𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 - 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙨 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙛𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙧 - discontinued

nightlark

|2.0|

"moms, girls and brady, get in here!" abby calls, and we race eagerly into the studio for our first pyramid.

 i smile at pressley and stand next to her, and she smiles back, but it's a tight, forced smile. i want to ask her if everything is okay between us, but the cameras are already rolling.

"all right. at the bottom of the pyramid, we have hannah." hannah nods, but her polite, slightly blank facial expression never changes. "you were behind in the group, and you fell out of a turn in the trio. last week, you were the weak link. i don't need a weak link on my team." she pulls off the next picture. 

"lilliana. you're higher than hannah because you were fine in the group. the trio? awful. the first week was a time to make a great impression on me, and you fell. you really let me down. the lilly i used to know didn't let me down." lilly looks down at the floor.

"next, pressley. your foot was sickled at the end of the group. other than that, you really flew under the radar." she moves to the next picture. 

"savannah. like pressley, you flew under the radar. you didn't attract my eye in a negative way. you were just... boring." savannah seems all right with this critique. she nods.

"first in the middle row, we have sarah. you have a great work ethic. it was easy to teach you the routine because you catch on quickly. i like to see that. but you disappeared onstage." then she pulls off the next picture, and i see my face smiling back at me. 

"willow. you pulled my eye in a positive way. you have great lines. but we need to work on that back flexibility." i smile, happy to be so high in my first pyramid.

"brady. you led us to a victory in the group. you were great." he beams.

"and on top of the pyramid is gianina. you carried the trio to a win. congratulations." everyone claps for her, and she takes a little bow.

"now, this week, we will be traveling to xpressions dance competition in boise, idaho. the group routine will be a tribal dance entitled haka." 

then abby sighs. "i'm going to be very generous this week. three people will be doing solos." i look around with a start. three solos? in the second week?

"lilliana. you will be doing a dark acro routine entitled 'alone'. it's about a little girl who thinks she's alone in the dark, but she's not. there are scary creatures around her - monsters, you know, other scary things." stacy looks like she's about to say something, but she glances at the cameras and shuts her mouth.

"savannah, you're doing a musical theatre routine called 'banded together'. musical theatre is supposed to be your forte, right? i expect nothing less than a victory from you." savannah gives one of her giant smiles and claps for herself.

"my last solo will be going to...willow." i let out a little gasp and look up at my mom with excitement. she nods enthusiastically. "thank you, abby." she says quietly.

"your solo is entitled 'the last nightlark'. you are a beautiful nocturnal bird who finally realizes that she is the last of her kind. the style is lyrical contemporary." i smile, although i'm not too excited to be portraying a bird in my first solo dance. still, it could've been worse. i could've been playing a naked mole rat.