Fight Song

Chapter 25

Dianne's PoV
I couldn't believe it. We'd made it to the FINAL!!! The only downside was that I was now head to head with Joe... and also that it was down to all our dances scores combined and I knew full well Britain scored higher in the solo round in both male and female. We would really have to pull it out the bag, and I really hoped we could. Our dance for the final was pretty good to be fair. It was about poverty, and how it affects different people. We had Andrew as the dad, me as the mum, Livvy as the daughter and Julian as the son. There were four stages, going through different places where poverty is an issue. The kids being bullied and excluded at school, the mum having to try shoplifting and the dad being overworked trying to earn money to support his family and becoming unemployed. It would hit home for a lot of people.

"Hey," Katie approached me as we ran off the stage. I'd been hoping to talk to Joe, but he seemed busy with Neil and Zoe. Maybe it was better that way. Us not talking until the final was over. Until one of us had been crowned International Champions.

"Hey," I replied, a skip in my step.

"We're in the finals, Di," she grabbed my hands, looking more excited than I'd seen her in a long time.

"I know," I clapped my hands. "I really think we can take this home this year, Katie. And I want it so bad..."

"We all do," Katie agreed. "Do you know what dance Joe's team are doing?"

"Not a clue," I shrugged. It was true, we really hadn't shared anything about our finals routines, and I strongly doubted we'd find out until we performed. I'd barely known anything about their semi-finals routine - Joe had just said it was a mixture of styles and told us the music. I doubted he'd even do that this time.

"Shame," Katie said. "We could've used that to our advantage."

"I know," I laughed, "which is exactly why he'll never tell me. He's not stupid, and we're both pretty competitive."

"That's true," Katie laughed back. "Right, I'm gonna go rehearse my group's part with Cara, Livvy, Jess, Poppy and Emma. Lemme take a selfie."

I laughed, and she disappeared, gripping onto Emma's arm as she left.
The difference with the finals compared to the other rounds at Internationals was that you had to have multiple songs. The dance had to be between 7-8 minutes, and it HAD to be at least partially contemporary, and a story was a must. Without these elements, you were disqualified. So, usually what everyone did was have little segments to dance to, piecing them together to make a story. Katie was playing the role of a popular girl who excluded Livvy, who was playing the girl in poverty. They were dancing to Selfie. However, she was also the girl who eventually helped Livvy and included her in the group. A happy ending of sorts. Obviously with only twelve dancers on our team, we had to play multiple roles, with very quick costume changes in the wings, but everyone had their main part to dance to. I was shopping with other mums and their kids in a store to Bills, stuffing a dress up my dress to try and steal it and getting caught. My favourite part was the end of my segment where it said "unexpected item in the bagging area". A nice touch. Then there was a group of kids (all of the smaller dancers played kids as well as their own roles) bullying Julian, and that was to Bom Bom Bom, but without the lyrics. Then a song from the soundtrack of a kids film. Then there were other songs for an intro and ending. I loved it. It was a strong contender to win, it really was...but I knew Joe and Zoe. I knew how creative they were, and how great their visions were. Canada would've been easier to beat at this stage, I reckon. But it's impossible to know. I sighed, deciding to go rehearse with the others.

Joe's PoV
Our dance was gonna win, I could feel it in my blood. It was Roald Dahl themed, with four different stories: The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, George's Marvellous Medicine and The Witches. Our scenery was a storybook, and you could actually turn the pages. It was probably the best dance we'd ever performed. I couldn't wait.