Melanie Ziegler || Dance Moms

Mini Madness

"You're late." Abby tells as I rush into the studio.

"I am so sorry, Miss Abby." I apologize, "I was working and we decided to finish recording today, so I just lost track of time."

"This better be the last time." Abby warns me, "Go warm up right next to Elliana."

I hurry up and stand next to the new girl, who I guess is a mini.

Abby leaves and we all stop.

"Whoa, Abby's serious today." Maddie comments.

"Well, we have a new member." Nia says, "Let's see what pyramid brings."

We all form a line and everyone enters.

"Welcome back, minis." Abby starts, "Now, we have a new member, Elliana. Her mother is Yolanda. Do you have anything to say, Elliana?"

"Hi everybody." Elliana says, "I'm super excited to be here and you all are great."

"Aww."

"How cute."

Kenzie and I look at each other.

We used to be that before.

"All right. Let's talk about the competition." Abby continues, "Last week, the group won. It was outstanding. All right! Let's get to the pyramid! First we have, Kalani. Your dancing didn't stand out in the group routine. That's why you're here." She reveals the next headshot, "And next, we have Nia."

"Hey girl!" Kalani exclaims.

"Hey." Nia smiles as they high-five.

"Someone has to be there." Abby explains, "JoJo."

"Why am I there?" JoJo asks.

"You were fifth. Next is Brynn. Moving up, we have Kendall. Gianna said you were good in the group dance." Kendall smiles, "Next, we have Melanie. You were in the trio, that was first. You also kept up pretty well with the rest in the group dance."

Mackenzie

Maddie   Melanie   Kendall

Brynn   JoJo   Nia   Kalani

"This week, we are traveling to Fresno, California. We will be attending Sheer Talent." Abby announces, "We're traveling old-school style. We are taking the bus to Fresno!"

We all cheer.

"Yes, we are!" Abby exclaims, "So, the mini group routine is 'Just Like Mama Said'. Now, it's kind of a play on words. 'Cause I don't want to you listen to anything your mothers say. I want you to listen to me." She looks back at us, "So, my junior elite competition team, you group routine is entitled 'The Atlantic'. It's all about the ocean. All right, we have three solos. The first solo is going to Maddie. Maddie, your solo is going to be a musical theater number. The name of this piece is 'The Entertainer'."

Maddie looked really nervous, can't blame her though.

"My next solo is going to Melanie." Abby announces, "It's contemporary-jazz, and it is entitled 'Stronger'."

I smile as everybody claps.

"My last solo is entitled 'Broken Dancer' and it is about the homeless children of Los Angeles. So, Maddie, I wanted you to do this piece. However, you've already done a homeless piece. 'All God's Creatures'." Abby says, "This piece I'm going ahead and give to Brynn." We all clpa, "Brynn, no one would ever argue that you can dance. I doubt that you can act. So I need you to learn from this. And this piece if it's done well, will send a message, loud and clear. I want the mothers to be very conscious when you're talking about things like, 'Oh, well, Brynn's doing one of Maddie's numbers and Brynn's gonna look like Maddie and blah-blah-blah-blah-blah'."