So You Think You Can Dance Update

SYTYCD Chapter Three Update on FicPad

SYTYCD Chapter Three Update on AO3

SYTYCD Chapter Three Update on FFn

SYTYCD Chapter Three Update on TWCS

“Isabella Marie, you’ve got to read this!” squealed my roommate and best friend, Rosalie. I was eating breakfast, preparing for another long day in classes, working on getting my degree in elementary education.

You need to have another plan, Isabella. You’re not going to be able dance forever. You shouldn’t be dancing at all, you ungrateful brat. I rolled my eyes at my mother’s voice in my head. She was the ungrateful one. I will never forget the sacrifice my father gave in order for me to continue to dance.

Rose slammed a paper down in front of me – breaking me from my reverie - advertising auditions for my favorite show, So You Think You Can Dance? “We’re soooooooooooo going!”

“No, we’re not,” I said, pushing the paper away and shaking my head emphatically. “I can’t … I just …”

“Bullshit,” Rose spat. “Look at me.” She grasped my chin, glaring into my eyes. She was fierce, angry and not going to take no for an answer. “Don’t let that bitch tell you can’t live out your dreams. Your dad would have wanted you to try out. And don’t use that excuse of your knee … it’s better. Your doctors have cleared you to dance.”

I pinched my nose. “Do I even want it anymore?” I asked, glaring at her.

“I saw a glimmer of happiness on your face, Bells,” Rose said, her expression softening. “You want this. Your dad wanted this for you. He loved you …”

I screwed my eyes shut, trying not to cry and remembering my father. He had loved me, fought for me and did everything to make my dreams of being a dancer a reality. Until he got shot in a burglary gone wrong. He had picked up extra shifts to help pay for the rehabilitation that I needed to recuperate my botched up knee. If he hadn’t been working, he would still be alive. If I hadn’t had my dream of dancing, my father would still be here and loving me. Not buried six feet underground, rotting in the Forks Cemetery.

“Bells, listen to me. We go and audition,” Rose said, taking my hands in hers. “What’s the worst that could happen? They say no?”

“The opposite. They say yes,” I hissed, thrusting my hands into my hair. 

Bella Swan

Rosalie

Edward 

Alistair

Carmen

Bella and Rose's Apartment

Rose's Car

Paramount Theater, Portland

Paramount Theatre, Portland

So You Think You Can Dance Teaser

I spent the month leading up to the auditions working on my routine. I wanted to do something for my father, praying that he was watching from heaven. In fact, the song I chose, “Angel,” was his favorite song and we had made plans for us to dance to it at my wedding. Now, I was using it as a tribute to celebrate my father and honor his memory at this audition. Rose was also working on her audition, but her dance style was different than mine. She was a hip hop dancer but she looked like Barbie. It was weird seeing her get down and ‘dirty’ while she had a perky blonde ponytail and the body of a prima ballerina. It worked for her, though.

Just before we left to drive to Portland, we asked a few of the dance majors and a number of the dance professors to give us critiques on our audition numbers. I wanted the experience of performing in front of an audience and Rose just wanted to show off. Rose went first, using a mash up of several different songs for her piece. Her two minute number was filled with explosive moves, fancy tricks and intricate, but smooth footwork. When she finished, she held her final pose with an aggressive stare. The dancers applauded and whooped it up. Rose moved to the front of the studio, sliding gracefully to the floor, asking for any and all critique. There wasn’t much, really. The only thing I noticed was a rushed section in the beginning and the rest of the dancers agreed. Rose nodded, mentally reworking the choreography.

I was next and I was nervous. Almost to the point where I was sick. I walked to the center of the stage, taking my opening pose. With a barely perceptible nod, the music began and I danced for my father. When the music faded away, I barely was able to keep the tears at bay. This piece was cathartic for me, but it reminded me of what I was missing. Every day, I would give anything to hear his voice, to smell his cheap cologne, to tease him about the cruiser, to just be with him. I barely made it to the bathroom, throwing up and sobbing on the floor of the smelly, disgusting restroom. Rose found me, hugging me closely but never saying a word. She’d been there through every nightmare, every emotional breakdown and every moment of my grief. She was there now and I loved her for it.

“How am I supposed to get through this without crying at the audition?” I whispered, my face pressed to Rose’s shoulder.

“You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, Bells,” Rose said, tightening her arms around me. “That piece…it was gorgeous. I could see every emotion on your face, every moment that you shared with your dad. From the first step you took into a dance studio, to his funeral. There was not a dry eye in that studio and no one had any critiques. Charlie, he’s smiling down at you and cheering at how beautiful you were.”

“Really?” I sniffled.

“Really,” Rose answered, kissing my head.

"Angel" by Sarah McLachlan
Song that Bella danced to for her father

So You Think You Can Dance Teaser

“Isabella Marie, you’ve got to read this!” squealed my roommate and best friend, Rosalie. I was eating breakfast, preparing for another long day in classes, working on getting my degree in elementary education.

You need to have another plan, Isabella. You’re not going to be able dance forever. You shouldn’t be dancing at all, you ungrateful brat. I rolled my eyes at my mother’s voice in my head. She was the ungrateful one. I will never forget the sacrifice my father gave in order for me to continue to dance.

Rose slammed a paper down in front of me – breaking me from my reverie - advertising auditions for my favorite show, So You Think You Can Dance? “We’re soooooooooooo going!”

“No, we’re not,” I said, pushing the paper away and shaking my head emphatically. “I can’t … I just …”

“Bullshit,” Rose spat. “Look at me.” She grasped my chin, glaring into my eyes. She was fierce, angry and not going to take no for an answer. “Don’t let that bitch tell you can’t live out your dreams. Your dad would have wanted you to try out. And don’t use that excuse of your knee … it’s better. Your doctors have cleared you to dance.”

I pinched my nose. “Do I even want it anymore?” I asked, glaring at her.

“I saw a glimmer of happiness on your face, Bells,” Rose said, her expression softening. “You want this. Your dad wanted this for you. He loved you …”

I screwed my eyes shut, trying not to cry and remembering my father. He had loved me, fought for me and did everything to make my dreams of being a dancer a reality. Until he got shot in a burglary gone wrong. He had picked up extra shifts to help pay for the rehabilitation that I needed to recuperate my botched up knee. If he hadn’t been working, he would still be alive. If I hadn’t had my dream of dancing, my father would still be here and loving me. Not buried six feet underground, rotting in the Forks Cemetery.

“Bells, listen to me. We go and audition,” Rose said, taking my hands in hers. “What’s the worst that could happen? They say no?”

“The opposite. They say yes,” I hissed, thrusting my hands into my hair.

“That’s not bad, Bella,” Rose argued. “It means that they like you.” I arched a brow, getting up from my seat and meticulously cleaning my cereal bowl. Rose huffed out a breath, hopping onto the kitchen counter. “Look, I know Renee laid on the guilt trip, but you have to know that it’s not your fault that your dad died.”

“Isn’t it?” I whispered, a few rogue tears spilling over my cheeks. 

Bella Swan

Rosalie Hale

Bella and Rose's Apartment

Rose's Room

Bella's Room

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

So You Think You Can Dance Teaser

“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.”

“Let’s listen to all of them and immediately nix the one that is the most annoying,” I said. We sat down on the floor, listening to each of the songs. Almost immediately, we eliminated “Lips are Moving” and “Centuries.” Both had been overplayed and were bound to drive both of us nuts by the end of the choreography process. They were both great songs, but didn’t have the diversity for what we needed. We had to separate the strong dancers from the weak. “Thinking Out Loud” could prove to be a beautiful lyrical, contemporary piece while “Uptown Funk” lent itself to more partner work.

“I don’t know,” Irina said. “Both songs are pretty great. What do you think?”

“It depends on what they’re looking for,” I murmured. “What do they want to see? Beautiful lines and something flowy or intricate, challenging choreography?”

“I’m thinking the latter, Edward. You remember the choreography round from last season,” she shuddered.

“I was lucky. I was sent through right after my audition,” I snickered. “I heard rumors of how wicked hard it was. Almost all of the dancers who performed it messed up.”

“How about we split the difference?” Irina suggested. “I like the Mark Ronson song. I think that we could do a ton with it, making it challenging with lifts and fast footwork, but have some spots where dancers can really shine. Have a nice combination of jazz, hip hop, and ballroom.”

“Let’s put it on repeat and brain storm,” I smiled, setting up the sound system.

We spent a couple of hours just getting the ‘language’ of our dance down. It had a lot of attitude immediately. Irina and I just had fun, creating as we went. Every so often, we’d pause, jot down our movements and discussed how to teach it since we only had an hour to present it to the contestants.

I wanted to do more than just have them run through it as many times with us. I actually wanted to teach it to them as opposed to pray they got it. Irina was in agreement, saying that was why so many struggled with the choreography last year. The contestants were left to figure out lifts and twists on their own. Some contestants didn’t know the proper way to lift or to handle a partner and it was their downfall.