McKinna Maryen Ziegler had lived in the shadows for most of her life, letting her sister have the spotlight. Until an opportunity for a chance to be on a reality TV show sent her into a spiral of fame, friendship and favoritism.
People can only be t...
So yeah, while Miss Abby raves about Sophia's performance, I'm kinda just sitting there, a bit offended honestly. I literally bet Sophia with my best solo, I think, ever and she's on top of me on the pyramid. Jackie is so over the moon it isn't funny. Even the other moms seem to be confused! At least I have enough dignity to not get really upset. Wait- what does dignity even mean? Mom just uses it all the time.
"Alright, we have three solos, a duet and the group dance. Our three soloists are Mackenzie, Paige and McKinna. Mackenzie, you have a cutesy acrobatic routine called 'Lemonade', Paige, you have an acrobatic jazz routine 'I Wanna Dance' and McKinna, your solo is acrobatic-contemporary and entitled 'Rolling in the Deep'. I expect a clean sweep from your soloists." Miss Abby stars us down, but I can't help the bright smile on my face.
I have a solo! Maybe Miss Abby really did recognise how much effort I put into 'The Five Stages of Grief'. I hope so.
"Our duet goes to Kendall and Maddie. It is a sweet little jazz number I put together called 'Sugar and Spice'. It should be an easy routine to win with, I expect nothing less." the dissapointment in Maddog's face is written all over it very clearly. I feel bad for her, Miss Abby should let her perform a solo. After all, she was/is the favorite.
"Our last dance is the group dance. This is a contemporary routine named 'Voyage Home'. Mackenzie, you are the only dancer not in this routine as Alejandro, you will be dancing in it. Mackenzie, I expect you to prove to me this week you can remember and win with this solo. Paige, I expect you to prove to me this week that you are finaly mature enough to ignore and stand up against your mother and fight for the win. McKinna, I'm expecting a redemption from last week. I don't think the judges saw the same solo I did, because there is no way you should've beat Sophia. Moms, you're excused, girls, on the ballet bar."
Honestly, I have no idea why I'm so suprised that Miss Abby thought Sophia should've won instead of me. Maybe it isn't that she thought that, but that she actually voiced it.
McKinna, Melissa's Daughter "I just don't understand. First, I had to constantly compare myself to Maddie and now to Sophia. I win a lot, I beat Sophia, but still I'm not the favorite? Soon I'm going to start sounding like one of the moms." I grimace at the idea.
Brooke wasn't on the pyramid because according to Miss Abby, though she was here on Friday, she wasn't on Saturday and that is absolutely unacceptable. I know that Brooke actually had a mandatory term project to work on, in fact, so it is acceptable. She didn't have a solo or anything, just the group dance, so I don't see the big deal.
The group dance is a much darker piece that what we have done somewhat recently. Lots of group unison parts and acting, which is different to our normal stunning lyrical pieces. Miss Abby really wants us to express that darkness and be intense, which is hard after only a week back into dance, seeing as we missed a week due to the moms' failed silent protest.
"Now, at the end, McKinna, because you won last week," Miss Abby sighs and Chloe and I shared a confused look. Why is she being so obvious about her obsession with Sophia? She wasn't even this bad with Maddie. "you get to run off the stage and all of you girls, and boy, will reach for her in a circular motion and then stumble offstage, bar Maddie, you will do a knee drop."
Hey, I have a special part! I try to hide my grin. Miss Abby can ramble on and on about Sophia, but in the end, I must still be pretty good to get a solo and a special group dance part. We start to run through the choreography with Kenzie in Dancer's Den, I believe, and I realize that Maddie, Chloe and I are like a trio in the group dance, with the others doing something and then us doing something else.
Now I think about it, it is kinda like that in a lot of the dances we do. Huh, weird.
"Girls, you're forgetting, these machine guns out there, I want you thinking like your refugees, you are never going to escape, this is a fight for your lives. McKinna, we will work on your solo now while the others go and work with Gianna." Miss Abby tells me and I gulp. Hopefully she won't be really harsh on me. Speaking on that, Jackie did not look happy with the way Abby was treating us, so we might not have Jackie and Sophia for very long.
"The lyrics, the words of this song, stem from the emotions of a scorned lover, breakups to put simply. Putting yourself out there and being pushed back through the door. We're gonna have a couple of knee drops, an illusion, a la seconde turns, of course, an arabesque and some other stuff. We aren't going too out of your comfort zone with this solo, I'm expecting a nice and easy win this week. However, we do have some acrobatic moves, of course."
Some of my acro tricks are really cool this week. I have a helicopter, which is when you go from a candle position to a candle with split rotation, then swing your legs and flip around. It looks really pretty when you watch. I also do a shooting star and some crescent rolls, even a pencil turn, which the Rockettes do! I saw them with Chloe and Maddie over the holidays and man, they were so awesome.
My music is also really, really pretty, so with the acro and contemporary tricks I think I have a really good shot at winning, despite competing against Paigey Mack. This is my first ever acro-contemporary routine and Paige has done a lot of acro-jazz routines at the ALDC, so I'm gonna have to work my butt off to beat her.
"Your feet were nearly sickled there, McKinna! That is supposed to be a beautiful, smooth, fast helicopter, not a slow, sloppy, sickled one. I expect more. Again." I concentrate really hard and try again, with much more success this time in my opinion. When we get home tonight, I'll have to get Maddog to run it with me in the movie theatre.
