9125 Miles- A Joanne Story

91 Miles

    "all that I wanted, to hold you so close,"

London.

Dianne sat in the make up chair, eyes closed as Liv Davey began working her magic. As she paused to switch brushes, Dianne stole a glance around the room. All the girls were laughing, completely relaxed which couldn't be more different to what she was feeling. This was the first time in her experience with Strictly that she wasn't having the time of her life. The truth was, she was absolutely terrified. 

She'd experienced nerves before. Before her and Andrew's first national competition she'd thrown up twice and her hands hadn't stopped shaking. However, the minute the orchestra had played the first note and she'd slipped into the ballroom hold, she had been absolutely fine and completely forgot that they were being judged.

But this was different. That hall was filled with maybe a few hundred people. She knew that she would be being watched by millions of people tonight. Of course, she'd been doing it for the past few weeks and nobody really noticed if the pros made a technical mistake unless they really messed up and fell over. But if she wasn't technically perfect tonight and didn't perform to the best of her ability, she wouldn't get to lead the group again for a while. Her future in Strictly may even be in doubt. Rationally, she knew they wouldn't fire her over one group dance. However, the irrational part of her wasn't keen to listen. 

"Dianne, you okay babe?"

She was snapped out of her trance to see Liv looking at her, make up brush poised to dust against her face.

"Sorry, yes I'm fine," she said closing her eyes again.

"You looked like you wanted to shred those multicoloured costumes," said Liv, a hint of a smile in her voice. Dianne opened her eyes again to find that she had been staring at her costume for the pro number. All of them were bright and none matched to give them all an individual feeling. Dianne felt sick at the thought of having to put it on and dance the lead for the first time.

Liv looked at her carefully and knew she wasn't alright. Picking up a lipstick, she quickly checked nobody was watching and smeared a little on Dianne's cheek. Dianne looked up at Liv confused.

"Oh Di!" laughed Liv loudly. "Come on lets get to the bathroom and get that cleaned up!"

The two girls left the room and as soon as they entered the bathroom, Dianne began speaking panickedly.

"I'm really nervous, I've never led the group before, everyone else here is more experienced than me. I've convinced myself I'm going to mess up!" she exclaimed.

"Oh Di, it's perfectly normal to be nervous!" said Liv. "I can understand why you'd feel pressure leading the group. But honestly, it's just a fun dance and nobody in the audience will be any the wiser if you mess up. Also, I really doubt you'd get fired if you didn't land a kick right or was a beat off time,"

The door to one of the cubicles opened and out walked Janette, a sympathetic look on her face. Dianne momentarily felt embarrassed that Janette had heard her outburst but was reassured when the older girl clasped her hands. 

"Dianne honestly, I've been watching you this week in rehearsals and loads of us have commented on how great you've been performing. I was even speaking to Trent and he said it's one of his favourite pieces he's ever choreographed," she said earnestly.

"Really?" said Dianne in a small voice.

"Yeah and Trent's old so how many do you think he's done in his time?" The group laughed and Janette embraced Dianne.

"Honestly honey, you're gonna be absolutely fine. Just act like it's just us in rehearsals and you'll be great. But Liv's right, none of us will think any less of you if you make a silly mistake. We all do it!" said Janette encouragingly.