The Extreme Dance Awards

Chapter 17

Dylynn’s POV

There were 13 dancers left in the competition. Mackenzie and I decided to be friends again, which we were both very happy with. Abby told us that ten people would be going home before the finals, and only three people would stay and compete for the final prize. I thought if I work harder for the final three weeks, I could be still competing at the finale, which would be a big accomplishment for me.

For the group dance challenge, we were told to get to the dance room very early, earlier than usual. We were also told to think of some dance moves that can show someone’s feelings, either sad, happy, depressed or anything. I mainly thought about being sad and depressed. It would probably be a performance week, and the skill would probably be characterization.

I arrived at the dance room with Maddie and Kalani, and as we started to stretch, Abby walked into the room.

“Hello dancers! You guys are almost halfway through the competition. This means, if you want to survive through all the weeks before finals, you have to work as hard as possible. Congratulations to all of you who have made to this point.” Abby said.

“Okay, so did you guys do the homework that was assigned to you? I asked you guys to think of some moves that can show someone’s feelings. Did everyone do that?” 

Some people said yes, while some dancers said no. 

“For those of you who did the homework, great job, I was appreciated. If you did not, I am not appreciated. So, 20 push ups if you did not do the homework. You have to learn to do whatever your teacher asks you to do, which is always good for you.”

“So, let’s get into our group dance challenge today. Anyone wants to try to guess what the skill is?”

“Is it characterization?” I asked.

“Very good, Dylynn, looks like you did your homework very well. It is characterization, which means you have to tell me a story. Also, for this week, we will focus less on technique, more on performance and characterization. You will improv and choreograph your own dance to tell a story and show the emotions. The story that you are truing to tell can be something that you made up, or maybe based on your own experience. You have 20 minutes to choreograph and practice your own dance. Make sure your dance is exactly 32 counts long. You will not have music to dance to. I will tell you when the group dance challenge starts.

Since lots of people were acting as people who are depressed, I decided to stand out and be different. I decided to portraying a happy girl, who gets to do whatever she wants, and be happy everyday. If I am different and I can stand out among everyone else, then I probably have a better chance of winning this challenge.

Since I am making a happy dance, I am doing lots of jumps and turns. I decided to do three a la seconds into a double ballet pirouette, and two fouttes into a jump. I also did some random moves that I made up. Since I have done jazz dances before, I chose some jazz choreography from my old dances, or combos that I have done to put into my dance. I decided to do some leg hold turns and some illusions or extensions. I practiced my dance for several minutes, and when Abby told us that the group dance challenge was going to begin, I got some water and was ready to dance!

“First, we will have Paige, Mackenzie, Trinity and Travis. Five, six, seven eight and go!” Abby counted, while they danced. Everybody except Mackenzie was portraying people who were sad, while Mackenzie did jazz, acrobatics moves and tumbling to show how someone can be very happy. Her dancing was a lot similar to mine, since we were both portraying happy characters. From my perspective, Paige portrayed a sad character who was abused; Travis portrayed someone who failed an important thing, such as a huge test, and Trinity portrayed someone who was new to a place and had no friends.