Story Title: So
You Think You Can Dance?
Pen Name: Tufano79
Summary:
It had been Bella's
dream to go on the dance competition, So You Think You Can Dance. She was a contemporary dancer,
going to college, trying to rebound from the death of her father. Her mother's
lack of support and a significant injury forced her to forget her dreams and go
to school, getting her masters, to be a teacher.
Edward Cullen had
already lived the dream, being the runner up for the previous season of So
You Think You Can Dance. He was a steamy, sexy Latin dancer and a fan
favorite, but he came in second behind a jazz dancer, Lauren Mallory. But, in
Edward's world, it worked out for the best. He now had an opportunity to be a
choreographer and an All-Star for the competition.
Rosalie, Bella's best
friend and fellow dancer, convinced Bella to try out during the audition tour
in Portland. Bella was hesitant. It was her dreams of being a dancer that
inadvertently killed her father. He was working overtime to pay for extra
classes when he was murdered on the job. Rose wheedled and pleaded with her,
begging her to come to the auditions. Begrudgingly, Bella agreed and she became
a judge favorite, sailing through to the call-backs in Los Angeles.
The competition is
fierce. Dreams are at stake and a budding romance between All-Star, Edward and
contestant, Bella are the talk to of the competition. Not to mention jealousy
and bitterness from fellow contestants. Will Bella's dream become a reality or
will her dreams be dashed before she even gets a chance to compete? Will Edward
open his heart to the sweet brunette who captured his attention at the
auditions?
"And America's Favorite Dancer is..."
Banner Artist: Mina
Rivera
Teaser:
A couple of days
later, I walked into a dance studio. I had just come from my physical therapy
session and was loose, ready to choreograph the call-back piece for the dancers
who didn’t quite make the cut to go straight to Los Angeles. I was dressed in a
pair of workout pants and a fleece, bundled up for the harsh Chicago winter. It
hadn’t snowed, but was brutally cold. It made me miss the warmth of Los
Angeles. Reaching the studio that the producers rented out, I met up with Irina
Kincaide, the winner from the season just before mine. I had, during the
competition, been paired up with her for a Broadway number and had gotten rave
reviews. She was tall, lithe and easy to work with.
“Hey, Edward,” she
chirped, giving me a warm grin as she stretched out on the floor. “I see that
they got to you.”
“I’m glad. I’ve wanted
to choreograph my whole life. I’ve done a few things, but this is the biggest
scale thing I’ve done. Ever,” I said, tossing my bag onto a chair. “Do you not
like choreographing?”
“Not really. Do you
want to take the lead on this?” she asked, standing up and moving to the bar,
continuing her stretches. “We could do something that incorporates both
contemporary, which is my strength and Latin ballroom, which is yours. Though,
you can pretty much do whatever the fuck you want. According to Alistair, you
shit gold.”
“Really?” I smirked.
“That’s news to me. I’d be soooooo much richer if I did.” Irina laughed. “Do we
have music?”
“We have a couple of
choices,” Irina said, walking over to the sound system. “’Uptown Funk’ by Mark
Ronson, ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ by Ed Sheeran, ‘Centuries,’ by Fall Out Boy and
‘Lips are Moving’ by Meghan Trainor.”
“Let’s listen to all
of them and immediately nix the one that is the most annoying,” I said. We sat
down on the floor, listening to each of the songs. Almost immediately, we eliminated
“Lips are Moving” and “Centuries.” Both had been overplayed and were bound to
drive both of us nuts by the end of the choreography process. They were both
great songs, but didn’t have the diversity for what we needed. We had to
separate the strong dancers from the weak. “Thinking Out Loud” could prove to
be a beautiful lyrical, contemporary piece while “Uptown Funk” lent itself to
more partner work.
“I don’t know,” Irina
said. “Both songs are pretty great. What do you think?”
“It depends on what they’re
looking for,” I murmured. “What do they want to see? Beautiful lines and
something flowy or intricate, challenging choreography?”
“I’m thinking the
latter, Edward. You remember the choreography round from last season,” she
shuddered.
“I was lucky. I was
sent through right after my audition,” I snickered. “I heard rumors of how
wicked hard it was. Almost all of the dancers who performed it messed up.”
“How about we split
the difference?” Irina suggested. “I like the Mark Ronson song. I think that we
could do a ton with it, making it challenging with lifts and fast footwork, but
have some spots where dancers can really shine. Have a nice combination of
jazz, hip hop, and ballroom.”
“Let’s put it on
repeat and brain storm,” I smiled, setting up the sound system.
We spent a couple of
hours just getting the ‘language’ of our dance down. It had a lot of attitude
immediately. Irina and I just had fun, creating as we went. Every so often,
we’d pause, jot down our movements and discussed how to teach it since we only
had an hour to present it to the contestants.
I wanted to do more
than just have them run through it as many times with us. I actually wanted to
teach it to them as opposed to pray they got it. Irina was in agreement, saying
that was why so many struggled with the choreography last year. The contestants
were left to figure out lifts and twists on their own. Some contestants didn’t
know the proper way to lift or to hand a partner and it was their downfall.
Plus, there were a number of injuries due to that practice. One girl fell so
hard that she actually fractured her spine and could no longer dance because of
that injury. The production company paid for all of her medical bills even
though she signed a waiver. Her partner was not even remotely trained to do the
lift they had choreographed.
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