The Eldest Ziegler

It all Ends Here

We were at the end of another competition season and we were ending it here in Lake Tahoe.

Everyone walked into our new studio for this week to find Miss. Abby standing beside her pyramid.

"Hi, Miss. Abby," Chloe says to her.

"Hello, ladies. Come on in," Miss. Abby says as we got into a line in front of her, "Here we are in another studio, another week. We need to learn a new group routine. This is tough. We have to do it today, and there's props. Now, I want to reflect a little bit on the past two weeks. I keep telling you guys, you have been given an amazing opportunity. You've been hand-selected to go across the country and learn a new number each week and do these competitions. And you are not stepping up to the plate."

I was so excited for nationals because it's my favorite part of the competition season. I was also excited to go up against Amber because I knew that I was going to beat her. But I was worried about the group dance because we haven't won in a long time.

"I want to see energy, enthusiasm, fun," Miss. Abby continued, "If you don't want to do it, there's probably a hundred other kids that would love to be in your shoes right now. So, I need to see motivations. I want you to want to win. This is my reputation on the line, it's my name. But by now, it's also your names.

Miss. Abby then turned to the pyramid, "So, I'm gonna start now with Paige. Moving on... Mackenzie. Nia. Next we have Chloe. Brooke. Maddie and on top again, we have Monica."

Monica

Maddie Brooke

Chloe Nia Mackenzie Paige

I was happy to be on top again, it just gave me a good feeling inside. I just think that Nia, Mackenzie and Chloe should be higher on the pyramid because they were the people that went against the Candy Apples.

"Maddie, you're doing your solo and a duet with Chloe," Miss. Abby tells us, "Chloe, you will also be doing your solo. Paige and Brooke, I'm giving you a duet. I want you to work together as friends. I do not want you fighting as sisters. If you waste time and energy bickering back and forth, you're never gonna get it finished. Monica, you're doing a solo. Everybody is in the group number this week-- even Mackenzie."

I clapped, I was super happy that Kenzie was in the group. I loved when she danced with us.

"Every single one of you are an important part of this puzzle," Miss. Abby continued, "And in a group routine, everybody needs to pull your weight. And I'm telling you what: We need to win. All right, let's get to rehearsing, let's get moving."

After me and the girls stretched, we got started on our new group routine for this week.

"Okay, ladies," Miss. Abby says as we began the choreography, "this piece is called Beautiful. And what it's about is not how pretty you're gonna be in your costumes, not how pretty your hair is, but what's on the inside. And it's about taking a good look in the mirror-- not at what you see, but like the internal mirror. Are you getting any of this, Mackenzie?"

Kenzie nodded.

"Yeah. It's a little deep."

Miss. Abby grabbed a couple of small mirrors and gave one to each of us.

"Hold the mirror and cover your face," Miss. Abby tells us as we start choreographing.

After we finished choreographing, Miss. Abby started working on solos. She started with Chloe and Maddie's before she got to mine.

My solo is called What Words Can Do and it's a competency ballet piece.

As I went through the piece, Miss. Abby stopped the music and said, "Monica, can we talk for a minute?"