Flying (Fight Song Book 2)

Chapter 2: The Auditions

"Dianne?!" I say, gobsmacked.

"Joe!" she grins, running into my arms. I hug her tight, unable to believe she was actually here.

"How are you here?!" I gape. "Like, you're from Australia!"

"Yeah, but because of Andrew being out here, I decided to come move here too!" she giggled. "My mum and dad were talking about it over Christmas because they saw how low I was dancing on a team without Andrew and not even being able to see him for support, so they thought I should move out here with him! They're thinking of moving out here themselves too, so they can see Andrew and me all the time. They've been looking at houses and everything!"

"Dianne that's incredible!" I smile so wide I think my cheeks will burst.

"I know," she giggles again.

"Okay, uh, well, the auditions are about to commence so you've not got time to stretch, but we do a little warm up with you all before the improv solos," I say.

She nods. "I was warming up and stretching with Zoe for a bit in another studio anyway."

"Wait, Zoe knew?!" my head immediately flips to my sister, who's grinning and waving at me. I shake my head. Typical Zoe, or Zoella as she's known on her blog and YouTube channel.

"Well, I guess you should run off over to them then," I laugh. "Alesha and I will be running the warm up, and then going through the list of names for your solo improv."

"Cool," Dianne nods, and then skips over to my friends.

"Your Australian girlfriend?" Alesha raises her eyebrows.

"Yes," I nod. "Don't worry, I won't show favouritism, but she was the dance captain of the Internationals team for her country. They placed second. Honestly, she's probably a better dancer than me in some areas."

"Interesting," Alesha muses, staring at the redhead. "I'm excited to see what she can do."

We start running the warm up, everyone jogging, doing star jumps and some brief stretches. It was only auditions, so we aren't going to spend half an hour on our warm up and stretches like we usually did. There was no push ups, squats, crunches or holding planks or any other kind of conditioning. Just enough to loosen the muscles.

"Okay, so, let me explain how the day will work," I say, standing on top of the stage at the front so I could see everyone, Alesha standing next to me. "I will be reading out names in groups of five. You will each have 30 seconds to improv something and impress us. We will be making notes, and the top 30 of you will make it to the choreography round. The choreography will be done later this afternoon, so don't worry, you'll be able to grab food and have a drink before then. Everyone clear?"

Everyone nods.

"My name is Joe Sugg, and I'm the dance captain of this studio," I continue. "This here is my co-choreographer and part time studio head Alesha Dixon. I hope you're all ready!"

"The first group is Ruby, Alison, Becca, Asha and Josie," Alesha calls out. Everyone else went to the side.

We'd deliberately put similar dancers next to each other so we could see who stood out in their particular style. It was easier to narrow them down. Ruby, Alison, Becca, Asha and Josie were all talented acro dancers and contortionists. We didn't need a whole team of acro dancers, so we chose the best acro dancers for the team. We obviously couldn't tell if they'd dance acro for their auditions, but during improv people had the tendency to go for their favourite style, especially if they wanted to show off their best moves.

"Thank you girls," Alesha says after they'd performed. "Next we have Maddie, Issy, Emily, Winnie and Pippa."

Also acro dancers. We're wheedling them out first.