Chapter 10:- Audition

Damilola stared at the training bar which had made her fall terribly on the floor.

"What the heck was wrong with this people? How could a training bar stand in front of the door? Besides everyone here were meant to be professionals, weren't they? What on earth were they using a training bar for?" Damilola thought to herself almost in tears. If not for this stupid stupid bar, she wouldn't have been caught.

Damilola stood up from the floor nervously as she faced the numerous glares at her. She laughed embarrassingly and began to arrange the training bar to ease the attention on her. Unfortunately for her, everyone's eyes were fixed on her, including the Judges and those who came for auditions. Some were laughing at her embarrassing state, while some were looking at her with a look of disgust. Just how could a person be this stupid. She wasn't surprised that there were people looking at her with that look, she also felt stupid.

She cleared her throat nervously and started to say nothing in particular.

"Hi", she said smiling nervously, but when she saw no friendly gaze at her, she began to speak, "I um, you know, ahh, I mean."

She took a long breath in then continued, this time saying something that made sense.

"I am sorry, I am late. Has the audition ended?"

Like she didn't say anything, everyone diverted their attention else where, giving her space to breath.

The director quickly excused herself and grabbed Damilola out.

"Gosh! Where have you been, woman?"

"I am really, sorry ma'am, it's a really long story."

Seeing how stressed out Damilola looked, she couldn't help but feel pity for her.

She knew the girl. She was always up to task. This is like the first time she had ever been late for anything.

The director calmed down and asked her to go get dressed.

By the time Damilola was dressed in a tube blouse and leggings, the audition had started.

Getting to the audition room, there was a girl dancing. She was a barley dancer and she was dancing to a song titled 'All I ask by Adele'.

Damilola couldn't help but stare at her in a daze. She was damn too good. She got her timing and steps perfectly well. Fear began to envelope her. If this were the people she would be competing with, isn't she in for it?

Few minutes later the girl was done, everyone's eyes were on her. Damilola could see the fear in their eyes.

The girl feeling so full of herself, walked arrogantly back to where she sat before she was called.

The next person was an hip-hop dancer. She danced to a song titled 'The message by Furious 5'

This girl gave her a very cool feeling as she danced.

Damilola majored in contemporary dance but she was also an hip-hop dancer.

She learnt hip-hop based on the fact that she saw it as interesting.

She learnt it to an extent that she became much better than most hip-hop dancers that she knew.

Seeing this girl right now, she felt threatened. What threatened her the most was, she could see that this girl hadn't learnt this hip-hop dance for up to two years because her steps were a little weak but this her dance was extremely threatening. But the girl didn't imbibe as much fear in her as the previous person.

She was given a number and her number was 21, since she was the last person to come.

Many other good dancers did their auditions but none of them caught her eyes like those two.

Soon it was her turn, her director called, "number 21, please come out for your audition."

Damilola walked out from behind everyone, where she was hiding.

What the heck was she doing right now?

She was damn too scared.

She walked to the front quietly each steps weaker than the previous, as all eyes were on her.

She told them the song she would be dancing to. It was titled 'speechless by Naomi Scott'

She asked for a long clothe which was handed over to her.

She looked around and saw that everyone were getting bored of how she was being sluggish but she currently cared less how they felt.

"This girl is really weird don't you think?" A girl whispered to another girl beside her.

"Yeah, she is, who does she think she is, asking for things. What is wrong with her dancing without those things, didn't we do the the same?" She replied with a look of contempt.

At the other end of the audition room, a guy said to someone beside him, "Gosh! She is so hot. It's just so bad that she looks like she doesn't know what she is doing. It would have been nice to have an hot girl, in this group."

Damilola was given a very long clothe as long as she needed it to be.

She tied one end of it to the nearest pillar and the other on her hand, she then moved close to the pillar and rested her back on it. After a while, urging the song to be played.

When the song started playing, she closed her eyes tightly, trying to feel the song. This was it. The moment she had been waiting for.

The intro of the song was played as she sat motionless by the pillar.

When the first line was played, she opened her eyes and began to dance.

She had been transformed into a character caged just the way she interpreted the song.

She opened her eyes and began to wonder how she got there.

She then realized she was tied, how could this be?

She tried releasing herself from the hold sliding, flipping, dragging but she was still tied.

She rubbed herself on the ground in agony rolling in pains.

This had to end, she didn't want to be caged.

When the chorus came in, "I won't be silent, you can't keep me quiet."

She continued to struggle portraying a strong woman who was not going to give up as she danced still on the floor. Dragging the long clothe very far as she began to somersault flexibly toward the pillar.

She slept and struggled, she refused to let the rope hold her down as the song continued to play.

When the next chorus came in, she began to fight the rope with more strength and positivity. She had let go of all her doubt and all she wanted to do was to free herself from the bondage.

Gradually the clothe began to tear, based on her massive strength until she was free. The rope cut completely.

She continued to dance, but this time, freely than when she was tied. She jumped up in the air stretching her legs wide, then falling to the floor standing up, spinning around, showing how much she loved not been silenced, as the song reached its end.

She was so into the song that tears began to roll down her eyes. This was how she felt. She was like an atomic bomb prevented from exploding when she really wanted to.

She dried the tears just in time before anyone could see it.

Deep within her, she knew this was the beginning of turning her life around and she had to start strong. She couldn't let anyone notice her weakness.

Though she hid her tears perfectly, it didn't go unnoticed.

Her boss, 'Mrs Rogers' who was so impressed by her dance knew that the concepts and emotions could only be portrayed if she was going through something similar.

This was the best dance she had seen in a while.

When the dance ended, she could notice some warm tears coming out of her eyes which she wiped immediately. Mrs Rogers couldn't help but feel concerned. But first thing to do was this audition.

Few metres away from Mrs Rogers, a guy was seated unnoticed by everyone. He had to confess that this dance was the best he had ever seen. It reminded him of someone he used to know. Her techniques were perfect. Her emotions were also in line with the song.

Just when he felt, she was probably just a good dancer and actor, he saw as tears rolled down her eyes and she wiped it off in a hurry.

Could she have been going through something like this? Or she was so into character that she felt it all.

All the contestants clapped as Damilola stood up from the floor bowed her head and smiled at the judges.

All eyes were on her and everyone had mixed expressions on their faces, this made her unable to comprehend their thoughts.

Didn't she do well?

She thought she tried her best.

What was wrong with her dance?

Sadly she walked back to her seat.

Her journey was probably going to end here.

She had no choice but to sit and wait for the judgement.

She was the last person, so the judges would probably be saying the result soon.

She could hear one of them speaking to Mrs Rogers.

They needed only 14 people, so definitely, seven people will go home.

The dance group disbanded last year and didn't participate in any competition since all their members were poached.

This year, they decided to start all over again.

One of the judges, which Damilola recognised to be Mrs Rogers's best friend 'Mrs Bordeaux,' said, "I guess that's the last candidate, should we proceed to the eviction?" She said talking to the other judge which was also Mrs Rogers's friend but was a guy.

Rumor has it that they were called the three musketeers and were the best dancers in the groomers when it was at its peak. They formed the groomers together and they had been friends since high school.

Damilola once wondered why Mr Roland would be friends with two girl when he was obviously not gay.

She later found out that Mr Roland and Mrs Rogers were high school sweethearts and they are currently married but it wasn't known to many because they never showed it.

They were both known for keeping business and their personal feelings separately.

Mrs Rogers was in charge of the groomers, they all didn't work there. But they come by once in a while.

After about years of dancing Mr Roland went into Business and did nothing related to dance because of an injury that cost him his dance career.

Mrs Bordeaux on the other hand started a fashion company as she got older.

After Mrs Bordeaux spoke, Mrs Rogers replied "Not yet, there is still one more audition."

Hearing that, everyone looked around. It looked like everyone had auditioned. Who then is the last person?

Deep in their thoughts, they had a charming deep voice say, "Hi, everyone, I am Dave Richardson"