The Nutcracker Prince The Next Step

Previously on The Next Step...

-NOAH:

-'I've seen Abi dance before.'

I'd really like to get to know her.

Ah, good luck, I mean, you need luck, I need luck.

-Um, I have a cat.

-Oh.

Why am I saying these things?!

Do you think it would be OK if my sister joined The Next Step?

We'd love to have you join B-Troupe.

Maybe Abi and Shannon would be able to come, too?

OK, fine. B-Troupe will be awesome.

WEST: Leading up to Nationals, we used to hang out all the time,

we were bros and...now he's spending a lot of time with the band.

I think our dance captain... is Giselle.

What?

I get a text from Kate.

Wow.

Someone is rejoining A-Troupe.

This is not good.

WEST: I walk into Studio A and I see Eldon practising some ballet moves.

I correct him on a few things, you know,

cos I'm a team player, I like to help out.

Can I see that one more time?

-Sure.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

You see, next time you do that jump,

you might want to just engage your core a bit more,

-just so you don't fall forward.

-OK.

And also that back leg?

You want to turn it out a bit more.

So you think you know a little bit about ballet, huh?

Yeah. You know, I've access to the internet.

You know, I researched some things. I know stuff.

And what muscle do I use to turn it out?

The...

..inside of your leg muscle.

You know?

All right. You think you know so much about ballet?

Why don't you go audition for the Ballet de la Reine touring company?

They have auditions for the Nutcracker coming up.

You want me to audition for ballet?

If it's so easy to master ballet,

then you should have no problem landing a role.

I'll have no problem at all.

Just as long as I don't have to be THE Nutcracker,

cos, you know, I'm opposed to violence.

I've watched people do ballet. I can do ballet.

Oh.

Wow(!)

OK.

Hey, engage your core!

'I will not only ace the ballet audition,'

I will get an A plus...plus.

OPENING SONG

I'm just in the music room

and I'm practising my ballet moves.

How many ballet moves do I know?

I would say I know at least 75% of them.

You know, I think I'm good enough to audition right now.

'I'm walking by the music room and I notice West doing something

that looks like ballet? But I'm not really sure.

-Hey, West.

-Oh, hey, what's up?

-What're you doing?

-Just doing some ballet.

OK, what's really going on?

All right, well, if you may know, I have an audition for the Nutcracker

this week at the Ballet de la Reine touring company.

Have you ever even taken a ballet class before?

No, why?

Well, it takes a lot of hard work and practice

-to get into a production like that.

-OK, you look a bit worried.

I'm not leaving the Next Step,

if that's what you're worried about, so just relax, OK?

Cos that's what I was worried about(!)

You know, I'm just doing it to prove to Eldon that I can get better

at ballet in a week so I can make the show.

Well, in that case...

..I think you're going to need a little help.

I trained a lot in ballet before I came to The Next Step,

so I really think I can help West out with this audition.

OK, I mean, if that's what you think I need.

'Chloe seems to think I need I help,'

so I'll humour her for a bit.

How can you even be thinking about this right now?

It should be a no-brainer.

Shantel left A-Troupe and there's a spot open.

So the Next Step offered me that spot.

The thing is, I'm really into the band right now and I'm loving it.

Riley, there's so much going on with the band right now.

What, like a gig?

Ha. A, touche and B, you don't have to be so mean about it.

Look, I understand that,

but this is Internationals that we're talking about.

I've got band practice. I've got to go. We'll talk about this later.

'And if I'm not 100% sure...'

then why should I take this spot on A-Troupe over someone

who really, really wants it?

'I kind of thought that James would want to rejoin

'the Internationals team.'

I don't know, I just thought that he would want

to spend more time with me.

Thank you, guys, so much for helping me out.

-I'm sure West will appreciate it.

-No problem.

I set up a mock ballet class to help West get ready for his audition

and I asked Noah and Abi to help me out.

Happy to help out my fellow man.

'I was so happy to hear that Abi joined B-Troupe'

and, to be honest, I don't really care if West learns ballet or not,

I just really want to look good in front of Abi.

Hey, Chloe, come here.

-I need you to do a favour for me, OK?

-Hmm-mmm.

OK, whatever I do, make me look good...

(in that direction.)

-OK?

-OK, Noah.

Just make sure you guys are warm for when West gets here.

OK.

Yo! OK, Chloe, it's a party! Abi? Noah!

-What's going on, man?

-Not much, bro.

-Oh!

West, this is a ballet mock audition.

Ballet is much more refined.

Instead of saying, "What's up,"

try saying, "Good afternoon, friends."

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, my friend.

Great. All right, let's start with a stretch at the bar.

I didn't know this was going to be an English class.

Ready?

Five, six, seven, eight.

Grab the heel, one, two.

Stretch, three, four.

To the side, five, six, that's it, seven, eight, repeat.

One... Repeat! Three, four.

-Good job, Noah, you're just so cute!

-I'm not cute!

-Who's my ballerina?

-I'm not cute!

Ugh.

What position is this?

It's a very uncomfortable second position.

-So let's stretch our knee, point the foot.

-Point.

-And let's carry our arm up to fifth.

-Fifth, OK.

-Yeah, now hold.

-Hold. OK.

-You just got to let me know when...

-Yeah.

-OK.

Here, I'll show you, bro. Watch, watch this.

Uh!

Chloe, do you see this?

You're supposed to be teaching me and not making me feel inferior, OK?

'I think I was doing a pretty good job impressing Abi

'until West called me out on it,'

and kind of made me feel embarrassed.

We'll do degages from fifth.

You know what? I had that for lunch.

Gave me a bit of gas and not the good kind.

You don't want that.

We'll prepare on five, six, seven, eight.

We'll do two to the front.

One, two, then we'll go...

OK, maybe I might need a little more work. Just a little.

-GISELLE:

-'Since Shantel left, I just want to make sure Max

'feels like he's a part of the team'

and, as the new dance captain, I need to make sure

that no-one else leaves.

Hey, Max.

We're going for pizza later, if you want to join.

OK. I'm putting an acro workshop together tomorrow morning,

maybe you'd like to join me there.

I'm good...

at acro...

and in general.

I know you were good friends with Shantel

and I just really wanted to make sure you were OK.

I'm good.

'Maybe it's worse than I thought.

'He doesn't seem to be OK,'

but he didn't really say much, so I don't know.

Pirouettes?

-CHLOE:

-'My new approach to teaching West is to show him some moves

'and let him copy me.

'West is mostly a self-taught dancer,'

so it's pretty cool that he can just pick things up

by looking at somebody.

That's so good!

That's actually really good.

I feel that I'm dancing really well right now

and I owe a lot of that to Chloe.

That was good!

-That was good.

-Thank you.

-It's getting better.

-Yeah!

-It's getting better, for sure.

-Awesome.

So, ready for the big audition?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

I wish I could be there to see the artistic director

correct your core.

Dude, I'm just trying to, like, improve.

Well, he's actually been doing really good.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah, you'd be surprised.

Hm. We'll see about that. Good luck(!)

'Then Eldon comes in and...'

he totally just kills my confidence.

You know what? I think this is a bad idea.

But, what do you mean? You're going to be fine.

I can't even properly get a fifth and I'm so nervous,

I don't even know what to expect.

Well, if you're so nervous, I could come with you.

To audition?

Well, I hadn't really thought about that, but...

Come on, Chloe! I need you in the room with me.

-OK.

-Yes!

I kind of like the idea of going to the audition.

It'll be good practice for Internationals.

'Chloe and I together...'

we're going to kill this audition.

You seem really anxious. What's up?

RILEY SIGHS

I'm supposed to meet James here at two to talk about

whether or not he's joining the team and he's not here yet.

James is still in band practice right now.

We were supposed to meet at Hidalgo's.

But of course he's late.

I have to meet Emily now, so I've got to go.

All right. If James comes, I'll tell him that you left.

OK, thanks.

I can understand where Riley's coming from.

I mean, James would be perfect for Internationals.

But time's ticking, we need to know what he's going to do.

West and I are getting ready for the first round of the ballet auditions

and I'm not really that nervous.

I'm mostly just here for West.

Good morning.

'Sonia Rodriguez walks in.'

She's the artistic director. Right away, all my nerves kick in.

Please take your places at the bar.

'I have no idea who Sonia Rodriguez is.'

Those of you wearing warm-ups,

this will be a good time to remove them.

'I remember seeing her in the Nutcracker when I was, like, 12.

'When I saw her on stage in her beautiful costume...'

I knew that that's where I wanted to be.

We are going to start with plies at the bar.

Left hand on the bar.

Thank you.

We'll do two demi-plies in each position.

Starting in first.

She has already cut one person and we haven't done an exercise yet.

BALLET MUSIC PLAYS

Two, three, four,

and five, six...

'As Sonia eliminates people, all that is going through my mind is,'

"I hope that she does not eliminate me."

..other side, fourth position.

Fourth position.

Thank you.

Three and four.

Grand plie.

Come right back.

'When Sonia approaches me and touches my arm,'

I think that's it for me. I'm done, I'm a goner.

But she just adjusts me and she doesn't tap me out.

Very nice.

I guess I'm doing something right.

Guys, has anyone heard anything about West and Chloe?

I haven't heard anything.

Well, if no-one's heard from them,

then that probably means West made it past the first round.

Really? Wow.

Who is running this audition?

I might have to go out and get me a flying pig.

Eldon!

He's a hip-hop dancer.

Do you guys want to go to Hidalgo's?

Yeah.

Only if Noah's going.

Well, I'm going.

All right. Let's go, bro.

-GISELLE:

-'Max is a complete mystery.'

Max, are you going to be here for long?

I'll be around.

I just hope he's OK.

DANCE MUSIC

MAX: 'I dance because I love it.'

It's my favourite thing to do in the world.

It's a way to communicate without talking.

'Max is a really good dancer and to know that he's in the studio,

'working something out by himself...'

it's great work ethic.

'It's nice to have on our team.

'He seems to be doing OK, so I'm going to'

let him have his space and do his thing at the Next Step.

Thank you.

Next, please?

-CHLOE:

-'I'm so proud of West for making it to the final round.'

He's worked so hard and he definitely deserves it.

'Chloe did a really good job with helping me out with this solo.'

I just want to make her proud.

NUTCRACKER SONG PLAYS

I'm not going to lie.

Ballet is maybe a bit harder than hip-hop.

Even if I don't get in, I am really proud of my progress

and where I've got to.

Honestly, this decision is a lot harder than I thought.

I think you can have many passions.

Dance is one of them, but drumming is, too.

I want to be able to dance and play in the band.

Is that realistic?

POP MUSIC PLAYS

I'm kind of just jamming out, just dancing,

how I do when I'm alone.

I love it. I mean, I've always loved to dance. It's amazing.

It's the best feeling.

I think I know what I want to do now.

-CHLOE:

-'Now that West has completed his solo,

'it's my turn to go and there's no pressure.'

I'm glad that West did well

and this is just going to be so much fun.

'It's so awesome to just do ballet.'

No tricks, no flips, just ballet.

It's going really well.

It kind of reminds me how much I really love ballet.

I'm watching Chloe perform and I never really realised

how good she was at ballet.

She just totally blew me right out of the water.

'So I'm heading into studio A and I'm really excited

'because an envelope came in from the Ballet de la Reine touring company.'

I just can't wait to show Eldon.

Look what I just...got.

This just came in the mail in care of The Next Step.

Kate just gave it to me.

It's from the Ballet de la Reine touring company.

I suspect this to be my acceptance letter.

I thought it would be better to open it in front of you.

'I think it's good news.'

I'm pretty confident in getting in.

WEST CLEARS HIS THROAT

'I think the letter will say...'

"Thanks for coming out."

That's it.

You know what?

Who really cares what the letter says anyway, you know?

Yeah, yeah.

West crumples up the paper.

Victory is mine.

I can't tell Eldon about what this letter says.

I'm even a bit shocked right now.

There you are. Can we talk now?

-Ah, no. I already know what I'm doing. You come with me.

-But...

MICHELLE: 'Right now, we're having a meeting about Internationals,'

about the fact that we're missing one dancer

and we don't know what to do.

Well, guys, we need a plan.

'We've invited James back but we haven't heard an answer,

'so it's just really stressful.'

Yo, what's up?

Oh, we are just having a meeting for Internationals.

Oh, for Internationals. Yeah, that explains all the mopey faces.

-I don't need this.

-Yeah, you do.

Oh, yeah, that's right. I'm on the Internationals team.

-What?!

-What?

-Are you serious?

-Yeah, for real.

I'm just so happy cos I finally have my best friend back.

Everything just feels right again.

I didn't even realise James was gone.

-RILEY:

-'I'm just so happy that'

we can both be a part of this team together, finally.

Juice is on me!

'It feels amazing to be welcomed back to A-Troupe.'

I'm very happy with this decision.

Chloe, I need to talk to you.

'I pulled Chloe aside because'

there's something really important that I need to show her.

I think you're going to want to see this.

'I can't believe it. La Ballet de la Reine offered me'

a touring company position.

That would mean I'm a professional dancer

and that is what I've always wanted.

'Even though I didn't get the Nutcracker,'

I'm just so happy for Chloe.

There's no way that I can choose the Nutcracker position

and go to Internationals.

I have to choose between myself and the team.

And I have no idea what I'm going to do.