Dancing with Myself The Next Step

-Previously:

-So you went all the way to internationals and you didn't even get to dance?

After last year, I know Michelle wants to prove herself to the team.

We should be dancing with the strongest dancers.

That way, we can become stronger.

I don't want to be an alternate this year.

Let's form a club, the 0% club!

That's the whole point. Having fun with your friends and being yourself.

I just found out that there's this qualifier for Regionals.

We worked so hard on this choreo.

We have definitely got this!

The final trio is going to be Piper, Noah and Richelle.

All right, guys, from the same spot. Ready?

'Right now, we are rehearsing the trio

'for the Regionals qualifier.'

A lot is depending on this routine.

Five, six, seven...

Hey, can we go a little bit slower, Riley?

That's the tempo, Noah.

-OK.

-Five, six, seven, eight.

'I've been pushing myself hard to get this routine perfect.'

But I might have overdone it.

One. Full out, Noah.

Four, five, six, seven, eight. One.

My back has been sore all week. And it's not getting any better.

One, two. Full out, Noah.

'Noah is one of the three dancers

'going to the qualifier to represent The Next Step.'

And he's marking the routine.

'I can't have that. He needs to be going full out at all times.

'That is including rehearsals.'

Stop, stop there.

Um...

Piper and Richelle, that was good.

Noah, what's with the marking?

'Riley noticed I wasn't dancing full out.'

I can't tell her the real reason why. I need to cover.

I'm just saving my energy for the qualifier.

-Could I speak to you in my office? Now, please?

-Yeah.

Girls, you can just cool down, you're done for the day.

'If this trio doesn't win the qualifier,

'then we're not making it to Regionals.'

I know that my trio with Henry and LaTroy could do so much better.

So, is everything OK?

Look, Noah. I can see that you were struggling up there.

So I just need to know what's going on.

The truth is, my back has really been bothering me.

But if I tell Riley...

she might take me off the trio.

All I can do is hope I'll be ready in time for the qualifier.

Do you know what this is? It is a list of all the teams coming to the

qualifier. Do you know what our chances have decreased to?

Um... A lot less?

Half. Exactly half, because they are bringing double the amount of teams

than last year. So I need to know, right here and right now,

if I can depend on you.

Of course. I won't let you down. I promise.

I hope so.

'I want to be there for the team.'

I just hope my body holds up its end of the bargain.

Stop lurking and get in here.

-You got a minute?

-No. But go ahead. What's up?

I saw what happened with the trio.

Did you bring Noah in here to ask him why he was

marking through the choreo?

-You saw that too?

-I just think that my trio could do a lot better than

the one I just saw.

What are you getting at, Skylar?

Our trio hasn't stopped rehearsing since the very first audition.

Just say the word, and we'll be ready to replace them.

'Honestly, we haven't been practising.'

But I know that we can still do a better job than Noah.

I'll think about it.

OK. Thank you.

My trio should not have lost the first time.

And now, I'm going to fight for a second chance.

# We We're gonna show the world

# Everything we're made of

# We're gonna tear the roof off this place

# Stand up. #

# Ooo-oo-oh

# This is not a love song

# No. #

-Hey, guys.

-Oh.

-Hey, how's it going?

'Right now, I'm coming into Java Junction because'

Amy, Cassie and I agreed to hang out after rehearsal.

Let's get down to book club.

I totally forgot today was book club.

I haven't read a single page of The Horses Of Daven...shm..

I can't even remember the title!

The Horses Of Davenport.

It's a good one.

-So, the farm.

-Don't even get me started on the farm.

Sloane, what did you think?

Uh. The farm? I thought the farm was, um...

This is my first book club. I can't make a bad impression!

I thought the farm was...

The farm was lovely, yeah!

The farm where the horses got turned into glue?

I thought you were talking about the other farm,

that's why I kind of got confused.

OK. 'There's no other farm in Horses Of Davenport.'

If Sloane doesn't know that, she didn't read the book.

Sloane just lied to us!

That's a no-no in 0% club.

She's about to find out that there a price to pay for lying to your friends.

DANCE MUSIC PLAYS

'Right now, I'm working on a new routine.'

Even though I'm not dancing in the qualifier,

I still need to stay sharp.

This is our first competition as a team.

And Riley is counting on all of us.

Alfie dances with such intensity and focus.

There was so much holding me back last year.

My parents' divorce, becoming an alternate.

I was so far away from who I was.

I know Alfie can help me find the dancer I used to be.

-That was so good!

-Thanks.

Would you ever be up to teaching me a couple of moves?

I want to be the best dancer that I can be.

-Of course!

-OK.

-Oh, that's real sweaty.

-Sweat means hard work, that's why.

All right! Let's do it!

Henry, drop the juice.

-We're going to the rehearsal room.

-Why?

I may have convinced Riley to give us another chance at the qualifier.

-But we lost.

-Dude, Riley must be doubting the trio if she is considering replacing them.

Yeah, you didn't see what I just saw. I watched the rehearsal,

and Noah was totally phoning it in.

Oh, hey guys. Sorry to interrupt, but I've been thinking.

And I've decided to give your trio a shot at the qualifier.

-What?

-See?

-Don't get too crazy just yet.

You'll have to re-audition but if I decide that your

trio is more impressive than Noah's,

you'll get to represent The Next Step at the qualifier.

I can assure you our trio will be very impressive.

All right, well, may the best team win.

So, are you in, or what?

Hey, if it doesn't bother Riley, I'm down with it.

-Yes.

-Yes!

'We've totally got this.

'I'm so excited that we get to audition again.'

And this time, we are going to win.

Step one of my three-step programme

is focusing on your physicality.

-OK.

-You can do an aerial, yes?

-Yeah.

-Good. We're going to do a monkey flip.

-OK.

-OK?

What is a "monkey flip?"

To do a monkey flip,

you have to become the monkey.

Like so.

I don't mean to brag, but I invented the monkey flip.

What sound does a monkey even make? I don't know.

HE MAKES MONKEY NOISES

OK.

'Michelle needs to relax. If she's going to learn anything,

'I need to get past her defences and help her loosen up.'

If she's having fun, the moves will come to her more easily.

Ooooooh! SHE LAUGHS

-Good!

-That was not a monkey sound at all!

-Very good. That was very good.

-Alfie really is a great teacher.

But I still feel like I'm struggling.

So, do you guys just want to go from the figure eight part?

-Sounds good.

-OK.

Right now, we're rehearsing the old choreo from our last audition.

Riley won't pick us if we can't dance this perfectly.

Hey, really? What's wrong with you?

We haven't rehearsed this in a while.

It's going to take some time to remember all the moves.

What if, the parts we don't know, we just worked around by freestyling?

You guys can do that, right?

-BOTH:

-Can we freestyle?

-Check it.

The old choreo isn't working.

'But Henry and LaTroy are such great freestylers.

'We'll be able to figure out some new choreo in no time.'

I think this might work out better than our first dance.

'Amy and Cassie invited me to join their book club.

'But I haven't read the book.'

So, I'm kind of just winging it.

What did you think of when the horse almost fell in the water

and a piranha jumped up?

Yeah, yeah. And then the piranha...bit the horse.

-Yeah, it was awful!

-Yeah.

-I almost cried.

We are totally messing with Sloane.

Who comes to book club without reading the book?

And did you get that the Captain's French?

Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember.

You could, like, hear the French accent.

-Aren't you French?

-Yeah, actually, I am French.

So, you know, if you were to act out the captain,

-you could do it.

-Yeah, I'd probably be good at it.

-Yeah, why don't you?

-Yeah.

-What?

If Sloane told us the truth, we wouldn't be doing this.

Let's see how far she's going to go with this lie.

Stand up and act it out.

-Like, do the scenes?

-That's what we do at book club all the time.

'I can't believe Amy and Cassie want me to act out scenes from the book.'

It's a nightmare.

Begin.

'Something's not quite right. Michelle's physicality is OK...'

Good. '..so I think the problem might be something else.'

What are you thinking about?

Well, I'm thinking about how my foot already hurts and I have

-sweat dripping off my back, so...

-Good, very good. All good things.

But what are you thinking about?

Well, there's this guy from Lost and Found.

Now we're getting somewhere. That's the music studio

-down the hall, yeah?

-Yeah.

-OK.

It's just that I really like him.

And I don't really know if he actually likes me back.

Also, my foot is really hurting now.

-Just put it down.

-Oh, OK!

'Michelle will never reach her full potential'

unless she can achieve a singular focus in her dance.

We're all going to have problems with moms, boyfriends, girlfriends,

dads, dogs, feet.

When you dance, you have to leave all that behind you.

The new Michelle just focuses on dancing. Understood?

Yeah.

I mean, yes, I understand.

Again.

Alfie's right. I shouldn't be thinking about anything else.

From now on, when I'm dancing, I'm dancing.

'Michelle's doing great. But we've only just started.'

And I'm not sure she's ready for what comes next.

-What gives, Noah?

-Why did Riley want to talk to you?

-Tell us now.

Everyone needs to relax. I'm not going to tell them about my back

because it's not going to be an issue by qualifiers.

Everything's going to be fine.

Me and Riley simply had a nice little chat

about how the trio was coming along.

Oh, really? Did you know that Riley actually came to see us and wants us

-to meet her in the rehearsal room?

-Why would she ask that, Noah?

-Yeah, Noah?

-All right. First of all, stop saying my name so much.

Second of all, I don't know what's going on in Riley's head.

Third of all, let's go.

'I have no idea why Riley wants to see us.'

But it probably isn't good.

OK, this is very uncomfortable. You're...

This isn't supposed to be comfortable.

It's supposed to be hard. Just keep staring.

'I'm really uncomfortable staring at Alfie.'

And I just don't understand how this is going to make me a better dancer.

Michelle has a lot of walls that need to be broken down.

If she's not comfortable looking at me,

she'll never be comfortable looking at herself.

-OK, sorry, it's just...

-OK, what you're doing right now is avoiding the real issue.

-OK.

Put your hands by your side.

Keep staring.

And breathe.

'This is one of the strangest and hardest things I have ever done.'

But I can't give up. If this is what it takes to be a better dancer,

I'm going to do it.

Hey, Riley. What would you like to meet with us for?

After seeing your rehearsals today...

-Riley, we're ready.

-OK, great. Just start warming up.

-OK.

I've decided to let Skylar's trio re-audition for the qualifiers spot.

Oh, no, no, no. We have been rehearsing our trio for weeks.

You can't take this away from us now!

'I thought I convinced Riley I'd be OK for the qualifier.'

I guess not.

If you guys had shown more commitment in rehearsals,

this wouldn't have happened in the first place.

The Next Step deserves to have the best team representing them.

'This is so unfair!'

Piper and I have been rehearsing this trio nonstop.

Why is Riley punishing us?

'If anyone should lose this trio, it's Noah.'

Look, whenever you guys are ready, let's get started.

'I hope I haven't cost us our shot at the qualifier.'

We'll just have to wait and see.

MUSIC BEGINS

'We're rehearsed, we're ready.'

And it all comes down to this.

Skylar kept pushing us to make

this dance perfect, and we are bringing it!

Watching Skylar, LaTroy and Henry is making me realise just how hard I'm

going to have to dance at the qualifier.

To be honest, I'm not sure my back is ready.

'It would completely break my heart to lose the trio.'

But I trust Riley, and whatever she decides is best for the team.

'Skylar was right about having a great trio ready.

'These guys are killing it.'

Honestly, I don't know who's the better trio at this point.

Maybe making a change is worth the risk.

Wow!

That was incredible.

Thank you, guys. I definitely have a lot to think about,

-so I'll let you know when I've made my decision.

-Thanks.

'We did everything we could. It's up to Riley now.'

But she's definitely going to pick us.

'My back isn't getting any better.'

And if it gets any worse, I can't believe I'm saying this,

but maybe it'll be better if Riley picks Skylar's trio.

To all my villagers, I wanted to gather you all here today,

to say thank you.

Because of your effort, we've won the war!

Sloane is such a great sport.

This just might be the most fun we've ever had in book club.

All of my villagers, all of my fighters...

'It started out as a joke, but she's attracted a crowd.'

Maybe we should be charging admission.

And we've saved the horses of Davenport!

Yeah!

I think we should do a little victory dance.

Victory dance?

I'm starting to think that Amy and Cassie are playing with me.

OK. Enough is enough.

What? We're just doing book club.

You guys are obviously messing with me. I haven't read the book, OK?

-Is that what you wanted to hear?

-Yeah.

-Just admit it, you enjoyed it.

OK, it was kind of fun, actually.

'I really like my version of the book club.'

I think for next time, I'm just going to read the book.

They were really good.

I know.

I mean, I thought we had it in the bag, but after watching them...

It's going to be tough.

I hope we don't lose our chance.

'Riley's called us back into the rehearsal room because'

she's made her decision.

-Guys, it was so good.

-Dude, your coin drop was on point.

'I'm kind of torn. If Riley chooses our trio,

'then I have to dance at the qualifier.'

And I'm not sure my back can handle it.

But if she chooses Skylar's trio,

then I don't have to dance at the qualifier and I get to rest my back,

and hopefully it'll get better.

OK, I've made a decision.

Skylar, I was really impressed with your trio. Very impressed.

But I've decided to go with the original trio.

It's just that being this close to the qualifier,

I think it would be unwise to switch our teams.

'Riley just made a huge mistake.'

She doesn't see that now, but she will.

She will.

Congrats.

Congratulations, you guys.

You'll be representing The Next Step at the qualifier.

'Noah's trio has seen how good the competition is.'

I'm counting on it pushing them to work that much harder.

'This is the moment where I should stand up and tell Riley that I might

'not be ready for the qualifier.'

But if I do that, I might lose my spot on A-Troupe.

-Don't let us down.

-We won't. Noah!

'I wish I could say something.'

But I can't.

Very good.

Just remember,

you can't face anything else in life if you don't face yourself first.

You've got to do this on your own now.

MUSIC PLAYS

It's OK.

You will always be with me.

# I can give you what you want Even when it hurts

# I could sing another song I could find the words

# And it's true that I could be somebody

# But right now I don't know who

# And how'd it get to be so complicated

# Sometimes it gets me down Sometimes I'm spinning round

# But I won't disappear You'll see my standing here

# Holding down the dream... #

I realise now what's been holding me back.

I was worried about my parents' divorce.

I was afraid about losing my spot at The Next Step.

And I was nervous about my feelings for a boy.

This whole time, what's been holding me back is me.

# And how'd I get to be so hard and jaded

# Sometimes it gets me down Sometimes I'm spinning round

# But I won't disappear You'll see me standing here

# Holding down the dream. #

I feel like a new person.

For the first time in a long time, I feel free.

Whatever happens,

I'm ready.

# 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 sound. #