Original subtitles

Okay, from the top, let's go.

Three, two, one.

Hold. Okay.

It's getting there. It's getting there. But we're going to have to go again.

Preset. Full-time dance, or full-time as we call it in Australia, is like

university for dancers.

Five and six and seven and eight. One and two, three and four and five. Six,

seven, eight. And one, two, three, four, five.

Six, seven and eight. And one, two, three, four. Dance schools are kind of

known for having, like,

the dancers are bitchy or whatever. And I don't think that's what we have here.

It's more of a, like, a fight.

for the spot to be a professional it's not bringing someone down it's hey

there's one spot and it's going to be mine this group is the best i

personally have ever taught anywhere ever

As soon as the music turns on, no one in that room is your friend anymore.

Why are we dead in the face?

Stop. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Find the pause. Go again.

We have had a huge opportunity come into my inbox.

I've been in the industry for a very long time. It is a once in a lifetime

opportunity for you guys to audition for.

You all know about Dean Lee. You all know about his breadth of work with

multiple international touring artists, specifically with Janet Jackson

currently.

In my career, I've definitely been the underdog. I don't think I have the

conventional beauty standard of what a backup dancer is. I'm not hot. I'm not

sexy, you know. So for me, I really, honestly, so many people say this, but I

don't think they truly mean it. But I literally don't care what you look like,

what height you are, what size your body is. I couldn't care less. But just turn

up and be great.

Show mama. Pull out from the top, please.

Five, six, seven, and eight.

Hit it. One.

two and three and four and five and six seven and eight and one the big thing

for me is creating shape out my dance company hit hit hit hit round

yes there we go i'm a very good balance of mama dean and

the you know professional that's gonna crack the whip five and seven and eight

and one boring we're Always looking for the best.

I reached out to Brent Street because I've never in my entire life met a bad

Australian dancer.

To be a backup dancer, constantly working, constantly touring. That's like

my dream. That's my end goal. No one can be perfect, but I try.

I love to just say... Yeah, sometimes I get the time

out and...

Yeah. Sheep house. It's about recognising the underdog.

The way you look does play a big hand in whether you book the job.

For male dancers, stereotypes are definitely very masked.

There's not that many jobs out there looking for a dancer like me. I

personally think I haven't booked a job because of the way I've looked. This

opportunity with Dean Lee could possibly be...

The last big chance of having a career like this. I can see where their dreams

are. I can see what they want to be doing.

From the moment that someone had come up to me and asked, what do you want to do?

It would always be back up to answer.

They want to be on that world stage with that big eyes.

They want to be doing the music video. They want to be doing Super Bowl. They

want to be doing stadium tours. I want to live the tour life. I want to be

going from city to city with no sleep.

This probably sounds like I'm listing other people's hell, but it's...

heaven for me. If they want like a real lasting career it needs to be

international.

My plan is to bring 10 dancers from Australia over to London to audition for

one place in the company.

There's only going to be 10 of us that get selected to go to London.

I just see myself working as a young professional dancer or like peaking now.

Only one of us will get the day.

That name that they even put on the thing, a backup dancer, that's my goal.

That's why I'm really interested.

We've got an audition coming up in our lives. So what does that mean for you if

it's a no? This is what she's spoken about, backup dancing, travelling to

London.

Okay, I'm not you either.

Like a ballet squat. She wants this more than anything.

She's been quite tame about it. Go one, two, go three, and four. That was good.

I loved that.

Okay, one more time.

Abby is honestly a superstar.

Abby's very, very good. She's very versatile.

She is strong. She has a great look.

She is everything I would look for in a professional dancer.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Ivy's got the look. She's got the talent. She's what you would call the

perfect passage.

Tell them. I don't care.

Tell them. You know, Dochi reposted you doing that. Me?

Yeah, only you. She's like, the amount of videos I've posted of people doing

it, and she reposted your one. Oh, my God.

She's really, really good, and I love that for her, but it scares me so much.

Cooper and I met at Brent Street.

We found ourselves... We found ourselves always being, I don't know, partnered

together. Yeah, it was cute.

We speak.

Every single day.

Will you be speaking to Cooper before you go in the room? I don't think I'll

speak to Cooper before I go in.

I don't know.

He's not my competition, but it is a competition.

I want to do it together, but I've never thought of us as a half and a half.

He's always going to be my number one supporter and I'm always going to be

his. But I'm going to be selfish because it's...

my goal and i have never really imagined being a backup dancer with my boyfriend

i've always just imagined being a backup dancer for me so that's what i'm gonna

do sorry that was good i feel like there's a lot of

good dancers i've worked so hard to get to where they're at but i feel like i

did not work that hard to be here i literally just like got magically

good i guess

Yeah. Jake is a bit of a wild card because he is so incredible, but I still

think he is new and he is, like, up and coming. So I think he has way more

training to do, but there is something about him that you do want to watch him,

and he does, like, draw your attention.

I think people would describe me as just a really confident person.

I always walk around with my head held high.

Go, one, two, three, four. That was good. Yeah, thank you.

Sometimes I can just have that bitch face where I'm just like, I look like I

don't care.

But I feel like that's just me on the outside and no one really knows me on

the inside.

I've heard things about you being late to class or skipping class, kind of

picking the classes that you want to do.

Like, do you want to be here? I do.

OK, well, it feels like at the moment that maybe that's not the case.

when you are on stage it's like not everyone's eyes are like technically on

you but i like to just like think that yeah and i feel

like that's what gives me that aura let's be fair for real if you want to be

in this industry why wouldn't we want this opportunity

i guess since

being in la it's not as glamorous as you'd want it to be. In the two months

that I have been here, I've only booked the one job, one paid job.

Finance is complicated, not complicated, wrong word, difficult. So

far, I've always had a place to stay.

I'm five foot six. I still don't look like a man.

My journey in dance is extremely challenging.

I wouldn't say the best dancer always gets the job.

It's not necessarily the smartest financial decision to be purchasing a

ticket to Australia because I don't know whether I've actually got enough money

to make it back to LA.

Have you heard that Max Ostler is coming for the audition?

Oh yeah.

Is he coming for it?

Max Ostler being in the room, that frightens me because he's incredible.

He's here in Sydney.

Max is one of the best dancers I've ever watched.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, he's got it and he's got the emotional side that a lot of dancers

won't have.

Back at Brent Street.

A new audition.

It's a lot of cortisol for 9am.

I'm excited to step into the room, but at the same time a little nervous.

Because it's kind of scary stepping in with people who are younger than me. We

train like five days a week. We're definitely at the fittest you're ever

going to be as a dancer is during full time.

It's also scary going in there with, like, kids I've taught over the last few

years. Like, the expectation is that I probably should be getting it over them,

but those kids are insane.

We're just, like, so eager and, like, would they say bright-eyed and bushy

-tailed? As a dancer, I feel like I'm quite confident.

Before an audition, my ritual is to imagine myself doing it.

Perfection. When people are giggling, you're obviously not...

Really in the zone.

Smooth.

Make it smooth.

Welcome, everyone. We started off with 200 applications. We will be cutting

that down to a callback of 40 people only.

From there, we'll cut down to another group of 20 where you will dance for

your life.

And then we will have our top 10.

I'm most intimidated by Tassie out of everyone on the panel.

I want you to be hungry, yeah?

Hungry but not desperate.

She's a scary. She's a scary, yeah.

We want to see if our current students can kick it with the professionals that

are in the room.

Amazing dancers are going to get cut today.

Ready?

Let's go.

All I want to do.

She's an artist. She's an artist. She's an artist.

Thank you guys, thank you very much. You can wear that in the hallway, thank you.

I can't feel my legs.

I'm glad I don't need a date bib.

A date bib?

So many girls, this is so hard.

Nah,

it's not hard.

Do you think you did good? I think I did so good.

I wouldn't be like, it's hot, and just tell me the word if I didn't.

Because I know I just killed them.

Can you put Emily and Holly over here?

Okay, let's just do the girls first.

We have three more spots for the girls.

I think... Emily does the

Corrie, but I don't know who it is.

I actually haven't been on stage since grad.

So it's been three years.

It's up to her as to when she will call it. She'll know.

Time on it. She'll realise.

But as time marches on, reality also sets in.

18 years now of dancing.

Like, surely I could get something.

Surely, surely.

I wake up in the morning and I check in the mirror to see what I look like. And

I would purposely at concerts.

tape my boobs down and my stomach down for a dance concert.

I've lost over 10 kilos.

In a way, I just wanted to be wanted by people in the industry.

I obviously had lost my mother when I was very, very young.

She didn't get to...

live the life that she deserved.

I feel like I was put on this earth to give her the life that she was supposed

to live.

So whenever I dance, I think of that.

Throughout my entire life, I had held on to the fact that I still have one

parent. I always knew, you know, you still got your daddy, he's still there.

Being 18, I was finally able to obtain my documents.

from my entire time that I was in the foster care system. I sat there and I

read over 1,000 pages.

Surprise is an understatement.

She had always gone on knowing that her father wasn't well, was in care.

Yeah.

Didn't really know how to contact or should she contact, what would be the

consequence of that.

But to get to...

Open an envelope, read it, and your father's past.

It was horrifying to be honest. Please call this number.

So she calls the number and says, I'm Emily Madeline Smith reporting.

Can you tell me about my father's death?

And then to be told it was four years prior to that, it wrecked her.

Why could, you know, the world be so cruel? That's what I was thinking

because, I don't know.

You don't want anyone to ever go through something like that. You wouldn't wish

that on your worst enemy, you know?

So that was a tough situation for me. It's still like

I've got no parents anymore.

From that, I've learnt a lot about myself and my resilience and how strong

I am.

And that...

If I can get through something like that, I can honestly get through

anything.

That's why dance has really been the biggest thing in my life because I've

been able to just push everything aside and just do what I love and move and

feel happy.

If I were to not get through this audition, I think I would question

myself as a dancer.

I'd think, God, what am I even doing anymore?

Like, should I get an office job? Like, literally.

Everybody back in, please.

Moment of truth.

We would like to see these people for a call back.

118, 65, 95, 29.

125.

36.

6.

Number 134.

Number 20.

Number 152.

Number 19.

Number 41.

Yes, I have gotten in the next round. Very, very excited. Very, very grateful.

I was actually very on the fence.

about if I would or not.

I dare, every time I look over, someone is practising this combo.

It can't get into your muscle memory anymore, I swear.

No, thinking about, like, half this room getting hurt.

OK, great win. We made it through the first round. Awesome.

Harsh reality.

Yeah? I'm going to give it to you straight.

It's not good enough yet.

Don't hold back. Now is the time to really push yourself.

If you know that you are confident in just standing there and, like, looking,

do that, yeah?

I haven't seen some things from people that I know that they can do.

I still have a lot of, like, um...

..inner self-talk I need to work through.

Okay. Here we are. The top 40.

We're going to keep everyone in the room now so you can feel each other's energy

a little bit more.

You'll also notice who your competition is in the room in that way.

Ultimately, we're looking for people to make mistakes so we can get rid of

people. So don't give us the opportunity to get you out.

Because it'll have to happen that way.

We're just going to pull you out in some smaller groups and give you a little bit

of feedback.

I want to see grit and grime and disgustingness from you. You had so much

more to give.

I want the bite. I want everything.

You need to stand out in the Corrie and only the Corrie.

Yeah? That last round is going to be where you get to add that next layer. So

if you can't stand out within the framework of what we've given you, then

unfortunately that's going to have to be the end. Yeah?

So I want to see... Beep, beep, beep.

Finish. Hold it.

Hold it.

Hold it. Bah.

I myself was never the strongest dancer in the room, but the one thing that I

did have was an ability to make you watch me.

I would only put one through in that group, definitely. Really?

I mean... I would love a bit more fun with it.

This means war.

You can dance like nobody else. You are one of the most trustworthy dancers in

the room.

Matt, I want to see you fight for it. I feel like you have so much more to give.

Yeah? You might not get a second chance.

I got the two, the bitties pull through. In coming out, it's a party too.

Pick my cup, it's enough for two.

Sip on the juice, what I want to do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

I got the room, make a baseball ball.

And put it down, it's a hardcore zone.

My drum, make a thing for you. Go on the floor, what I want to do.

That's the room for these girls' homes. You can put it down at the Hogwarts

home. It's right down the good thing for you.

On the floor.

Thank you.

That's the starting point. That's what we want.

I did like this foot to the floor.

Wasn't planned.

Based on that second round, Max Osler was the person that

really stepped it the hell up.

I'm Jake's number one fan. I think he did really well. I think Jono did really

well. It's one or the other for me. It's one of these two.

I really think Jake kicked it with the big boys.

I agree. And he brings something that none of those boys have.

So we're going to release Jono.

That sucks, but yeah.

Taking rejection is a big part of being a dancer.

You have to be right for every single thing that you do.

Sorry, Coops.

That's the end of the road for me, but that's all right. Abby.

Yeah. Go give it your all. Yeah.

And yeah, you'll be fine. Thank you. Of course.

Emily. I want to see her become an artist, not just a dancer. I agree.

And that's what's lacking. And is that something that Dean can get out of her?

Maybe.

We have seen you dance.

So tell us about what this opportunity would mean to you and how it could set

you up for what you want in the future.

Dance is my life. This has been what I was born to do.

Since two and a half.

This is what I want to do and it's what I'll always do and it's what I need to

do. I'm ready to move overseas and take the next step and I know that I need to

be in front of these people to make that happen. Just gathering my words.

What Sydney dancers have is like out of this world. My lifelong dream is to back

up dance.

I know I'm going to do it. I've always been like a known dancer that

works their butt off and...

is at every rehearsal and always knows what she's doing but i've never quite

gotten there i've always been just under or i don't know always relied on but

never the one chosen it broke me for a while but i just keep fighting when i

first came here i think i was definitely this like irrelevant melbourne girl

going there would light me up a bit more yeah And proof to the haters that I got

this, bitch.

I guess post-school time was a pretty rough time for me because, like, I fell

out of love with dance.

I think I'm at a point in my life where I'm ready to just chase my dreams.

We've all worked our arses off to be in this room, and we've worked our arses

off to be at the skill set that we have.

And I think this is the gateway.

I don't want to... When I

grew up, I would imagine myself dancing on a stage in an arena.

Oh, my God.

I don't know. Sorry.

I just... You did so good.

So good.

So good. So good.

Anyway.

Yeah.

I'm just... Yeah.

I don't know what to say, sorry.

Hello. I think for me personally, as a performer here in Australia, I've felt

quite lost.

I feel like I've never really fit in a box.

I think really this trip for me would allow me to find myself, if I could say

it in a short sentence.

Top ten would mean, like... the absolute world to me because I came to Brent

Street this year. I'm from the smallest town I think ever.

I'm from a very traditional Italian family.

My dad owns a heap of farms.

I can't remember him when he was four years old.

that we have a Filipino Christmas party, and he goes to me, Mum, I want to dance.

I used to, no, because it's all girls.

But he was crying, he was insisting to dance, and Mum, I'm going to dance. When

we do competition, he's always got the first place, first place, first place,

wherever we go.

So it was amazing.

My mum was the one taking me to these competitions, my mum was taking me to

these workshops, and my dad, he wasn't very supportive deep down.

Jake is a bit different.

Hey, Jake. Yeah.

Here I go.

He's a bit girly, you know, like, where Italian doesn't support that. I just,

like, broke stereotype in Griffith because I didn't meet anyone, especially

males, especially Italian males, has ever done this, ever.

No, yeah, at all. So it's very, like... It's very scary.

School was very hard.

I was very feminine.

also a toxic school, so.

Yeah.

When he get bullied, it affects us as a parent, you know?

So it really, like, there's a time that I was going to pull out Jake from

school, but Jake always said, no, I'm going to be a dancer.

So I want to be a dancer. I said, like, what? I said, I will be a backup dancer.

I said, big ambition, you know?

Yeah.

We've reached the point of the day where it's...

Improvisation, for me personally, is the most exciting, but I know it can be the

most terrifying.

Everything we've done up until this point has been about executing notes

that we've been giving you. This is your opportunity now to be implicitly,

wholeheartedly, and fully unapologetically yourself.

Fear is the thing that defines us so often, and fear is the thing that holds

us back, and fear is the thing that puts us in the car driving home after an

audition like this, going, I should have, I should have, I should have, I

should have.

Try and leave everything that you've done previously today outside.

This is like a new energy we need to bring into the room.

This is your chance to dance for your life. Really? I know that sounds

dramatic, but this is literally what this is.

An opportunity like this only comes around.

It basically never comes around, yeah?

So leave fear at the door. Use every single delicious count in that eight

eights.

Dance for your life. Let's go.

Thank you.

You won't forgive

me,

you won't forgive me

You won't, you won't, you won't forgive me yet.

You like what you see. You won't forgive me. I'm hot with the detail.

I put your degrees. They're all on that knee. So forget the exhale.

It's time to get up. I'm shutting myself.

I'm hot with the detail.

I put you to sleep, I put you to sleep.

You like what you see, you like what you see, you like what you see.

You won't forgive me, you won't forgive me, you won't forgive me.

You like what you see, you like what you see, you like what you see.

You won't forgive me, you won't forgive me.

That whole moment we saw, I've got goosebumps, literally.

You've made our decisions 4,000 times more difficult, but that's what dance

for your life is.

I could be in it, depending on what they saw in me today

and what I said.

Hopefully they're able to see through that.

Every single person in that room deserves to be in front of Dean Lee.

So it's really anyone's game at this point.

Far out.

Yes, I can get in the top 20, but can Emily be in the top 10?

I feel like that's the thought that I have, but maybe they have as well.

So I don't know.

Okay, obviously today's been a huge day for everybody.

If I call out your number, you will be one of the 10 to receive this life

-changing opportunity.

Okay, the first number I would like to call is number 29.

Thank you so much. That's all right.

The next number I would like to step forward is number 138.

Number 67, 36, 121, 147. Number

121.

Number 133.

So there's one spot left.

My heart is like smashing against my ribcage, it feels.

But the final number to add to our top 10 is number 152.

I honestly can't believe it. I was so scared in the audition room that I

wasn't going to make it, and that just kept running in my head.

So now that I've gotten through to the top ten, I feel so much lighter.

London is such an amazing place.

Everything is there. Sharing a house with ten dancers, that's a lot for me,

especially someone that basically lives in a nursing home.

But I'm going to cry a lot when she goes.

I love packing because I feel like it's manifesting my life

of a dancer where you're just always from this place to that place and over.

Wait, can I answer this?

Connor, did you hear about Abby? She just got dropped from a really high lift

in rehearsal and has been rushed to the hospital.

What are they saying? Oh, my God.

I can feel something.

I believe just this brain.

I doubt it. Oh, get off.

Oh, that is huge.

No, I'm not joking.

Pretty big.

Biggest one.

It's pretty big.

I cried off all my makeup.

Like the first film.

She would be feeling so devastated.

But I mean, that's the life of a dancer.

You're injured one week and then you're on stage the next week. And then you're

in pain the week after.

And then... rinse and repeat so i i think that's just what we signed up for

honestly i didn't i didn't read the fine details the fine print i didn't read the

contract i signed whatever but i think everyone knows that if you're a dancer

you're gonna wake up with pneumonia and then you're gonna have to perform on

stage that night with ariana grande you just have to it's our job and also we

love it so much we're all crazy we have spoken to dean And

I was trying to gauge what does this week kind of look like for everybody.

And he said he thinks that even dancers that are 100% capacity are really going

to struggle.

So he had said to me that if she's not at

100%, then she shouldn't do it.

So I think we're going to have to call it.

Like, I feel like...

I can just see myself, like, getting the job done.

And I'm like, I feel like if that's my attitude, like, I feel like I still

deserve to go. I don't know.

You deserve it. It's not about deserving it. You absolutely deserve it. It's not

about deserving it at all. It's about the damage you could do to yourself. I

know there could be more damage, but I feel like I could just keep rehabbing it

day after day.

I sing it day after day. And if it hurts more and it does get worse, then I don't

care because I don't know if I want to do this forever.

Like, I'm just trying to be real. Like, I just... I love dancing, but I don't

see myself doing it when I'm, like,

30-something.

Like, people do. I get that. That is, like, what dancers dream of. But I'm

also, like, I do want a family one day. Like, I'm like, I want to peak now, so I

want to do this now.

Even if it does cause further damage. Like, I want to be there and do it.

like i really do and i know that he doesn't want someone weak in the group

but like other sports like people are giving it a go even when they are sore

they have a sprain they fractured their pool right it could be fine you could go

over there and you could absolutely kill it that is a possibility there's also a

chance that you do further damage i don't care for that but but that's not a

risk that

we want to put you through or that Dean wants to put you through as well.

I still want to go, so I don't know.

I just feel like I could do it.

I think maybe a conversation with Abby's physio to say these are the things that

are likely going to be asked of her and are you comfortable clearing her?

Call me tomorrow morning after you've been to the physio.

We'll then figure out from there whether you're going to get to the airport and

we'll...

make this happen or whether we need to call it at that point.

Is anyone else here?

No,

just me.

Yes, I'm just in like a thing underneath a boot so it's called an air car

I would love to have a British accent.

A British accent.

I would love to live in the UK.

Five, six, seven, go.

One, and six, and three, and four, and five, go.

What now?

You're put dead on your account. You don't start moving on your account.

Yeah. Same thing with me. Yes, but you don't do it.

Child's gonna be waiting there for a big hug. I know it.

Like, as if I just get to live in there.

Like, I don't even have stairs in my house.

One and two and three and four and five and... That was actually... Yeah!

I embrace the miracles flowing into my life each day. I embrace the miracles

flowing into my life each day. I need to embrace those miracles as well. I

embrace the miracles.

Also got some gratitude and worth.

We've learned everything.

Got to remember my worth and get my gratitude up. Have you got like an ex

-boyfriend spell?

Yes, I do. Back in our full-time dance training, we were a little item.

So we dated for, how long was it?

on and off yeah um it was on and off in the past and yeah we broke up straight

after yeah like three years ago we broke up and then you know life just likes to

put us in scenarios together every now and then yeah like this one but this is

actually the first time we've been put in the same room i feel like in the next

few days so because it's going to be so intense we'll be like

Or either we'll be like, oh, we're in London, or like... Or get me out of

London.

It feels like the stakes are so high. Well, like, they're always high in the

dance studio, like a dance studio.

But because it's Dean Lee, and because there's other... I'm a little bit scared

about the London dancers.

Intimidated? Intimidated, and also just sometimes I feel like I get really... I

can get really awkward in big groups.

And I'm just scared I'm going to say something wrong and they're going to be

like, oh, who's this blonde little boy from Australia?

They're all going to be, like, pros as well.

Yeah. Like, I don't know whether they'll, like... Be looked down a little

bit. Yeah. Or, like... I just don't know what to expect.

Jar-jars, or if they'll be... They could be really nice.

We just don't know.

Do you like dancers that are never really nice? No. Or deep down, at least.

The nervousness has crept in a little bit more. I would definitely like to be

the person that gets the contract.

Do you consider yourself a competitive person?

Whoever it is, it means they're more suited for the role of what he's trying

to achieve.

But we all want it to be us.

Absolutely. We are rooting for ourselves.

Absolutely. As well as each other, but it's like we're all here because we want

to launch our careers. Yeah.

I don't really see any other way that any dancer in that room would feel any

other way than wanting to get that spot.

See, we dance every day surrounded by people we love, like, our friends and

stuff. Like, it's still competition, no matter who you're next to. Yeah, but

that's, like, the hard thing is that... I know.

..your best friend is also your biggest, like, enemy.

Yeah. In a way.

I want that dance contract. I want that agent.

I want to win.

hi guys how are we come gather come gather

how are we

i'm so sorry i'm so late my flight was so delayed by a couple of hours so i

just got off the plane came straight here so i just need a shower and then

i'll be good to go shape house was really born out of the idea of

I knew so many incredible dancers, but were just having such a hard time

cracking into the industry because it is so tough.

What you'll probably come to learn as well is that it's not always about the

talent of a dancer.

So for me, Shape House is really a group of people that I know are exceptional at

what they do and giving them a space to be able to go on stage and perform as a

company. Dean gave me my first ever job.

There was a thing about my height.

He was like, no, I don't care. He's going to be taller than the other boys,

but I don't care. He's an amazing dancer. He's a star and we'll figure it

out.

Dean can absolutely make someone a working professional dancer. Like, I'd

say he did that for me.

I treat it as if I do every other job that I do in the industry.

Dean expects a lot from his dancers.

He expects excellence at all times. Dean knows what he wants.

Be on or...

Don't be here. I know there are some injuries in the room already.

So just as a safeguard and a backup for myself, I've asked Lucas if there's any

other Brent Street dancers here in London that can come in just to be a

swing. Abby is injured.

Like, that puts doubts and worries in my mind because there is so much riding on

this opportunity.

So I decided to call Lucas and just see if he had any other of his Brent Street

dancers. available in London, and luckily she did.

And I've asked Esquire to come into this process to really be a swing.

I was at Brain Street last year, and now I'm in London doing professional work as

a dancer.

As a swing, you're coming into the room to learn all the material. You're

learning every single section.

But there's always that possibility that you may not be actually on stage for the

end product.

There are...

Definitely two leads for this piece.

Everyone's got the same opportunity.

Everyone's got a fair chance. It's just about how you step up to that. I have

been a lead in the past.

I loved it. It was probably one of the best opportunities I've ever been given.

This is a moment for some people, like, can be career-changing for some people.

I understand that there are different roles in the piece and everyone is a

valuable part of the piece, but you're going to fight for it.

So, seven, eight. You're stepping on the right leg back. You're going one.

So that right hand goes right over the top. Please splay the hands.

Palms to the floor. One.

There's a little lean on this as well. Six, seven, eight.

One. Nice. Great. Number done. That's it.

Seven, eight. You go one, two, and.

Make sure you hear that. Yes. And my focus is still to the front.

Picking a lead is a very complex process.

A oney and a twoy and a three and four and fivey and a six and seven and eight.

Not bad at all. Go again.

I always start with chunks of choreography, section by section by

section. And box.

Ha, ha, box.

Uh-oh.

That was distinctly average.

Who's got the quickest pickup?

Who is performing straight away?

Do that again. Five, six.

Seven and a eight and oney and a two and a three and four. Yeah.

You see, like, for me, it's the fact that he's already in performance mode.

Do you know what I mean?

Like, that's a professional right there. Connor has this thing that you either

have it or you don't. He's dancing it like he's on stage.

That's a special tool. Not everyone can do that, okay?

But it's the fire in the eyes. That's what I'm looking for, okay?

Everyone else is waiting for permission to be great.

And you should never do that.

One, and a two, and three, and four, and Jake.

So embarrassing, y'all.

Here we go.

So I just gave some notes to Jake specifically. Some of his arms are in

the wrong placement.

Five, six, seven, eight. Already in my mind, I'm looking at who's ticking all

those boxes. Then I will start pulling those out and watching them together.

What I'm looking for in a doctor is somebody to step on my floor and let the

fighter in them come out.

Okay, show mama.

Go again.

I need to see Abby and Frankie again, please.

Being the lead, especially of Dean's pieces, is an amazing opportunity to be

seen. In moments of, like, harsh times, when I'm not at my best, I'm like,

no, like, I don't want to... I don't want to not be the best.

I'll be coming in with fire, hunger.

You know when you're, like, going to cry, and, like, you can feel it in,

like, your throat?

Sometimes I feel dancing down, like... Like, it needs to be me. I don't want to

be a...

Could have been a professional dancer.

I want to be like her.

I am.

I'm not going to, like, show that I'm struggling.

First of all, I'd like to hire you two together for the rest of my life.

I do need to see Kieran and Max.

Against Max and Kieran, they're similar height, similar build.

You could see the mental game of it.

Abby, how is it?

It's good. Yeah? Yeah, I haven't felt any pain for, like, the past few days.

Okay. That was, like, really good, a really good push.

I started off, like, a little bit easier, but I'm feeling, like... I take

injuries very seriously, okay?

I need to make the choice whether you are going to be okay. That final

decision will play with me. Okay. So I think that's all we've got time for

today. There's things that I'm going to have to figure out.

You're making this choice very hard. So just come prepared for tomorrow morning.

It's going to be a lot.

I would love to go to a dance class and be barefaced.

But I think it's just a standard thing that no one wants to see that on stage

as a dancer. Like we, since young, I was a comp kid and I reckon since.

Like eight years old, I've been wearing makeup, including the eyeliner.

We've grown up dancing in front of the mirror, trying to be the best version of

ourselves since we were five years old.

The day after I graduated full-time, I booked the national tour of Wicked the

Musical.

I also danced for Meghan Trainor, Kylie Minogue, Jessica Mavoy, Tones and I,

and Katy Perry. I was... booking all those jobs straight after full-time, and

now I've just stopped for ages. But I sometimes think that my ability has,

like, dropped a little bit.

I feel like because I've been, like, a little bit out of the commercial world

for a while, I think if I did get the lead, it would kind of give me that

spark and energy I need to, like, get back into it.

I'd always do the thing for me.

Yeah. Yeah, I wouldn't do that because I feel like everyone wants tall men. Yeah,

but I think dancers now, like when I was growing up, everyone was like, your

height can be your superpower, your height can be this huge.

And then I got to working and then it's like, oh, you're too tall. Yeah,

dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, yeah.

Yeah, I've experienced that.

In full time, I was definitely a lot

skinnier. I've been going to the gym a lot.

been eating a lot and within 12 months i've actually put on 14 kilos of

muscle a bit rusty

but i don't know there's just little things

like landing a bit heavy a big thing for me was wanting to make myself look more

masculine probably need to work on my stamina

Not as light as I used to be.

So

I

want to look at you for the lead.

I want to try you out.

So obviously you know that choreography, you know the accents, you know the

timing. Now I just want to see what you bring to it character-wise.

This is the hand that I've been dealt, so I need to find a way to make it work.

But, um...

Take

a moment.

Connor, can I see you, please?

It looked like it was two possibilities for a girl main and then a boy main, and

I didn't even get put in the boy main group.

And I honestly was like, OK, well, I'm off, like, I'm not in the options

anymore. And then after Max said it, he was like, oh, we're going to try Connor.

And I was like, okay, yeah, perfect.

Let's try you in the same role. Yeah, I can do that.

I want to get it.

That's wood. That's not wood.

First place is...

Well done. Very nice, Connor.

It's really, really hard to decide.

It's really difficult.

Relax. I'd like you to play the lead role, okay?

Well done.

Connor, amazing job as well.

There's just something in Max's feelings. I think he's right for it. But

I would also like you to learn his track and be first cover for Max, okay?

And then like I said, yes, they're the lead

roles, but there's a bunch of other features coming up. And tomorrow, that's

what I'm looking for, okay?

A privacy situation?

Non-existent at the moment.

Non-existent.

Um... No, it's good. It's quiet.

It's kind of hard for greasy, but... But all that sibling is fine.

Break this out.

I'm not going to think about this foot anymore.

This is the way to go for me. I think once when everything's like tucked

around Like this like it's just easier for me to like dig through it through

everything My lifestyle is just not organized

Oh,

thank you

Today is just about learning sections of choreography.

I might put it on your bodies, but I probably hate half of it already, just

so you know.

I'm here to work. I'm here to create something great with you guys, and

there's just no time for anything else in between.

It's almost like a patchwork quilt. It's just like throwing sections of

choreography out, and then really what makes my pieces what they are, I think,

is how I stick them together.

What? two that one two is awful then layering with the story as well

this whole section it's like

you feel the atmosphere change and the audience needs to feel that but they're

only going to feel that if we're invested in it so just make sure there's

an emotional change there five and six and they're all hard hitters as dancers

like that's not the problem for me like i know they've got the energy and the

power but I also want them to understand why they're dancing like that.

Jake, you good? I feel like you're holding back a little bit. I feel like a

bit shy, like I want to lean back a little bit. Why don't you ask?

Yeah, I don't know why.

Like, I'm telling you to go forward, and you're like, I don't want to.

Okay, can I have all my ladies on the floor and Jake, please?

Jake is fabulous and amazing, and he's got this personality to him.

Jake, I've asked you to join this section.

There's a lot of pressure and responsibility on you. I know that. But

I also wouldn't have given it to you if I didn't think you could rise to that

challenge.

But I do need to start seeing it. You know what I mean?

I can feel that there's a world of things going on with him behind that

facade. And one, two, three, four, five.

Nice. From here. One, two.

I think your head's just going... It's okay, don't be sorry. But it just went

one count too early. Great, let's go again.

I use confidence as, like, a mask because, like, being insecure

doesn't get you anywhere.

I know, it's hard being the lead, yeah?

There's no hiding.

Everyone always asks me, like, oh, you're so confident and, like, you're

so, like, up yourself, kind of. But I'm, like... But I'm...

Really not. And I feel like this week, especially like my first day in the

rehearsals, kind of proved that that was the real me, standing at the back and

holding back.

That was the real Jake.

Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, one, two, and three, and four, five,

six. I need to see something there, all right?

Again, I feel like I do have some demons that I kind of am fighting.

Like it's not easy like, um

Like

it

wasn't easy for me to like

like, be 13 years old in, like, a small town with, like, no support.

And... Sorry.

Um... And, like, that's why I started dancing.

Like, I feel like dance...

Like,

dancing gave me that spark, and it gave me that confidence.

Don't hold back on me, okay?

One more, please, guys.

We're here chasing a dream.

So don't wait for that.

I want to prove.

I feel like not even just people back at home, all my bullies back at home. Like,

I feel like it's just anyone in general, anyone watching me, the audience, even

Dean. Like, anyone that walks into the room is watching me or me dance.

It's very, like, I want to prove to them that I'm really good.

That's the fire in my stomach.

It is a riff giving Jake that feature.

He has to carry that entire section because he is so young. He could go

either way, absolutely nail it or crumble, and we only have one shot to

get it right.

I do need to call this rehearsal.

Obviously, you are the leads and you are the first covers.

We've just got too much work to do and too much to get through. I don't want to

waste time tomorrow, so we just need to do some extra rehearsal tonight just to

get done what I need to get done, okay?

All right, great. Let's go to our first places, please.

No. Great. Well done, guys.

I'm asking them to make the audience believe they're in love with each other.

So that's a very, very hard task to do.

I think he will get there. I do think he'll get there, but I think he's got a

little bit more work to do for sure.

Seven, eight, and one, two, three, four.

One more, one more.

Frankie and I are the leads of this routine.

The two characters are in love with each other.

Five, six.

And then can there be like a hip circle in that? Like five, six.

It does get difficult in the sense of we have only known each other for three

days. Yeah, there we go. Much better.

Yeah. Oh, that's intense.

It can be difficult to be vulnerable and open with someone.

One, two, three, four.

Yes, there we go.

That's better.

Last time.

When I watched him dance, he was just so amazing. He empowered the character so

well. I really just instantly saw that character in him.

Can this be the head roll? Three and four and five, six, seven. Yes, there we

go. Oh, I love that.

And it's almost like we just see like...

half the face as well, do you know what I mean?

Yes!

You better.

Yes.

Let's try that.

One, two, and three, a four, five, and six, and seven, eight, and a one, two,

and three, and four, and five, six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight, and one. There we go. Good, good, good. Like, I haven't

seen anyone move like that. It's crazy.

It's so inspiring.

Thank you, man. Thanks a lot.

Same, same, buddy. Thank you. The more you guys can really, really make that

connection feel as real as possible, I don't know if that means spending a bit

more time together during rehearsal, having lunch together.

Just try and get to know each other a little bit more, just so that the trust

between you is, like, really solid.

His performance was so believable.

All of a sudden...

I'm not looking at the height. I'm looking at how you're making the

audience feel. On paper, his height should go against him and he probably

wouldn't be the lead role.

In terms of like my personal appearance, it's like this ongoing thing

that I have to work through.

As a dancer, you're in a room surrounded by mirrors. You start to analyse your

figure, your shape, your body, everything about yourself. You start

finding things.

You didn't even know you hated about yourself.

When you do an identity, you think of a little girl in a bikini top, hair out,

pushing around.

And I walk in in a baggy t-shirt because I can't even look myself in the mirror.

I'd be caught under that. And you don't think those things are going to stick

with you, but they do.

I can't even look in and out. I can't even get to that point. I have to look

down because it's too hard for me to even look at myself.

I always, like, worry and stress that, you know, I'm never going to be the

girl that gets to be the partner. That's how I look.

There was a time last year when...

Yeah, I was with you when I didn't eat for three weeks.

I was addicted to people telling me that I looked sick.

For both of us in that situation, we didn't realise it was happening either.

We just thought it was normal.

I was a perfect mess Confused and loved by you

And I despise your wicked love.

You go to the doctors and they say, well, you need to stop because it's not

good. Yeah.

It's sad because this is just such a common thing for all of us.

And, like, it's really awful that we all have to deal with this.

I definitely relate because I went through the same thing as the doctor.

I was told I was not hot enough. I was told I was ugly.

So the things I was thinking were actually also being fed back to me in

real time.

And that's really what Shape House is about. It's about finding the little

diamonds in the rough and, you know, taking them in and giving them a home,

basically, and creating that together.

It's not something I intentionally did, but I think...

I think because of how much I've been through, I do everything I can to

just make people feel loved, feel seen, encouraged.

Like somebody's there for them, somebody's there to listen to them and

they're seen.

This past few days has been very inspiring for me to realise that

I don't need to fit into someone's mould, you know?

Now, obviously, the thought to always still be there forever, because that's

just how I am.

But I think there's this slight shimmer of light from Dean that has been like,

we are worthy.

He was so incredibly talented.

Every time you step on that floor and you doubt yourself, I want you to think

about, why can't it be me?

I just need you to believe it. Yeah.

You're leading with your heel, which I'm not mad at. I kind of like it.

Should we add that in?

Okay, assistant choreographer.

My love of dance and my passion, I think, really comes from a place of

survival. Yeah.

Because dance changed my life.

What dance has done for me, it took me from one life and gave me another life.

When I was younger, I was just like, I'm not going to live to be 30. That's how

it always felt to me growing up.

I think I was six.

I just remember the police coming to the house and I remember just being pulled,

literally pulled out of my mother's arms and being put in the police car and

driven off.

came to realise that at six years old I'm being taken into care.

I grew up in South East London, just not a place of much opportunity, no money,

nothing like that. School was really, really, really tough.

I knew I was an academic.

All I could think about was dancing and being on stage.

And I just remember I wanted to go to this dance class so much that I decided

that I'm going to save my lunch money every day and I'm not going to eat and

that's going to pay for my dance class.

The whole gay thing was definitely very prominent.

I went to multiple different secondary schools.

Just the bullying was really severe.

We had armed police in the corridors because there was just so much violence

at the school.

You know, I remember being in class and held up against the wall with a knife to

my neck.

You know, I'm being held over a train track as the trains come in.

And truly in that moment, thinking, like...

I said, I'm not going to see another day.

Like, that's how bad the bullying was.

And I think the really sad part about it is, like, there was no-one to do

anything about it.

No-one was willing to step in and do anything about it.

So I actually ended up just taking myself out of school.

I remember I used to just sit at home, flicking through the music channels, and

I remember Together Again by Janet Jackson coming on.

I watched it and I was like, that's what I want to do, and that's who I want to

do it for.

I knew instantly, I'm like, this is my way out.

I've worked with, you know, Kylie Minogue, Shaka Khan, the Jacksons,

Sister Sledge, the Booty Cat Dolls, Eve, Little Mix.

Definitely the peak for me is I'm living it right now, which is obviously working

with Janet Jackson.

Getting ready for Paris. We're on our way to Paris today.

Janet always laughs because, like, she's like, when you come out, she's like, all

I hear is everyone shouting, please, you better work, bitch. Like, it makes her

laugh so much.

Here we go.

Leaping, this point in my career has taught me.

Don't count yourself out.

When we're doing a really intense week like this, I find there's always a point

where it's just nice just to check in with everyone.

Any thoughts, any feelings, anything?

The floor is yours.

The whole experience has been just overwhelming to me.

I've never thought I'd be out here with all of you.

I've never thought I would love this life in general.

I was born in Congo and...

When I was born, my parents had everything.

And about a year or two past, when I was young, those were in our country. My

parents had to leave everything and move away as a refugee. But there was always

nothing in the country that would be like, yeah, you guys can stay because

we're all... I don't have a birth certificate or anything.

In the camp, we were out of the world, but we weren't in the safe place to

live. We weren't in the...

world where we live a normal life, where you can shower every day, eat every day.

Growing up, I've always had that passion of freestyle dancing.

That was me running away from everything.

And most of the time, I would freestyle. It would be me free... Sorry.

Don't be sorry. Take your time.

It would be me freestyling.

I'd be freestyling about my own life, seeing my parents struggling.

I didn't have anything.

I would wear the same clothes in a week, no shower for a long time.

I've had scars everywhere, but they've all been to wars and stuff.

It's hard to go into the...

the deep stuff.

I moved to Australia and trained at Brain Street.

It just bring me so much joy and I was away from everything going on in the

world.

Before I moved to Australia, I never done for anyone in the class.

I've always been a believer of living in the moment and don't think about the

future because I lost the future thinking when I was young because I was

like, there's nothing.

I thought there was no escape, but to be able to be in this room, to be able to

be with everyone at this moment, sometimes I just sit and just tear up.

But yeah, I'm so grateful for everyone.

It's like a family.

It just feels like all of a sudden there's just a bigger why, there's a

bigger reason that just stitched us together forever.

It truly has. And dance really can change your life.

Let's do this now.

Let's go.

Let's go.

The week's gone so far.

Let's have a good day, yeah?

Alright, let's go. I started like down here and now I'm just like going off.

And just for now guys, we're just going to hold and look good.

Six, seven.

What I just saw then in that mirror,

that's the magic.

Go again. I'm keeping an eye on Abby as well because I know she's just had a

very recent injury.

So she's either an incredible actress or she's genuinely not in pain.

And one, and two, three, and four, five, six, seven, eight. Good. Go again.

I got put front than our last night.

He has trusted me to do

Do you think you're going to be on stage on Sunday yet?

That's something that I don't know, and I'm not sure with the answer to that.

Would you like to be on?

I would love to be out there with everyone, but I'll also be a supporter

if I'm on the stage.

We've all grown, including the UK dancers, as a whole.

One step at a time, but life is easier when you're having more fun.

This is obviously the last.

section of the number so i really need the number to do this doing janet show

we're in 33 numbers it's a two hour ten minute show it's long what are you

feeling better today my body's still my shop oh in those moments something else

has to take over so close we're getting there so close just getting harder

because now we have to run the whole week yeah again again there's like no

breaks anymore

fill out everything we find your passion and your love of what you do then has to

kick in because that is actually what gets you through that stamina threshold

if someone was like you have to do this or like you'll die i'll just like do it

yeah even if my body physically can't i'm just like it'll just happen i'm

feeling giddy like i'm excited we'll figure it out yeah

I'm trusting that it's going to be magnificent in a day's time.

Today really is the last full day of rehearsal, so what I tell you guys is

great news.

she's not thinking about she's just doing it but i like like that shape yeah

there we go

wow

that's

so beautiful

You've come in this week really to swing the piece, because obviously we wasn't

really sure what was happening with Abby and the injury.

But I just, I don't know, I really love watching you dance. I love what you can

do. And so I just, I don't know, I'd love to put you in the piece. Thank you.

How do you feel about that?

I feel really great.

It's awesome.

That's kind of that's kind of I don't know words to express but I'm really

thankful for everything and all that I think I think you deserve it Thanks, I

would just I'd really love to see you up on that stage on Sunday. Thank you so

much. Thank you Thanks for everything. You're welcome Well done. Thank you.

Yeah

We love you, Espoir.

Thank you so much.

Such an inspiring moment for me.

Love all of you.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

We have an epic line-up for you this evening. I am very excited.

Trust me, daddy.

I just do me. I just do me. I just do me. I only do me.

I just do me. I only do me.

Feeling excited.

Just pumped to get out there.

Hello, everyone up top.

I feel like me and Mac are

getting on really well.

Our connection through the lead role and everything is really good.

There's a lot of pressure on this performance with...

agents in the audience and making sure that dean is happy with how we perform

and also like performing for yourself like you don't want to let yourself down

i definitely want to be the person that gets picked by dean i think that that is

an opportunity that so many people would die for yeah at the beginning of the

week for the contract i was just like you know i didn't even know if i was

going to perform so now that i'm back in the running i need to put my best foot

forward both feet you know things about who i'm going to give a contract to It

changes a lot because there's so many different qualities that I like in

different dancers.

So they could all get it for different reasons.

I don't know how he's going to pick. We've been trying to guess it as well

and we're all finding it hard.

A really big factor of this decision is how they do tonight.

It literally could go to anyone. Jake in that section is killing it.

Because I'm the only guy in this section as well, so it's like...

The focus is kind of going towards me a little bit and just like strutting

towards the front. It just makes me feel very like, just like I rule the world

and that, yeah.

No matter who gets picked, the connection that we formed with Dean is

incomparable to anything.

I literally could work with him forever and I want to be in shape out so bad. I

think Connor's got a really good shot. I think Jake's got a good shot.

And then I think Max.

Bo has good shots.

I just have a feeling it will be Mark.

If I was given the chance to come back to London, I would love it. If it wasn't

me getting picked, Connor has done an incredible job this week, especially

learning my track as well. You are going to be in shape, Hath. You are going to

dance with Inc. Like, I was praying for it. To be honest, this is probably the

most important dance night of my life so far.

So, fingers crossed.

Goes well.

I'm really proud of the body of work that we have. I'm proud of you guys.

But the reality of the situation also is we get one chance to do this and one

chance only.

We need to go out there and we need to kill it.

There's no going back. There's no do-overs. It's one chance, and that's

it, okay?

So I'm not saying that to scare you, but that is also the reality of the

situation, and I won't accept anything less than great tonight.

This is all I've wanted.

And now that I'm actually here, being able to do it, I'm not going to waste

it. You have the training.

You have each other's energy together.

You've got this. Like, go out there, head held high, and be like, yeah, look

at what we've got.

Take a big look at us.

This is everything we've rehearsed for make it count for something do not step

off that stage and regret it I feel like I didn't give enough give everything you

got you got to leave it all on the floor

Close the velvet curtain, there's no sound yearning for a

reason I just want a chance to be

I'm gonna soak it up.

I'm gonna soak it up.

I'm gonna soak it up.

I'm gonna soak it up.

On the block, yeah Letters bleeding out

I'm not soaking up.

I'm not soaking up.

Inject me with your love.

I'm not soaking up.

I'm not soaking up.

I'm not soaking up.

Inject me with your love.

I'm a spookin' hoe.

I'm a spookin' hoe.

I'm a spookin' hoe.

I'm a spookin' hoe.

Inject me with your love.

Amazing. Just, I felt every single second. Like, it's what I call dancing

with every fibre of your being.

Like, you know what I mean? Nothing was off at any given time. It's just, oh my

God, I'm so proud of you guys. Thank you so much. It's amazing.

So exciting.

Yeah. I was like, oh, there's my seat. I was like, stop, stop, stop.

Yeah, no, it was awesome.

And you guys did it. You absolutely did it. You know what I mean? We couldn't

have given any more today.

It's amazing.

We hit it right where we needed to.

So congratulations.

I just need you to know how grateful I am for you guys. I love you guys so

much. Well done.

I think that we came here wanting to be proud to represent Australia.

Yeah. And I feel like I don't know everyone else, but after that, I felt

like we had done that.

You absolutely have.

obviously it's been an amazing week for all of us but there is an end result and

that is i'm offering one person a contract to shape house dance theater to

come to london to join the company because i could probably take all of you

in some capacity this person just captured me at the very start of the

week and i haven't been able to get it out of my head and i think this person

is ready for this opportunity right now

And so, that person I'm offering a contract to is Connor.

I don't think he realizes that he's a star.

Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Thank you.

This feels like the best thing ever. I'm so grateful and like everything I've

learned from you is like nothing I've learned before.

Thank you so much. And I can't wait to learn more from you. Well, we can't wait

to have you. Oh my God. Thank you.

My body is like, I don't know what, oh my God. Wait, that's crazy.

Well, Shape House, here I come.

I spent a lot of my life feeling invisible, and dance actually made me

something, and it gave me purpose.

There's an aura around certain people. There's a way that they dance that you

can just tell it comes from a different place.

If I told my younger self, I'm living the dream, they wouldn't believe what I

was saying.

I feel like now there's hope.

I got here.

I did it. I think this week I've learnt that, like, it's OK to not be OK.

Going from the farm to Brent Street to London is just really surreal.

I don't think I'd ever give up in it for the long haul.

It's changed my perspective on how I work in a room.

I've just felt so comfortable and able to be me in this rehearsal.

Sometimes the industry is so hard and it's so tough.

There's been so many times I've wanted to quit, but...

I never expected to be on stage with Janet Jackson at 38 years old, but here

I am doing it.

For somebody like Emily, part of me is just like, who is the world to tell you

that you're not going to do those things?

Failure is not an option for me, not at all. It's my life's purpose and it's all

of our life's purpose to keep dancing.

No, I don't.