Let the Games Begin The Next Step

Previously on The Next Step...

To be honest, rehearsing with Elite is great.

Lucien seems to really like me.

I'm in the front and centre the whole time, which is where I should be.

-Emily's not cleared to dance.

-I'm sorry, what?

-I'm ready to compete.

-I'm sorry but we can't risk it.

That's it. It's over.

We have an extra spot open on the A-Troupe to compete against Elite.

And we were wondering if you wanted to...

Yes, for sure!

I'm going to have to bow out of the competition.

Wait a minute, Kate. Let's not be too hasty here.

Let's put her on the team.

Oh, yeah, there's one more thing.

Michelle counts as an Elite win.

All he needs is seven out of 12 dancers

and the Next Step belongs to him.

# So give it up, up

# All of your love, love

# And don't run, run away. #

It is the beginning of the competition

and it's very, very tense.

There's the Next Step on one side and Elite on the other.

I'm really nervous for this competition.

Especially because it's Elite versus the Next Step.

It's one versus one.

We're going to start picking names.

To be honest, I'm really not worried about the head-to-head battle today.

Lucien has already promised me a spot at Internationals

if I do what he says, and, obviously, I'm going to.

All right, you guys.

It's time for the competition.

All of the names have been placed in the hat.

It could be Elite versus Elite, Elite versus the Next Step,

or even the Next Step versus the Next Step.

Hunter.

Kill it! Kill it!

I'm pumped. I'm glad Hunter got picked first

because I know he's good and I know he'll set a sweet tone.

HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

Eldon.

This goes against everything I stand for

and this is why I didn't want to compete in the first place,

and now I have to compete against Hunter.

The first two to go up against each other

are two members of the Next Step.

This is just the perfect moment right now.

All right. You guys have an hour to rehearse

and then we'll come back and compete.

It's bro versus bro.

The Next Step versus the Next Step.

But you know what?

They know what they have to do.

This is it.

We're losing a member of the Next Step.

# We

# We are gonna show the world

# Everything we're made of

# We're gonna tear the roof off this place

# Stand up. #

All right. Round one. Let's do it.

Good luck, bro. Let's kill this.

Me and Hunter have battled twice now.

The first time, Hunter won.

The second time, I won.

This is the tie-breaker.

# Come on Yeah

# Listen to me Listen to me now

# It's like that

# I never been one to dream past day two

# Making friends was by no means my strong suit... #

Even though these are horrible circumstances,

I've never seen Hunter dance this good ever.

# I'll make you love me

# I never think twice

# I've got the recipe

# I'm never giving it up... #

He's giving it his all.

He knows what's up.

# I'm going to the top

# I'm never coming down

# I'm never gonna stop till I'm the toast of the town

# I'm going to the top

# I'm never coming down

# Never gonna stop till I'm the toast of the town... #

How many times do I have to watch Hunter dust the floor with his head?

Come on.

# I'm going to the top. #

Part of me does want to take it easy on him

but I know, once I get out there,

there's no stopping.

I have to dance as hard as I possibly can for the good of the team,

so that's exactly what I'm going to do.

# Everyone is talking I need someone to recede

# Imitation everything I don't know what is real

# And the lights are fading down

# Doors closing behind you... #

Eldon's doing amazing.

Eldon dances and, I mean, it's Eldon.

He's phenomenal. He's killing it.

# This is going on. #

This guy is amazing.

If this is the calibre of dance we're coming up against,

I don't know how many of us are going to make it.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

OK.

Do we have a clear winner?

On the count of three,

everyone point to who you think should be on the team.

One, two, three.

Eldon,

you're on the Internationals team.

You are officially the second dancer.

I'm so sorry, Hunter.

I'm leaving with my head held high because I killed it

and I couldn't be more proud of myself.

It is very hard to vote against Hunter,

but we all promised that we wouldn't be biased

and Eldon was clearly the stronger dancer.

We need the best on the Internationals team,

so this is what has to happen.

Eldon, since you won, you get to choose the next dancer to compete.

It's horrible that we already lost a Next Step dancer in the first round

but we got to keep moving forward.

We cannot let this rip us apart.

Abi.

I think I'm ready for this but, of course, I'm a little bit nervous.

I've seen Abi dance before and she's incredible.

It would be really cool if we make the International team together.

I'd really like to get to know her.

Noah.

Great.

Abi picks me.

How am I supposed to get to know her now?

All right. You guys know the drill.

You have an hour to rehearse and then we'll meet back here.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

I go into the music room and Abi's rehearsing there.

I...

I just kind of freeze up.

Do you need room to practise?

Erm... No, no, no.

I don't need to rehearse at all actually. I'm good.

Why? You think you're so good you don't have to try and beat me?

No, no, no. Erm...

-What I meant is you're good. You're amazing.

-Thanks.

Erm... Good luck. I mean, you need luck, I need luck.

Erm... I have a cat.

I thought he just wanted to rehearse

but now he's just talking about his cat

and, I mean, I don't really know what's going on.

It might be a distraction tactic but I'm not falling for it.

-Yeah, I like cake.

-Oh. Oh.

Why am I saying these things? What's going on?

-All right. I'm going to go.

-OK, bye.

# Under the moon in the dark sunlight

# Going to fly under the sky. #

# Whoo

# All my friends and I

# Had melodies we hid behind

# Until we couldn't hear them

# When all the notes had gone away

# And so we lost and found it all astray... #

Noah is a beast.

I can see a little bit of a... Eldon touch in there a little bit,

which is kind of cool.

# Getting lost in everything we never did. #

He is doing even better than I expected.

His technique is phenomenal. His performance is phenomenal

and he really looks like an A-Troupe dancer.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

He's really amazing. His turns are en pointe.

I'm kind of nervous.

# I close my eyes I build these walls... #

She's amazing. Her technique and her lines

are absolutely outstanding.

# I'm 20 feet tall, tall... #

She is just beautiful.

She has these incredible legs and fantastic extension.

I don't know if it will be enough to beat Noah but maybe.

# So give it up, up All of your love, love

# And don't run, run away

# But if it's no more Then let me go, go

# Because there's nothing more that I can say

# Because you set me on fire

# Your love is just like a flame

# You're burning me a fire

# And I will never be the same

# You burn me You set me on fire

# Playing your love games

# You're burning me a fire

# And I will never be the same. #

She's doing great and, all of a sudden, she stumbles

and I think that may have cost her.

I never make mistakes.

I never stumble.

This is the worst time for this to possibly happen.

OK.

What do you think, guys? Who wins?

ALL: Noah!

APPLAUSE

'I can't believe everyone chose me. I mean...'

I'm actually on the International team.

This is honestly a dream come true.

Sorry, Abi. You were great.

Not great enough.

Abi's never going to be into me again, or at all.

We'll just see what happens.

It's great that Noah came all the way from J-Troupe,

all the way to the Internationals team.

He's a great dancer, though. He totally deserves it.

-Skylar.

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

When Noah picks my name, I am so excited. I can't wait to dance.

'I've trained my sister her whole life. We practise every night.'

And I know she's got this. She can do it.

Cierra.

This is the worst-case scenario.

Only one of us can make the team. I don't want to battle her.

The Next Step is officially

going to have their first Elite member after this round.

One of us is staying here

and one of us is going back to Elite.

We'll be at two different studios.

Mom has enough trouble trying to drive both of us to Elite.

She's not going to be able to drive us to two different places.

She's raising us as a single mom

and it's very expensive, very time-consuming

and things are getting pretty tough.

So we have to do something.

I know. We'll just drop out. We'll go back to Elite.

Are you sure?

We have no other choice.

Going to Internationals would mean everything to me,

but my sister means more.

-All right, we've got 20 minutes until they're back.

-Mm-hm.

Yep, 20 minutes and it will be a tie game, just the way I planned.

Ladies!

-We're not dancing.

-What do you mean, you're not dancing?

It just wouldn't be fair.

I don't want to knock her out,

she doesn't want to knock me out, so we're both going to forfeit.

Ah! Looks like that tie game of yours is going south.

Oh, yeah?

If you don't dance, you're not on the Internationals team

and I'm kicking you out of Elite.

Lucien told us that if we don't dance now,

we're not dancing ever.

What kind of a coach is that?!

OK. Will it make it a bit easier on you

if you don't have to do it in front of everyone else?

I feel for the girls, so I offered to let them do their solos now.

Whatever. Let's just do it. Hurry up! Go.

-OK.

-Move it.

I guess we have no choice but to compete against each other.

UPBEAT MUSIC

I can't believe we're competing against each other.

I mean, we helped choreograph each other's routines

and now we have to use them against each other.

As I'm dancing, I know it's tough

because I know who I'm up against,

but ultimately, this is my shot and I'm giving it everything I got.

I feel for Cierra and Skylar.

I can't imagine having to compete against Phoebe.

It's a tough thing to have to do.

UPBEAT MUSIC

As I'm dancing, I feel pretty good.

Like, it feels like one of the best times I've ever danced.

Skylar is dancing so, so well.

I mean, I know it's up against me,

but, hey, if she knocks me out, she learned from the best.

I'm very impressed with Skylar.

She's a younger dancer, but you can tell she's got a lot of potential.

She's not quite to the level of Cierra,

but maybe one day, she'll get there.

That was good, but I say Cierra.

I agree.

I'm sorry, Skylar, but I agree, as well.

Congratulations, Cierra, you're on the Internationals team.

Yeah, it's a little bittersweet.

I had to knock my sister out for this, so...

I don't really know how I'm feeling right now.

OK. So Cierra defeated Skylar,

which means she is the first official Elite dancer

on the Internationals team.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Go, Cierra!

Something went down within this past hour.

We missed Cierra versus Skylar.

And Cierra won, so I'm assuming she's good.

-West.

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Shannon.

Honestly, I'm just really excited

because I've been waiting for this for so long. I just want to dance.

UPBEAT MUSIC

West is silly.

He's the only one I know that can do a full solo with a basketball.

I like basketball, I like to dance,

so, why not put them together?

Adding a basketball, very creative,

but I'm sorry, we're dancing.

This is an art form, not a sport.

West just runs up the wall and flips, like nothing.

Throws down the trick like he throws down money on a counter to buy gum.

CHEERING

It's so creative of him to include a basketball in his routine.

He continues to amaze me every time he dances.

UPBEAT MUSIC

SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Shannon has a lot of potential.

She's very flexible, she has a good facility for dance.

Shannon's doing her solo right now and she's struggling.

Shannon is so much better than this.

The pressure is getting to her.

Come on, Shannon, pull it together, girl!

Shannon started out pretty solid, but she messed up a few times.

I don't think she's going to make the team.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I am very confident that I will win.

I'm not going to say I will,

but I'm going to say I'm confident that I will.

Who do you think should be on the team?

-West!

-Right there!

West!

Leave it to West to constantly be taking it to the next level.

That is what we need on the Internationals team.

West, you get to pull the next name!

-Richelle!

-CHEERING

Max?

When I picked Max out of the hat,

he looked really big and strong and really good.

As I'm watching Richelle's solo,

she made up her own moves that I've never seen before,

which is really cool for a kid her age.

That's awesome for her to do.

Max versus Richelle is a showdown.

These are probably the two most evenly matched dancers

in this entire competition.

# Because you set me on fire, fire

# Your love is just like a flame... #

Max is a complete powerhouse.

# And I will never be the same... #

And then you have Richelle,

who is so tiny, but she's also a powerhouse.

Max is very impressive.

I don't know if Richelle can beat him.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Good job, buddy.

I thought I was going to vote for Richelle,

but when I saw Max go, I wasn't really sure.

OK, Kate, do we have a winner?

Max is much stronger and bigger than Richelle,

so Max has the upper hand.

As much as I hate to say it,

he could be a really good asset to our team.

-Max?

-Max?

-Max!

CHEERING

-Max! Yeah!

-Max won.

Which means I won't be going to Internationals.

I'll just be back down in J-Troupe.

I thought it was my time,

but I guess not.

I'm just not ready yet.

Your turn to choose the next dancer.

Max is a great dancer and a great person to have on our team.

I just hope he's willing to forget about Elite and join the Next Step.

James.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

As soon as James' name is pulled from the hat,

that initiates the first part of our plan.

Lucien will create a diversion.

Um...who's hungry? Who's hungry? How about pizza?

Tell me what you want.

We're in the middle of a competition!

Then we go into part two, where Tess and I swap the names from the hat.

What kind? Gluten-free!

Part three then begins.

-Pineapple?

-I want pepperoni.

-What do you want, Daniel? Pepperoni?

-Pepperoni.

Then he knows that we've achieved our plan.

Sorry, everybody, listen. You're right, Kate. Cancel that order.

We can't have pizza now, we're in the middle of a competition.

We'll do this later.

Sorry, everybody. Good call, Kate. Good call. You're good.

-Let's get back to it.

-Free pizza!

-I'm so hungry.

Yeah, let's continue.

When Max picks my name, I'm ready. I'm ready to compete.

I don't care who I'm facing, I'm going to win.

Riley.

FAINT APPLAUSE

'This is so not fair.'

I don't want to do this any more.

# We, we're going to show the world

# Everything we're made of

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

# You, you can never fade us out

# Don't even ask the DJ

# Everybody knows we own this land. #