Fancy Footwork The Next Step

Previously on The Next Step...

-We'll keep her in the front until the day before Regionals.

-Mm-hm.

It's too late then, for anything to happen.

And then, we'll kick her off the team.

I'm just a tool in their plot to win Regionals.

What about the costumes?

The costumes are in Arkansas.

Arkansas.

I was dancing with Seeds... until about a year ago.

See you at Regionals.

They beat us in a dance battle.

So, what if they beat us again? That'll be humiliating.

I still do like you and I want to be with you.

I guess I just can't let him go.

I'm sorry.

'I have to focus on Regionals and move on and be strong.'

'We're about to get on the bus to go to Regionals'

and I cannot control my nerves.

Well, well, well! Look who the cat dragged in!

Look who decided to show up.

Yo, yo.

'I'm just super-stoked and I really just want to get there,'

just to start the competition. I'm so ready.

'The energy in the room, as we get ready to leave'

for Regionals, is palpable.

'I am super-nervous,'

but super-excited.

'I really think we're going to do it this year -

'go to Regionals and...'

finally, hopefully win!

How long is the bus ride?

Four hours.

OK, cos I'm not using that bathroom.

-Diva!

-Yeah, is there even a bathroom on the bus?

-Is there a bathroom?

-Yeah! Diva!

-Miss Kate?

-Yeah?

We're ready for you in Studio A.

Oh, perfect.

We have a surprise for you guys in Studio A.

-A surprise?

-Yeah. Come, follow me.

-I love surprises!

'I don't really know what the surprise could be.'

I mean, we haven't seen our costumes yet, so maybe that's it.

'Could be anything, but...'

I don't know. I'm excited to see it.

MUSIC: Stand Up by Jessica Lee and Kit Knows

Guys, they're coming! They're coming!

I'm really excited I came to the studio to say goodbye to everyone.

I'm really excited for them to go to Regionals.

-Daniel!

-Hey!

-'You know, he should have been coming

'to Regionals with us,'

but I'm just happy he's there to send us off.

It was really great to see his face, you know? It was really inspiring.

I think we have a really great shot. If they win at Regionals,

we'll be able to go to Nationals and I'm sure I'll be better by then.

So, welcome, A-Troupe.

We just made this song for you guys, to wish you good luck at Regionals.

-A-TROUPE:

-Aww...

# Remember not to move too fast

# If you want to try to make it last

# It's all just a dream in the making

# Oh, oh-whoa

# Oh, oh-whoa

# When you're on top of the world

# And you've got it all figured

# When the train goes off the track

# You're picking up, picking up on the slack

# Oh, oh,

# Oh

# Wish you well

# Wish you well

# You'll be mack by the time you come back, I can tell

# Put your head up a little higher

# Show it off to the world you're about to set on fire

# Oh... #

I really didn't realise how talented these kids were.

I mean, they're unreal.

I can't wait until they're A-Troupers one day.

That is the perfect way

for us to be sent off to Regionals.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Do we have some talented kids at The Next Step, or what?

-Oh, yeah!

-I think so.

OK, well, the bus is probably here for Regionals, so let's head out.

-Ahh!

-Uh, Kate?

-Yeah?

Where are the costumes?

So, there was an issue with costumes a little earlier on.

So, I just want to make sure they're here.

Um...

I'm nervous about the costumes, because, I mean,

we're about to head on a bus to go to Regionals

and they're not here yet.

There's something I should probably tell you guys.

-Miss Kate?

-Um, there's...

Miss Kate?

Um... They are, um...

Um...

Right in Chris' hands!

-Cos I found them in the...

-In the upstairs...

-Basement upstairs.

..basement, upstairs, back hall, um...

-In the hallway.

-What?

-Open them up, guys!

-Yeah! Costumes!

'They totally bought our cover that the costumes were in

a back yard, basement pool upstairs.

I mean, come on - who wouldn't?

-Oh, a note.

-What is it?

"We think your costumes rock.

"Good luck at Regionals.

"Love, Miss Arkansas Dance Studio."

-A-TROUPE: Aww!

-I'm keeping that as a good luck charm.

-A-TROUPE GASPS Oh, sweet!

-Wow!

-There you go.

'The costumes are here. Oh...

'That would have been the biggest disaster, ever.'

I'm so happy!

Are you guys ready for Regionals?

CHEERING

'Everything's here, everything's prepared.'

Let's go win Regionals!

# Oh, wish you well

# Wish you well

# You'll be mack by the time you come back, I can tell

# Hold your head up a little higher

# Show it off to the world you're about to set on fire

# Oh

# Oh, oh

# Oh, oh

# Oh, oh. #

Stepping out onto the Regional stage for the first time...

..is amazing.

I can't wait to get out onto that stage, with an audience out there.

We're going to win it, this year.

-Wow...

-Giselle is here, everybody.

Everyone is just so excited right now.

Me, especially,

because I wasn't even supposed to be

in A-Troupe at all, this year.

Echo!

Dude, there's totally no echo...

No, there is, there is! Ec-ho!

That's totally you, man. That's...that's you.

'If it wasn't for Riley and West,'

I mean, I wouldn't have passed math.

I wouldn't have even been here.

'For a while, I didn't think that I would be able to even get here'

and now that I really am, it's amazing and I'm just so excited.

We get to dance on this stage, in front of all of these people.

It's crazy.

This is going to be so awesome!

I know.

-This is so unreal.

-Yeah.

We're finally here.

Yeah, finally.

'I think something's going on between Michelle and Eldon...'

..but I'm not exactly sure what.

Not that I don't know what that's like.

Right now, we're all lined up waiting to register.

-Look who showed up.

-What?

Elite comes in with matching tracksuits.

Why do you need you need to wear matching tracksuits?

I mean, are you really that unoriginal?

Can you not dress yourself?

Staff! Staff.

Like, really? Staff? Do you need staff?

Who... What does the staff even do?

How come they get to bypass the line?

Well, because they won last year,

they're kind of like celebrities here, so they get a line bypass.

-Oh, round two, here we go.

-Shh, shh.

I really didn't want to run into Amanda this early.

I know she's going to have quite a few things to say to me

after I left Elite.

How do you like waiting in line?

It's fine. I'm with my friends.

Oh, please. I bet you wish you were still at Elite.

There's no reason why she needs to talk to us.

Just go off with your team.

Actually, Emily's fine here.

And we don't need matching jackets to prove we're a team.

Although, I do have matching socks.

You want to see?

You guys are a joke.

-Amanda?

-Hi.

-Hi.

-Do you want to come over for an interview?

-Sure.

-Let's do it.

Honestly, I just want to take Elite down.

Of course, the eyes are on the prize of a national title,

But to get there, you've got to do well, here -

at the Absolute Dance Regional Championships.

I'm Chuck Anderson, alongside Stacey Tookey,

who knows a little bit about the pressure that comes in concert

with a competition like this.

How does this competition differ from your traditional event?

In normal competitions, you see it once and that's it,

but here, they have to win at least four times

to take the Regional Championship.

So, it's about being consistent, it's about teamwork

and it really is the best competition out there.

24 teams in this competition.

There are three brackets.

With more on the brackets, let's go down to Lisa.

I'm standing live in front of the scoreboard at this year's

Absolute Dance Regionals.

Now, here's how the competition works -

there are 24 teams arranged in three brackets,

each containing eight teams. The teams will face off

one on one and the judges are going to award points.

Now, the top scoring team in each bracket

moves forward to the semifinal round.

But, even if a team doesn't make it into the semifinals right away,

all is not lost.

The coveted "Wild Card" spot

also gets them into the semifinals.

What that "wild" spot means is that we have a competition

where anything can happen.

Back to you, Chuck and Stacey.

Brad, are we clear?

All right, good. Let's go over and we'll find the guy from Seeds.

I want to interview him, OK?

As you guys can see, we're in a

totally different bracket than Elite and Seeds, OK?

So, if we want to beat them, we've got to the semifinals.

Marcel.

Hi, there. Good for an interview?

-Sure.

-All right, I'm here with Marcel.

He's the Dance Captain of crew Seeds, a well-known street crew.

Now, word on the street today, Marcel,

is that your team is performing right now with only nine dancers.

-Is that true?

-That is correct.

Where's your tenth dancer?

He got stopped at the border, but I'm sure he'll be here soon.

I know how much Seeds and Marcel sacrificed to get here and...

I mean, I just don't think it's right.

It's not fair that they might have to forfeit.

Well, the problem with having nine members for our viewers at home,

is that teams have to have ten dancers,

or they are automatically disqualified. So, if he doesn't

show up, you're disqualified, you're out of the competition.

-He will show up.

-How can you guarantee that?

Seeds not being able to perform is an injustice.

But that's my middle name.

My middle name is "Guy who does not like injustice."

Yeah, it's a long middle name, but I love it.

So, what will you do if your missing member

does not make it to the competition?

Well, then I have to throw someone else in and...

I know for sure that Seeds will be performing.

So, there is no way we're out.

Thanks, Marcel.

Confident words from the Dance Captain of Seeds, Marcel.

Looking for a mystery ringer member

to come in and save the day.

Back to you.

Hey, man. Hey, Marcel?

You know, I could take Tony's spot for you.

You know, I can dance in his place.

I volunteered to help Seeds

because I just want to patch things up with Marcel.

It's just the right thing to do.

-You don't know the routine.

-I know how you guys dance.

I've seen your punky videos on YouTube. You know...

No.

Seeds don't need you.

'I know that it's his pride just getting in the way.

'I know that he needs me.'

I just got to find a way to get through to him.

Five, six... Make sure that leg is up nice and high, sharp on six, OK?

-Sorry, guys. Sorry, guys. Sorry...

-West, where were you?

-Um...

I really need to talk to you guys about something.

-What's going on?

-Seeds is missing a member of their troupe.

Oh, that's perfect. One less team to beat.

About that...

I kind of want to take Tony's spot and dance for them.

Is he crazy? We've worked so hard to get here

and he wants to dance for the competing team.

No, absolutely not!

You came here with us, you dance with us!

And in case I have to remind you,

Seeds is one of our biggest rivals.

Actually, The Next Step is in a different ladder,

so you won't even be competing against Seeds until the finals

and by then, Tony will be back.

It's true.

I mean, what if he hurts himself?

Or, if he gets too tired and he doesn't perform as well?

Elite would never let one of their own dancers

compete with another studio.

Guys, obviously we're not Elite.

You know what? Michelle's right.

Michelle, how do you feel about a vote?

I think a vote's a good idea.

OK. Those for West dancing for Seeds,

please raise your hands.

Looks like you're good to go, West.

All right.

We're on at three. You'd better be back here at three...

Don't worry, I'll be back.

You know, I love helping.

You know, that's my middle name. "Guy who likes to help people".

You know, I'm like a nurse - a dance nurse.

'You get the sense that every single person

'at that registration table out there knows exactly what...'

-Look, what are we going to do?

-I don't know, I'm still thinking.

Well, you better think fast. We're running out of time.

'The pressure going on here...'

'The competition has started and we haven't even got to

'the stage yet. They're getting ready, competition faces are on...'

What are you doing here? I told you I don't need your help.

-You've still only got nine dancers.

-Look, we'll figure it out.

You're minutes away from getting on that stage.

What, do you think they're not going to notice?

You will get disqualified.

All right.

All right. But after this, we're even...

..and you're my friend.

-All right, Compass.

-All right.

You know, I live in a world full of honour and integrity.

You know, that's my middle name -

"Guy who loves honour and integrity".

It appears that dance crew, Seeds,

has been saved at the eleventh hour.

'In an unprecedented move, a dancer from a rival crew -

'also competing today -

'has agreed to step in and dance for them.'

It's good to have you back.

It's good to be back.

Risky move for Seeds. Brave move for West.

Let's see how it turns out. Back to you, Stacey and Chuck.

Now, that adds a little bit of tension here,

because West is actually a former member of Seeds.

So, here it is. He left that group, and he's onto the Next Step.

And now, he's filling in for his competition.

This has never been done before.

'All right, you're thinking this is sportsmanship, right?

'I'm thinking this is someone really helping out an old team member,

'and it's sportsmanship at its best.

'Well, we won't know until we see how this thing exactly shakes down,

'as we're about to see right now.'

Exactly, let's watch.

MUSIC: Girlz Trippin' by Jordan Francis

Seeds is putting on a great performance.

They're so on point and their style is so unique.

Watching Seeds perform obviously makes me nervous.

Just because they have beat us before,

earlier on in the year, with the dance battle.

But it doesn't mean we're not going to beat them later.

Seeds is performing really well.

I mean, it does feel really good to perform with Seeds, once again.

Maybe I was wrong about him dancing with them.

I mean, he's doing a good thing for a group of friends.

But... I just kind of want him to get it over with,

so he can come back and dance with us.

OK, guys, let's go get dressed quick, OK? Come on, let's go.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Judges are going to tabulate the marks...

-We'll find out if this really paid off.

-What'd you think so far?

-Well, you know...

-When I was watching the competition,

I couldn't help myself from just focusing in on West.

He's the one that came in to save the day. We'll find out if it paid off.

I was a little worried at the

beginning, because he looked a little unsure of the steps.

Which is to be understood. I mean, he's just stepped in.

'The judges have come to a decision.

'And in their first round, out of a total score of 100 -

'Seeds has 88 points.'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Seeds defeats Body Bump Dance

by a score of...88 to 83,

to move on to the second round.

This is absolutely so exciting. Sportsmanship at its best.

I actually heard too, there was a previous battle that happened,

-where Next Step was actually beat by Seeds.

-Ahh...

So, this could, in turn, be really exciting -

if the Next Step moves on, they could be battling it out again,

-Oh, my goodness.

-..this time, for the big prize.

Sounds almost Shakespearean, doesn't it?

But, uh, what an amazing development as Seeds moves on,

with the help of a member of The Next Step.

-Come on, gather round!

-Gather round!

Come on, come on, come on, come on, everybody.

-Come on, Tiff.

-Come on in.

OK, this is our first step on the road to Nationals.

Are you guys ready?

-We're so ready.

-Yeah.

-Good, great.

-Um...

..where's West?

I told him three! He should be here!

-He's right there.

-What?

-Oh, yes.

Guys, I hurt my ankle when I was on stage with Seeds.

I don't know if I'll be able to dance.

I'm sorry.

I can't...

There are no words.

You hurt yourself, just like we thought you were going to do.

I knew it was a bad idea.

I knew he shouldn't have danced with Seeds.

Why are you dressed, bro?

OK, I'm kidding, I'm kidding!

A-TROUPE GROANS

I knew it, I knew it!

When I learned that West was joking,

I kind of wanted to make that limp real.

-A-TROUPE:

-The Next Step!

-Go, go, go!

-THEY CHEER

I'm so relieved, because now we can go on stage

and have a great performance and... we're going to win.

We've been waiting for this for so long and we're finally here

and I'm just so excited.

This is what every drama,

every tear, every moment has led up to.

I mean...

This is it.