What Are You Waiting For? The Next Step

Previously on The Next Step...

Michelle, are you coming home to The Next Step?

Well, I guess so! CHEERING

It feels so good to be back on the team.

I honestly missed them so much.

Nice. With that solo, we're getting into the semifinals.

I can't believe The Next Step showed up.

Seeing as they're the weakest team here. Right, Amanda?

I know I've messed with The Next Step before,

but now we're at Nationals and I just want to win fair and square.

'And the studio moving on to compete in the female solo round is...

-'The Next Step.'

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I can't wait to compete with my solo and I'm fired up.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

We won! Yo!

Whoo!

It's so amazing that we made it through to the fourth round.

I'm really excited to compete against Amanda with my solo.

And if she can win that, it's time for the semifinals.

Actually, I'm a little bit worried going into

facing off against Michelle.

Right now, I just don't know how it's going to turn out.

OK, guys, we have like six hours

until Michelle has to compete for female solo. So...

-Let's go to the mall.

-OK...

They still have to do all the duets and

I'm the last person in the solo category,

so I have some time to kill.

I would really love to go to the mall.

Only if you promise to be here an hour before you perform.

-I'll be here two hours before. I promise.

-OK, good.

Let's go! THEY CHEER

Whoo!

Listen, you follow The Next Step

and make sure that Michelle does not get back for her solo.

OK. Will do.

# We

# We're gonna show the world

# Everything we're made of

# We're gonna tear the roof off

# This place... #

Stand up!

-I can't believe how good LOD was.

-I know.

A few of us have taken a break from the Nationals competition

and gone to a mall nearby.

I actually just kind of wanted to stop in this store to

buy my mum something. If you guys don't mind.

-Just don't be late.

-I won't be.

-OK.

-I'll see you later.

-All right. Good luck!

-Thank you.

I stay behind at the mall, because my mum couldn't make it to

Nationals this year, so I wanted to get a souvenir for her.

And I know I'll make it back in time for my solo, so it's no big deal.

ALARM RINGS

-Look, she stole!

-Thank you.

We have a code seven at...

Hi, excuse me? Can I just see inside your bag super-quick?

-Yeah, go ahead.

-OK.

OK, wow. We stole something today.

-I did not steal that.

-Yeah, you're coming with us.

I didn't steal that!

-That's what they all say.

-What?

-All right.

-Thank you so much.

-No problem.

I swear, I don't know how the perfume got in my bag.

If I don't make it back to the competition in time,

I'm going to miss my solo.

CLASSICAL PIANO MUSIC PLAYS

APPLAUSE

LOD not only stands for Life Of Dance,

it stands for Ladies Of Destruction.

Let's see if Lexy is a lady who will destroy the competition

in this round of the Absolute Dance National Championship.

APPLAUSE

Last year at Nationals, I was female soloist, and I lost.

We never got to make it to semifinals.

It was all my fault

and I can't let my team down again.

I know I'm better than last year. And if I can beat Michelle, then

everyone's going to know that Elite really is better than The Next Step.

Everything's sticky. There's barbecue sauce all over my keyboard.

Because you keep eating in here. Stop eating in here!

-Where am I supposed to eat?

-In the food court, like everybody else.

-I've been banned.

-Maybe you shouldn't have gotten

so aggressive with that little boy and his fries.

Hey! That kid was stealing ketchup packets, OK?

-Fan!

-METALLIC SCRATCHING

Why do you keep flicking the fan every five seconds?

Because it's broken.

Maybe little princess should go to the mall and steal us

a new fan, like you stole that perfume.

I don't steal and I would never steal that kind of perfume.

FAN STUTTERS

How did that perfume get into that bag without a receipt?

I don't know. Maybe you should check your security tapes.

Don't tell us how to do our job, OK?

We don't tell you how to steal, OK?

-I have to go, though.

-You have to go where?

The only place you might be going is jail.

-Prison. How do you like that, huh?

-Prison!

Put a smile on your face? I don't think so...

At this point, I don't think I'm going to make it back

to the competition in time.

# Take me there

# That place inside your head... #

Starting to get really nervous.

All of the dancers are back but not Michelle.

She promised she would be back in time.

# Things you never said. #

APPLAUSE

Now, that was an incredible routine. And an incredible performance.

I mean, again.

Will that be enough this year, though,

to take her to the next level?

Well, right now, she's up against an incredible competitor from CBC,

so we'll have to see what they have to offer.

So, so?

I took care of Michelle. Don't worry about it.

Yes! Good girl, Tess.

I'm sorry. What do you mean you took care of Michelle?

I made it so she wouldn't make it for her solo.

Do you want to win?

If I'm going to win, I want to win fair and square.

Do you both not believe in me?!

Well, I do but...

'I know Lucien and Tess always want to win.'

And believe me, so do I.

But when it comes to dance, I want to win fairly.

Of course we believe in you.

That's why you should be warming up right now. Do your job.

Take care of your body. Get ready for this.

Stop worrying about everything else. Just do your thing.

Good job, Tess. You did it.

I'm on your team.

You're supposed to have trust in me that I can win, no matter what.

I don't understand them.

-TRE:

-Well, Chuck, even though they're a less experienced troupe,

I think they might actually make it to the semifinals this year.

There are only three more dancers before Michelle

is supposed to be on stage. We need to find her, right now.

-Is she here?

-I can't find her.

-No, she's not here.

Right now, the whole team is looking for Michelle. I mean,

she's up soon. I just can't believe she's doing this.

Can you call her?

Yes. I'll call her.

Hey, you get ten more minutes of stick time left, then it's my turn.

You're spinning it the wrong way.

It's Tuesday. That's the way we spin it on Tuesdays.

I've been spinning it wrong the whole day?

PHONE RINGS

Don't you dare touch that phone, young lady.

I thought every felon was allowed at least one phone call.

Not in this office.

-How do you get reception in here anyway?

-I can never get reception.

-I don't get reception in this building.

-Who's your carrier?

Fan.

I'm sure she's on her way.

Can we just go one week - one week - without losing a team member.

Apparently, the universe

only wants The Next Step to have nine dancers.

I'll just go back to the mall and I'll look for her.

Turn your phone on!

I'm so confused. How long does it take

to get a gift for your mum?

Pick up some chocolates, hit the road. Let's go!

-Maybe I could make up something just as alternate?

-Go work on it!

I have some kind of a solo prepared

from when we were auditioning and...

I guess I'm the only hope we have right now.

I do think Riley can do the solo.

I think it's a good back-up plan.

But you never want to have to use your back-up plan.

Tre Armstrong, there are teams that are here

this week with little to no experience in what it takes

to win this whole darned thing.

The Joanne Chapman School of Dance, they know what it takes.

ETHEREAL MUSIC PLAYS

After losing to LOD in the semifinals last year,

I can see Sabrina's fighting to get her team to face

LOD in the semis again this year.

This is bad.

I haven't heard a single word from Chloe or Michelle.

It looks like Riley's going to have to go on.

Riley hasn't rehearsed her solo in forever.

It's not going to be clean, she's not going to have the stamina.

She's in her duet costume.

It won't be as good as Michelle.

I don't know how, but I am sure that Elite is behind this.

And if their scheme works,

it's going to cost us the entire competition.

LIVELY MUSIC PLAYS

-You're going to take this all the way.

-OK.

I'm nervous. I know Michelle's not here yet.

So, what's going to happen?

And the troupe moving on to the semifinals is

Joanne Chapman's School of Dance.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Now it's time for the final match up between Elite and The Next Step.

Luckily, Amanda's performing first

so we have a little bit of extra time.

-Ew.

-Sorry.

My only hope of making it to my female solo is

if I can get them to watch the security tapes.

Then, they'll believe me.

-Good.

-COMPUTER PINGS

-Oh, here we go.

-Is that the footage?

-Yep.

-Finally.

All right.

Yeah, who's that?

That's Tess. Can I please go now?

-Well you sure bungled this one up.

-How did I bungle it?

-Can I go now?

-She...she left the store. The alarm went off.

-How did I bungle it?

-You bungled it. It wasn't her.

You can't even tell... You apprehended the wrong person.

You can go but... OK, well she's already left then.

I've been running around the mall forever. I can't seem

to find Michelle anywhere.

As I leave the mall, I see Chloe outside the store where

Tess set me up.

-Where have you been?

-I can't explain right now. Can we please go?

-Yeah.

I hope we get there in time cos I really want to see Tess's face

when I beat Amanda.

Well, this is certainly an interesting match up here

in female solo. We got The Next Step against Elite.

And you know, these two young ladies used to be in the same troupe.

Part of me doesn't want to dance.

I want to wait till she gets here so we can fight fairly.

Amanda and Elite. They're up first.

ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYS

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Now here I go with another stupid love song... #

So, Amanda from Elite is very familiar with the

female solo aspect of this competition,

but it didn't work out well for her last time round, Tre.

No, Chuck. Not at all.

This is where Elite actually lost last year.

So it's very risky to actually have Amanda - the same soloist -

come back to the same level again this year.

# Boom-boom boom-boom

# Baby, where did your love go?

# Oh...

# Don't try to stop me now

# D'you think I'm breakin' down?

# Well, you're wrong

# Oh...

# So you can hear me now

# I will break you down

# This is not a love song... #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Yeah!

Look at her. She looks so good.

-Did you see that?

-Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter.

I'm going to throw up.

I'm going to throw up.

Amanda is doing amazing,

which is making me even more nervous

because if she's doing amazing,

then I have to top that, and that's just...

-SHE EXHALES

-I don't know if that's possible.

Nice.

Nice.

# This is not a love song, no... #

OK, you know this. You're going to be amazing, OK?

I want to say that Riley will be able to pull off

this solo if she has to. But we're talking

about Nationals here,

and I just don't know.

# Baby, where did your love go?

# Oh...

# Don't try to stop me now... #

I've let everyone down before.

No matter what Tess and Lucien have done,

I have to dance my best for my team.

I just really hope Michelle gets here in time.

# This is not a love song, no. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

That was so good! That was so good!

You were so on!

Thank you, but is Michelle here yet?

No, don't worry, girl. We're going to make it.

We're going on to the semifinals.

'Elite versus The Next Step.'

These two teams are bitter rivals

as they faced off in the Regional finals

that The Next Step won.

Word is that she's one of the dancers to watch.

OK, here we go. Uh, Riley, remember to breathe.

Just deep breaths, OK? Stay in your block.

-OK.

-All right. Here we go.

..she can do it again this year but as a member of The Next Step.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Where is she?

Where is Michelle from The Next Step?

We don't see her on the stage.

I'm not very prepared.

What if I mess up and our chances are gone from winning Nationals?

OK.

OK, here I go.

I definitely am wondering, where is Michelle?

You don't want to lose it for you team

at this level of the competition.

OK.

-I love you, I love you.

-Yeah.

-Michelle!

-Michelle!

-She's here.

She's here.

I hope Amanda, Tess and Elite really enjoyed themselves,

cos they're about to go home.

I'm going to show them how you really win at Nationals.

Good luck, good luck!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

For a minute there, I thought things weren't

going to work out so well for The Next Step.

Well, it's not over yet, Chuck.

RHYTHMIC DANCE MUSIC PLAYS

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I can tell she's angry because of what happened.

And just because that happened, she's killing it.

# Lights, camera, action

# We ready for the show

# The spotlight's on me

# And I ain't stopping, let's go

# Lights, camera, action

# We ready for the show

# It's gonna be a-a-a show stopper

# Show stopper... #

I mean, she's so fierce and intense.

I don't think I've ever seen her dance like this.

# Show stopper

# A show stopper

# A show stopper... #

My solo is going great. But I'm still a little nervous.

Before I even came to Nationals this year,

I lost a lot of confidence, and that's why I left the studio.

# Boom, boom, boom... #

THEY CHEER

# Put your hands on your knees

# Let me go down low

# And drop it to the floor... #

Oh, into a Vogue drop. She's giving me Madonna.

Vogue, honey. She's gotta live.

Whoo!

# One time for your money

# Two times for the show

# If you gonna dance with me

# Come on, let's go

# Show stopper

# She's a show stopper... #

Being on the stage right now just feels so right.

I can't believe that I ever doubted myself.

I found myself through dance and I've gained a lot of confidence.

And that is what this solo is all about.

# We-we-we run the show. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I feel so good as soon as I finish my solo.

I literally feel like I could just do it all over again.

That's how much energy I have.

The Next Step versus Elite. We know their past history.

Which team is going to make it to the semifinals

here at the Absolute Dance National Championships?

We are about to find out.

Michelle...

You know I had nothing to do

with Tess getting you into trouble, right?

'I feel bad about what Elite did to Michelle.'

It's not right and everyone deserves to dance.

Well, it's fine. Made it here on time anyway.

And the winner of female solo, moving onto the semifinals is...

I've never been more nervous in my life.

Considering I lost last year,

what's my team going to do if I lose this year?

It's not about winning.

All that matters is that I tried my best.

And I'm confident.

..The Next Step!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I am so happy that I won.

This means that our whole team gets to perform in the semifinals round.

I'm really sorry. For everything.

'She deserves an apology.'

'And I guess, for everything I've put The Next Step'

through, she deserves an apology for that too.

There'll be no appealing for Elite. Their road is done.

It ends at female solos.

But for The Next Step, they're moving on to semifinals.

MUFFLED SPEECH

We're moving on to the semifinals of Nationals.

Can you believe this? I'm...I am stoked. I am ready!

'Which means what?'

Elite is out.

See ya, Amanda.

Losing is really disappointing.

But I know Michelle deserves it

and they deserve to go on to semifinals.

And then finals.

And they deserve to win.

CHEERING AND CHANTING

# We

# We're gonna show the world

# Everything we're made of

# We're gonna tear the roof off

# This place

# You

# You can never fade us out

# Don't even ask the DJ

# Everybody knows

# We own this town. #