Episode 1 The Next Step Ultimate Vote Countdown

Previously on The Next Step...

Unless I can have the solo at Nationals, I have to leave.

And where are you going to go?

Chris has offered me the National solo at Superstar.

Really?

I don't think that Elite is the team that we need to be worrying about.

It's LOD. They won Nationals last year.

They only have one male dancer and it's just

so that they can get through the Male Solo round.

All right now, let's kick it off with our male soloist.

Nationals is just so much bigger than we could have ever imagined.

Yo, Eldon is amazing, and I feel bad

for anybody that has to go up against him.

Tomorrow, Nationals is going to see what The Next Step can do.

Welcome to the 17th Annual

Absolute Dance National Championships.

I'm your host, Chuck Anderson. Alongside, my esteemed colleague

Tre Armstrong. How are you doing, Tre?

Oh, I'm so good, Chuck. How are you?

I'm doing really well. It's exciting.

We saw the first 32 male solos yesterday,

and half of those teams have already been eliminated.

That's right, Chuck.

We have the remaining 32 male solos today,

and 16 of those teams won't make it to the next round.

APPLAUSE

And now we have our first male solo of the day,

Lacota from Lisa Maze Dance company.

Let's see how he does, Chuck.

MUSIC

APPLAUSE

We're watching the male soloist round at Nationals.

Each round is an elimination round.

If the male soloist loses, the whole team is eliminated.

Man, are you nervous at all?

Eh, no.

The thing is, Eldon should be nervous, because if

he doesn't get through this round, none of us get to dance.

Yeah, I'm not really that nervous. It's just dance.

I'd be more nervous, like, asking out a girl.

True. True that.

I can't wait to get out on stage.

I can't wait for Nationals to see what The Next Step can bring.

Daniel!

Hey! It's so nice to see you!

What's up?

I am so excited to see Daniel.

I haven't seen him in, it feels like, forever.

Not much.

So, how's Superstar? How's Chris?

Good.

Eldon and I both auditioned for

the male National Solo and he was the chosen one.

Daniel wanted to be the male soloist more than anything for Nationals.

So, I'm glad that Superstar Academy gave him the chance.

OK, what's new?

You know what? I should find my team.

I don't have time for this.

What? Daniel?

Daniel's kind of being weird.

He's never been like this with me before.

I'm so cold to Giselle because, right now,

I've got my game face on, and I'm with Superstar now.

I'm not with The Next Step.

So, why would I want to be friends with anyone from The Next Step?

Don't worry about him, Giselle. He's just trying to psych us out.

Let's go.

# We, we're going to show the world

# Everything we're made of

# We're going to tear The roof off this place! #

Stand up!

These dancers are killer.

I just hope that Eldon can take them down.

A good showing from Vlad's Dance Academy,

but how will it stack up against LOD?

LOD, of course, Life of Dance.

But it's also Ladies of Destruction,

but they do have some male representation.

Do you know they only have him on their team

so that they have a male soloist so that they can do Nationals?

Are you serious? Yeah. That's the only reason he's

on their team. That's how intense Life of Dance is.

LOD, Rocko is going to step up here,

at the Absolute Dance National Championships.

MUSIC

Fantastic!

CHEERING

What extension! I mean, he's so lean.

CHEERING

That guy is actually amazing. Yeah.

Technically, he's really good, and he's like 700,000 feet tall,

so when he does stuff,

it actually looks a lot more impressive.

Wow. What a great switch split. Wow.

So much air!

He's already so tall, so seeing him actually get higher and then seeing

his legs be, like, so long it's really impressive.

CHEERING

I cannot believe how incredible Rocko is.

It's only the first round, it already feels like LOD

is miles ahead of everyone else.

CHEERING

And there you have it from Rocko,

getting Life of Dance off to a fantastic start.

The guy's got so much length, and you got to think

that LOD is going to have a long ride in this

Absolute Dance National Championship.

The judges have come to a decision.

And the studio moving on to the small group round is...

Life of Dance!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I'm not surprised that Rocko wins. I mean, he's from LOD,

so, uh, yeah. It doesn't really surprise me.

Man, do you know who you're up against yet?

Not yet, actually.

I cannot believe that Eldon didn't check who he was up against.

With all this excitement, I forgot to go and check.

I think I'm up in, like, an hour? So, we should probably go check.

Yeah, let's go check.

That's, like, one of the most important things.

Only Eldon.

What up, dawg?

OK, Body Bump Dance. Superstar Dance. Superstar Dance.

Who is Superstar dance?

I don't know. Kind of sounds familiar, though.

Do you know who the male soloist is for Superstar Dance? It's me.

Looks like it's me and you again, Eldon.

Knowing I'm going to be competing against Eldon

is very satisfying for me.

It's kind of my one little take at revenge.

All right. Good luck. You're going to need it. My solo is killer.

He's got a bit of an attitude problem.

Pfft. Whatever, man.

You're going to be so mad that you left The Next Step

when Eldon's through with you.

He left the studio just because I got the solo part.

So, I'm ready to show him that I deserved that

and there's nothing he could have done about it.

We'll see.

Woooo. That's some competition.

I honestly think that that's going to make Eldon go so much harder.

I'm ready to kill it, like, twice as much now. Like, twice as much?

I think it's funny that Eldon and I are paired up against each other.

There is tonnes of other soloists, and it's kind of fate that we're

paired together for this first competition.

MUFFLED MUSIC

I've beaten Daniel before,

but he's really good and he's really motivated.

And I know if I don't dance my best, he could send The Next Step home.

It's time.

I get this feeling in the pit of my stomach

and I just want to get out there and tear it apart.

Hey. Are you ready?

Yo, he is so ready. Just watch, just watch.

Eldon looks so unbelievably focused right now.

If anything, it's a good sign, because it means he's ready.

Once again, Male Solo is the first part of this six-part play...

Eye on the prize. ..at the Absolute Dance National Championships.

Good luck, Daniel.

She's trying to psych me out. She obviously wants Eldon to win.

She favours him over me.

How are you? Good. How are you? I'm good. I miss you.

Good. I miss you, too. Did you choreograph this? Of course.

I had to pull a lot of tricks out of the bag.

Oh, I'm excited to see it. Me, too. Good luck. Same to you.

Word on the street is that Daniel used to dance for The Next Step.

Until, apparently, the head choreographer

from The Next Step took a little leave of absence, permanently,

to another studio and guess who followed? Daniel.

SDA's third trip to these

Absolute Dance National Championships, but they've got a

new fresh face in the line-up, who's about to take the stage right now.

Whoo! Let's go!

I put so much at stake quitting The Next Step

and moving to Superstar and they're all here watching

and judging me, along with thousands of people watching.

So, I'm definitely feeling the pressure at this point.

MUSIC

I've got a lot to prove with this solo,

so Chris and I worked really hard to bring something new to my dancing.

CHEERING

The Next Step is going to be expecting my softer,

balletic, contemporary style,

but we're bringing something totally new.

It's like a whole new style for him. It's harder. It's more intense.

Daniel is probably one of the most amazing male dancers I've ever

seen in my life.

And he really stepped his game up.

This is just the first round at these Absolute Dance National

Championships in male solos and this is one for the ages.

Wow, so Superstar Dance Academy's third trip to these Nationals,

but for one, Daniel, it was his first time under the hot, hot spotlight

and I think he came and did a great job with his performance.

What do you think? Absolutely.

I mean, you cannot even deny the high water benchmarks that he

just put down on the floor.

Come here, man!

Daniel's dance is amazing. He's really grown since leaving

The Next Step.

I hate to admit it, but maybe it was a good move for him.

That's what we do.

Going to Superstar really has changed the way that

I move as a dancer, and I think

that was the best thing for me to do at that point.

I'd outgrown The Next Step.

He has improved a lot, but it just builds my adrenaline.

I know once I get out there,

nothing's going to stop me from doing the best I could possibly do.

Well, Tre Armstrong,

you know that win at Regionals, that has no play here.

The Next Step starts a new adventure

Eldon, from The Next Step is up, a former team-mate of Daniel's.

Technique, passion. Another word I'd like to use for this performance?

Power. He just seems so strong.

Without realising it, the storyline of my solo is

kind of like the storyline I had at The Next Step.

Everything was good at the beginning.

It was nice and smooth and then things just started happening.

I lost all of my confidence.

I lost Michelle, I lost my solo, but I still kept with it.

I built a relationship with Michelle.

I'm finally good friends with Hunter.

I'm finally feeling like I'm meant to be at The Next Step.

Eldon is pulling off all of his best tricks. He's doing great.

He's an amazing dancer. And you know what? I'm glad I can

watch a friend dance now, too.

Watching Eldon dance is actually a bit of a reality check.

I was probably a little overly confident, um, during my solo

and I'm hoping that that's not going be my downfall.

Well, it's a standing O from the audience.

Chuck, I guess they love it.

No doubt about that, Tre.

This, my friend, is going to be very interesting,

because Daniel laid it all out on the floor.

Eldon, I would say, at least equalled that.

What do you think?

I think the judges have a really tough time ahead of them.

I do not envy you guys right now.

Good luck. Yep.

I danced the best I've ever danced in my life.

So, whatever happens, I'm happy.

Whoever wins this first matchup will be

moving on with their team to the small group round.

Waiting to hear if I've won is the most stressful thing.

Everything's been banking on this moment and I'm really anxious

to hear the judgment.

The judges have tabulated the scores

and the team moving on to the second round is...

I want this not only for us, but also for him.

He deserves it.

..The Next Step!

I worked so hard to be perfect.

And I'm not.

And I just don't know how to deal with that.

It's so incredible to know that we're one step closer

to getting that Nationals title.

It's the momentum of the win.

The other dancers get excited and

they get inspired, and next thing you know

they're going to take all the rounds.

I can't wait to see

the boy's small group. It's going to be good.

Luther Brown's choreography. We got to do this.

It's been a hard day for me with

everything that's happened with Daniel.

So, I'm just trying to relax and have some fun.

Hi. Hey, Daniel. Um, I...

You know what? I'm actually kind of glad you're here.

I wanted to tell you that your solo is amazing. Really?

Yes, it was so good, Daniel. Thank you.

I... I came over because I need to apologise.

I'm really happy that Daniel apologised,

because I don't know how much longer

I could last without talking to my best friend.

I think apologising to Giselle has been long overdue.

Um, she was always my best friend at The Next Step

and I really want to save my friendship with her.

I understand why you left The Next Step.

You wanted your moment. Excuse me for a minute.

Hi, friend, my name is Sergei

and I'm head of the dance department at Julliard.

Julliard is the best dance school in the world.

When you graduate from Julliard,

you're basically guaranteed a career in dance,

because it's a really, really, REALLY hard programme to get into.

You have something really special, my young friend,

and I want you to audition for Julliard.

Give me a call and we'll arrange the audition next week.

I haven't seen so much fun and fire

since young Mischa danced in Moscow 40 years ago.

It's been Daniel's dream since we were little kids.

That's so amazing. I'm just...

I'm so proud of him. I really am.

Daniel!

That's amazing.

What just happened?

It just goes to show you that you don't have to win to be great.

Oh, my goodness. I have goose bumps.

Just remember, I taught you. You taught me.

We're moving on to the Small Group round

and I have my best friend back.

Nationals is turning out to be even better than I thought.

# We, we're going to show the world

# Everything we're made of

# We're going to tear the roof off this place

# No, you can never fade us out

# Don't even ask the DJ

# Everybody knows We own this house. #