Melanie Victoria Ziegler is the third and youngest daughter of Kurt Ziegler and Melissa Gisoni. She has two older sisters, Maddie and Kenzie. Mel has been dancing at the ALDC since she was two years old. She's been her whole life "Living on the danc...
"Now, I have the group routine. MIss Gianna's not here this week. She's back at the studio in Pittsburgh." Abby announces, "So I thought I'd take this opportunity to do something that I wouldn't use her to assist me on, and that would be a hip-hop number. So the group routine is 'Straight Outta Pittsburgh'."
All the moms leave with Abby and we start learning the group with Guy and Rumer. I quickly notice how the new dancers and their mothers all start coming, slowly making every room extremely crowded.
•Two Days To Competition•
JoJo and I were rehearsing the group dance when the next of the girls come into the Dancer's Den.
"Hey, that looks fun." Kennzie says.
We all start doing the dance until we hear the moms call us. We all walk up to the moms, who were sitting on the bleachers.
"Were you distracted yesterday by the mini team?" Jill asks.
"Yeah." JoJo answers.
"You were?"
"It was awful." Kendall adds as I tie my shoelaces.
Kalani tightens my ponytail and we all go into the studio to start rehearsing again.
I Never give up I Refuse to lose I Do what I gotta do I Payin' my dues
"All right, let's figure out what that next part is." Guy tells us and we stop dancing.
Right on cue, Abby walks in with three boys.
"That's a great surprise." JoJo comments.
"This is Ryan." Abby tells us, "Blake, and Kenneth."
I look over to Brynn and Kenzie. Brynn's hugging Kenzie with a huge grin, the one that tells me 'Ooh, cute guys', and Kenzie's trying to ignore that. Well, good luck with that, because with Brynn around, you're gonna be crushing on them in no time.
The rehearsal was resumed with the three boys. At the end, Kenzie, JoJo, and Ryan are on the right. Kendall, Brynn, and Blake are on the left. Kalani and Nia stand in the middle while I do a split on front of Kenzie and her group, and Kenneth does a split on front of Brynn and her group.
~~~
Kalani and I were hanging out in the trampoline room while some girls learned their solos and others were on voice lessons.
"Now tell me why you don't do acro again." Kalani says as she sits on the edge of the trampoline.
"Lemme think." I tell her as I do a standing back tuck, "Because I suck and I have bad experiences with it."
"Like what?" She asks.
"I did a solo and fell on stage three times almost in a row." I answer, "That's why."
"Makes sense." Kalani says as I jump off the trampoline, "Has your mom told you about her plans?"
"What plans?" I ask.
"Oh, nothing." Kalani says, visibly surprised by my response.
"Kalani." I look at her, "What is my mom doing?"
"Nothing." She answers and tries to run off.
"Kalani, please tell me!"
"She's thinking about leaving!" Kalani tells me, "That's it, ugh, she told me to keep the secret."
Leaving?
Kalani runs off right after that and I sit on the trampoline.
Leaving the show? Leaving Abby? Leaving the ALDC?
•One Day To Competition•
"Did you see Brooke's new post?" Kenzie asks as the two of us sit on the floor of 'studio B'.
"No." I tell her, "I actually stopped following her."
"Why?" Kenzie asks as she shows me the new post.
"I don't know." I say as she likes the photo, "I just did."
Let me be real, I barely follow anyone on Insta. To be exact, I follow 11 people, and I have 1.2 million followers. Huge difference, I know. I take out my phone and enter Instagram. I give Kenzie my phone and starts following a bunch of random people, guess I'll have an unfollow spree later.
Last day of rehearsal, great. I love hip-hop, I love dancing with the girls, and I definitely love dancing with the new boys. The music is great, same as the moves, and Abby not yelling.
•Competition Day•
I finish with my makeup as the moms talk about how Abby's missing, and all the stuff she's going through, blah.
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We all go backstage.
"This week, we got the boys in, and we're doing a hip-hop dance." Kendall tells us, "And nobody expects us to be good at hip-hop, but we are, okay? I'm just gonna say that."
We all laugh.
"We need a group photo." I say and they all agree.
Kalani quickly puts her phone on the floor and we all pose on front of it. First, really cool, second, just your typical photo, third, a really goofy one. I mean, I was in Ryan's back who was in Nia's back, poor Nia.
"Next up we have number 35, 'Straight Outta Pittsburgh'." The announcer says and we go on stage.
"Set hut!" Kenzie yells and we get in our position.
I Never give up I Refuse to lose I Do what I gotta do I Payin' my dues
Gotta stay focused (yeah) Won't lose control (so) Gonna make it happen (how) Without selling my soul (yeo)
~~~
"Up first, pre-teen solo." The announcer says, "In third place, 'Immortal'. In second place, 'I'll Show You the Dark Side'."
We all cheer as JoJo goes receive her award.
"For teen solos, we have two places." The announcer says, "Second place, 'Perfect'. In first place, 'All Eyes on Me'."
One win.
"For teen group. In second place, 'OG West Pack'." The announcer says, "In first place we have, 'Straight Outta Pittsburgh'."
Two wins!
After awards and everything, we all decided to take more pictures outside. You know, more 'elegant' picture, more 'normal' pictures, and of course, more goofy pictures. Even though those last ones ended with a huge water fight.
Once we were back home, Kenzie was still with the party mood, same as Kalani, but I needed to ask mom something, so I waited for the two of them to go up to their rooms.
"Can I ask you something?" I ask as she puts away some stuff in the kitchen cabinets.
