So You Think You Can Dance Teaser

“Bella, you should see the medic,” Rose hissed. We were seated in the house after we’d learned the contemporary choreography by Travis. I was in the first group that went up for our time to dance the contemporary piece. It was flowy, romantic and ethereal, matching the music, ‘A River Flows in You’ by Yiruma.  I’d been deemed safe by the judges and I was trying to stretch out my knee before the final solos. “It’s swollen and you’ve got a huge bruise.”

“I’m fine, Rose,” I barked back, but I knew she was right. “All I have to do is get through the last round of dancing and then I can rehab it at school until we begin filming. Almost six full weeks!”

“At least wear your brace, Bells,” Rose pleaded. “Remember what Alistair and what Edward said. If he knew that you were pushing yourself, he’d rip you a new one, Isabella Marie Swan!”

One of the producers shushed us and we apologized. I reached into my bag, pulling out my brace and a pair of long, black yoga pants. I tugged on my brace along with the pants, pulling my hair back into a messy bun. I couldn’t wait to get into the shower and scour all of the grime off my body. The production promised that if we did make it to the Green Mile, we’d be treated to a morning at the spa, along with professionally done makeup and hair. I was just anxious to have a full body massage. The other stuff was slim pickings.

The judges were downright lethal in this last round of choreography. Favorites were cut to pieces and eliminated. One guy, Jeremy, I thought he would win it all but he was downright clumsy in the contemporary round. The judges tore him up, dismissing him from the competition. I was lucky. I was with several contemporary and jazz dancers and I easily caught on to the choreography. I, personally, got rave reviews.

Alice did not.

It was a little bit childish, but I felt somewhat vindicated that the judges gave her such harsh critiques. They didn’t eliminate her, but they did say that her spot was in jeopardy if she didn’t show the wow in her final solo. She smiled, thanking the judges for the second chance, running off the stage. Her eyes were filled with tears, but I couldn’t bring it in my heart to feel sorry for her. She should have been eliminated based on her performance. 

"A River Flows In You" by Yiruma, Cello and Piano Orchestra Version

So You Think You Can Dance Teaser

We spent the next hour waiting for the two other flights to arrive. Supposedly, there was a storm in Chicago that delayed that flight. The plane from Atlanta arrived first with three dancers. There was a brother/sister Latin partnership, Jane and Alec Volturi and then a tap dancer, Jasper Whitlock. Jasper came and sat with us. He was a friendly fellow with an easy attitude and a lazy southern drawl. I liked him instantly. By the time the flight from Chicago arrived, Jacob, Rose, Jasper and I were fast friends, vowing to work together in the choreography round if we got that far in the callback process.

We all got into the various limos waiting for us to drive us to the hotel. A petite girl with long black hair was in our limo with a handsome man. She had a snooty expression on her face, appearing like she was better than us. Rose, the extrovert she was, introduced herself to the girl. “Hi! I’m Rose and I’m a hip hop dancer. You are?”

“I’m Alice and this is my partner, Julian,” she said, taking out her phone and tapping out a text. She pursed her lips.

“What style of dance do you do?” Rose pressed, looking at Alice.

“Latin ballroom. Now, I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to win,” Alice responded. She popped in her ear buds, effectively cutting off all communication with us. Her partner did the same.

Rose scoffed, moving to sit next to me. “Rude much?” she hissed.

“She’s here to win,” I snickered.

“And to make enemies,” Jacob shrugged.

“I think she’s cute,” Jasper whispered. “A bit bitchy, but cute.”

“Jasper, you deserve better,” Rose said. Jasper nodded, turning back to Jake to continue their conversation. Forty-five minutes later, we arrived at the theater. Cameras were set up and we all clambered out of the limos, excited about the callbacks. We dropped off our bags and went into the theater, rushing the stage. Once we were all settled on the stage, Alistair, Carmen and all of the guest judges walked out. After them, the choreographers and their assistants came out as well. Edward was with the ballroom choreographer, a woman named Anya. Edward’s eyes swept over the stage before landing on me. When he saw me, his face lit up in a beautiful smile. I returned it in kind causing Rose to poke me. I poked her back as Alistair walked onto the stage.

“Welcome, everyone and congratulations on making it this far,” Alistair began. “There are 157 of you on this stage. By the time we are done, 137 of you will be going home and the top twenty dancers will begin their journey to become America’s favorite dancer. Who will it be? It could be anyone. Now? We are going to start with individual solos – the initial ‘dance for your life.’ After each ten solos, we’ll do a cut and then the next round of solos will begin. We’ll be going in numerical order.” He prattled off the first group of solos. 

One of the callback stages

Second callback stage

Alistair Simms

Carmen Santiago

Bella Swan, Contemporary

Rosalie Hale, Hip Hop

Jacob Black, Contemporary

Jasper Whitlock, Tap

Alec Volturi, Latin Ballroom

Jane Volturi, Latin Ballroom

Alice Brandon, Latin Ballroom

Edward Cullen, All-Star

So You Think You Can Dance Update

SYTYCD Chapter Two Update on FicPad

SYTYCD Chapter Two Update on AO3

SYTYCD Chapter Two Update on FFn

SYTYCD Chapter Two Update on TWCS

A couple of days later, I walked into a dance studio. I had just come from my physical therapy session and was loose, ready to choreograph the call-back piece for the dancers who didn’t quite make the cut to go straight to Los Angeles. I was dressed in a pair of workout pants and a fleece, bundled up for the harsh Chicago winter. It hadn’t snowed, but was brutally cold. It made me miss the warmth of Los Angeles. Reaching the studio that the producers rented out, I met up with Irina Kincaide, the winner from the season just before mine. I had, during the competition, been paired up with her for a Broadway number and had gotten rave reviews. She was tall, lithe and easy to work with.

“Hey, Edward,” she chirped, giving me a warm grin as she stretched out on the floor. “I see that they got to you.”

“I’m glad. I’ve wanted to choreograph my whole life. I’ve done a few things, but this is the biggest scale thing I’ve done. Ever,” I said, tossing my bag onto a chair. “Do you not like choreographing?”

“Not really. Do you want to take the lead on this?” she asked, standing up and moving to the barre, continuing her stretches. “We could do something that incorporates both contemporary, which is my strength and Latin ballroom, which is yours. Though, you can pretty much do whatever the fuck you want. According to Alistair, you shit gold.”

“Really?” I smirked. “That’s news to me. I’d be soooooo much richer if I did.” Irina laughed. “Do we have music?”

“We have a couple of choices,” Irina said, walking over to the sound system. “’Uptown Funk’ by Mark Ronson, ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ by Ed Sheeran, ‘Centuries,’ by Fall Out Boy and ‘Lips are Moving’ by Meghan Trainor.”

Chicago Theater

Emmett

Peter

Alice

Alice's Dress

Jasper

Maggie

Los Angeles Auditions