're still gonna be at the studio from 4pm, but there's gonna be breaks and stuff where they just kinda chill a bit too so they're not overworked, so Joe has time to work with Sophia and Cinzia and they have time to rehearse out of hours their solos, duets and small group. Think of it like The Next Step. Sorry for my complete disregard for continuity, I hadn't thought this through when designing the schedule.
I also apologise for updating literally once a month. I'm gonna try and get better at that!
Joe's PoV
Shirley agreed to letting Sophia, Cinzia, Mikey and Alfie pair up for a duet competition and allowed Dianne and I to instruct and choreograph for them. When I'd told her this morning, she hadn't seemed all too pleased I'd gone and volunteered her for it, but considering her only dances for Nationals are our duet and the two group dances, she couldn't really object.
"So Sophia is dancing with Mikey and Cinzia with Alf, yeah?" Zoe asks. After hearing Alfie was working on a duet and we were helping him, my sister begged to be a part of some of the rehearsals. She doesn't often get to see Alfie dance, and considering it's during our free time she really wanted to watch. None of us had any objections, so, she was 'observing' the class.
"Yep," Dianne nods in response.
I have to say, she looks particularly cute today. Her hair is in that half up half down style which is my favourite, and she's wearing leggings and a tank top that make her body look amazing. I think they're new, because I've not seen her wear them before.
"What styles are we thinking?" I ask. "I want equal effort put into this, so Dianne and I will choreograph some and put forward suggestions and corrections, but ultimately they're your dances, and all A Troupers choreograph their own duets."
Whenever I teach duets, I always make the dancers think for themselves - even the J Troupers I make come up with concepts at least. It not only helps them expand their creative minds, but it also means less work for me, which is always a bonus.
"Alfie and I were thinking of contemporary," Cinzia smiles. "A dark theme too, like a kidnapping or possession or something."
A lightbulb suddenly goes off in my brain, and I look to Dianne and I can tell she's had the exact same thought.
"Joe and I actually auditioned for the Nationals duet with something like that," she says before I get the chance. "We were gonna use it for Nationals, but it's more of a Regionals standard dance and it's not one that shows off chemistry, which is one thing we really have going for us. We can teach you that if you like and you can edit things and make it your own?"
"Omg our saviour is here," Alfie fake bows, making Zoe laugh. "Yeah, please, that'd be great."
"What, why don't we get that choreography?" Sophia whines.
I sigh. I have no idea what's gotten into her, but she's behaving worse than J Troupe. I don't say it aloud though. Truth be told, I'm slightly scared of Sophia.
"Well what style would you like to do?" Dianne asks, trying to be helpful.
"Dunno," Sophia shrugs. "I haven't even spoken to Mikey before today."
Dianne and Zoe roll their eyes simultaneously, and I groan. It's like she's being deliberately difficult.
"Doing a hip hop routine would be cool," Mikey says.
Sophia looks extremely annoyed by this statement.
"Great, let's do hip hop then," I say before she gets another chance to complain. "Jack and I are doing a hip hop routine for PE. It's one of my strong suites, so I can definitely help you out there."
At this, Sophia's face brightens slightly. I hadn't realised she was so competitive. That's a nice thought that'll easily motivate her. It's also a good quality to have for an A Troupe dancer. It makes me smile.
"How about Joe works on the hip hop routine with me and Mikey and Dianne works on the other routine," Sophia says. It sounds like a good suggestion to me. Dianne narrows her eyes, but says nothing. I'm sure if she has a problem, she'll say something. She isn't the type to hide her feelings.
"Sounds good," Cinzia smiles. "The studio next door is free right now, how about we split up?"
"We can see who's the better choreographer, Dianne or Joe," Alfie grins. I return the grin and shake my head. It's obviously going to be me. Di is a great dancer, don't get me wrong, but I'm the superior choreographer.
"Duet with the highest placement gets to pick the song, theme and choreography for Nationals," Mikey laughs.
At this, Dianne raises her eyebrows, suddenly looking intrigued. She's really competitive, so I know her mind is already racing with ideas and tactics on how to beat me. Concern fills my whole body, because she's doing a contemporary number with technique and a story, and I'm landed with hip hop, which never places as highly as contemporary at competitions. Also, not to be rude or anything but Cinzia and Alfie are definitely better dancers than Sophia and Mikey. I'm going to lose.
"It's on, Sugg," my girlfriend smirks at me. "Come on Team Buswell, let's go create a cracking duet that'll wow the judges out their chairs!"
Her red hair is out the door before I can even say goodbye. Zoe stands there looking lost.
"I'm gonna remain neutral so I'm gonna go get a drink with Amy," my sister nods to the door. "See you later."
"Bye," I shrug and half wave.
"We're gonna win," Sophia beams when the others have left. "Hip hop is different, and if we do it right it'll give us that edge. Like, everyone's gonna do contemporary, let's be real here."
She has a fair point. Done right, hip hop could get us points. But it has to be executed really well. It doesn't have the bonuses that contemporary routines can display.
"Remember, hip hop is my forté too," Mikey adds. "I'm a legend at hip hop."
Again, a good point. I know from the auditions that Mikey is great at hip hop. However, Sophia is only good. She doesn't stand out in any way. Give her intermediate choreography and she'll excel, but she's never been much of a hip hop dancer, so advanced work won't look as good on her. She also just doesn't look right doing hip hop, I can't explain it. Usually she's so beautiful to watch, because she's got a stunning figure and a model face, but she always looks awkward doing anything higher than intermediate hip hop. I'll put some of it down to self doubt, but I don't know...
I spend the next hour going through choreography with them, giving them bits and pieces from mine and Jack's dance, but also adding more advanced things. I work out what Sophia can and can't do, because Mikey seems to be able to do everything I throw at him, which unfortunately makes Sophia so unconfident that she stops even trying to flirt with me.
It's a struggle, and I only get back into reality when Dianne bursts through the door, a Starbucks in her hand. I stare at her.
"What?" I look from her to the coffee and then back to her.
"Oh, we worked super hard for ages and they're nailing the choreography so we decided to go grab a Starbucks," Dianne smiles innocently, but I can see the smugness in her eyes. "Struggling, are you?"
"Not at all," I say, as brightly as I can manage. "That's great for today guys, we'll pick it up tomorrow!"
I rush out of the room past Dianne's giggles and head towards studio A. She rushes up behind me, her iced coffee still firmly in her grip.
"I'm gonna win," she says confidently. "My dancers and my choreography are better."
"Don't get too cocky," I say. "We've got hip hop, which if done right will make us stand out. Everyone there will be doing a boring contemporary routine."
"Oh, believe me, my routine is far from boring," her eyes shimmer in a way I'm almost afraid of. What the hell has she done?
She skips ahead and goes into the studio, chatting away to Zoe and Lola.
"How come she has a drink and you don't?" Neil's voice comes up behind me. "Weren't you both doing the same rehearsal?"
I'd told Neil what I was doing this morning.
"We split up," I grimace.
"WHAT?!" Neil stops dead in his tracks. "You SPLIT UP?! But you're Joanne! You're so perfect together!"
"No, not like that you idiot!" I whack his arm. "God I'd probably be crying if that happened, and Dianne most certainly wouldn't be skipping with a Starbucks caramel frappuccino in her hand."
"Oh," Neil says.
"She's taken Cinzia and Alfie and I've been landed with Sophia and Mikey," I sigh. "It's best duet wins, and whoever's duet places highest at their duet competition gets complete creative control over our Nationals duet. Di's got a great contemporary routine and I've been landed with hip hop."
"Sophia's terrible at hip hop," Neil points out as though I don't already know this.
"I'll make it work," I say. "I'm Joe Sugg. Suggy can do everything."
"If you say so," Neil whistles.
I glare at him. How dare he not believe in me. The audacity.
Dianne's PoV
"Alright guys! Settle down!" Alesha says as we all sit on the floor, ready for group rehearsals. "Today we will be working on our Nationals semi final routine."
We've been working on this one quite a lot recently, and quite frankly I didn't know why. Sure, it needs to be good to get us to the final, but what happens when we get to the final and our finals dance is completely under rehearsed? I don't know how they do stuff at this studio, but back in Australia we'd be distributing time equally between the two while also showing the team what our small group, duet and soloists had come up with. This doesn't seem like as good a plan, yet nobody around me is batting an eyelid. I suppose I can't judge them...they won Internationals, so they have to be doing something right.
"Okay, so we've got the majority of the choreography down," Joe says, stepping to the front to address us. "We've created our parts and today we're just gonna focus on connecting them."
At some point, I zone out. It's pretty much the same thing, and it's not exactly hard. Either they're playing it safe, or this is a dumb concept that should be trashed. I believe it's the latter. However, I'm not dance captain here, and nobody's saying anything against the plan. I'm the new kid; I can't just start making the rules or nobody's gonna like me. So, I continue, and repeat the same choreo over and over and over again until I don't think I could forget it even if I wanted to.
I'm the first to leave that day.
I'm losing readers drastically but thanks to y'all who've stayed ily - Bee xo