Jeté to Stardom

8. From Ballerinas to Showgirls

Lux practical floats into the Las Vegas studio. She was on cloud nine, and who could blame her? She won the pageant a few days ago with a jazz routine. A jazz routine. Nothing could break her out of her happiness.

"Welcome to Las Vegas!" Abby cheers. "I wanna reflect on Starpower last week. Some of you did really well, however as a whole, not so great. I brought Brandon in, I thought that would be the trick, but it ended up looking like a mess. The competition this week is Thunderstruck, and we have four days to prepare. As a group, this particular group has not placed in the overall high score, so you need to be flawless this week."

Abby takes the cover of the first picture on the bottom row to reveal Vivi-Anne's headshot with a red slash over it. "Vivi-Anne, not here. Her mother made it very clear that she was not traveling to Las Vegas, so you know what this poor little girl is going to suffer. Her mother didn't follow the rules. Let this be a lesson to all of you and to all of your mothers. If you don't follow the rules and you don't give me 100 percent, I will yank your number from the competition."

Lux felt horrible for Vivi; she did but had the same thing she was glad that Cathy was gone. All she did was cause trouble and argued with everyone.

"Next up, Mackenzie. Honey, I'm sorry you lost your duet partner; however, I want you to practice on all your jumps and all of your ticks because next week, you will definitely be dancing."

"Okay," Mackenzie replies.

"Paige," Abby continues. "Your performance was good, but you're not winning, and you're not placing in the overalls, and I think you should be placing definitely in the top ten. This is your city; you have the long legs, you have the looks. Yes? Because of that, Paige, you're getting a solo. Understood?"

Paige nods.

"Second row, Nia. Last week in Orlando, you finally won your category. I think you need to do that all the time. So I hope your mother now trusts me and doesn't question my every move. I've had it with that. It's what you do on stage that matters. Not the choreography, not the costume; it's you and your technique that is gonna win the first place. It felt good to win, didn't it?"

"Yes," Nia smiles.

"Yes," Abby agrees. "This week, you get another solo, and I expect you to win again. Brooke did a great job, but you didn't make the top three. Yes?"

Brooke nods.

"I understand the girls were older, but you shouldn't make excuses; you should blow them away, and just like Paige, this is your city. You've been talking about Cirque for years since you were a little kid. Certainly, somebody from Cirque is going to be judging you here, so you need to step it up and make sure they know your name at the end of the competition. Lux, and Nova. I give you two a jazz routine; you were apprehensive about it. Yet you both went on stage and did very well. Your mother didn't even complain about it, and look at what happened. Lux won, and Nova, you were her runner up. Good job. Now at the top of the pyramid, Chloe."

Lux blinks in shock before sharing a look with her sister. Chloe didn't even dance last week.

"Now you're probably wondering why because Chloe didn't dance last week. I keep hearing that nobody can win because Maddie wins. Well, you know what? This is your shot. Maddie, I'm giving you the week off, no new solo. Chloe, you wanted this shot. Your mother, all I hear is it's Maddie, Maddie, Maddie. Well, you know what? This is your shot. Here we are in Las Vegas, and you better win. Maddie, you will be doing the group dance, but you will not be performing a solo this week. Now understand this has nothing to do with you. I want to give somebody else a chance to win. Let's talk about the group number. Where are we again?"