The dance captain is a member of a studio or troupe who acts as a leader, making major decisions and taking charge of important matters of business.
The title of a dance captain is highly coveted, as their only superiors are the studio owner, studio head, and head choreographer.
History
The Next Step Dance Studio
At The Next Step Dance Studio, the dance captaincy is traditionally only delegated to a member of A-Troupe, leaving the other troupes to the mercy of revolving teachers and choreographers. This appears to be based around their status as the studio’s official competitive team, as when B-Troupe become the representatives for Nationals, they also gain the right to have a dance captain.
Kate is the first known dance captain at The Next Step Dance Studio. She eventually loses her position to an unknown dancer due to sustaining an injury.[1]
Emily becomes dance captain during her second year on A-Troupe and retains the position the following year. After the team secretly betrays Emily, a vote causes her to lose her captaincy to Michelle;[2] however, she later accepts co-captaincy with her,[3] which is later stated to be an uncommon occurrence.[4]
Following Michelle's departure from The Next Step, Emily returns to being the sole dance captain. During her attempts to expose Amanda as a spy for Elite Dance Academy, her captaincy is taken away and ironically, given to Amanda;[5] however, with help from Riley and Chloe, Amanda’s cover is blown and she returns to Elite. Emily is made dance captain again, and upon Michelle's return to A-Troupe, the two become co-captains once more.[6] The two remain co-captains in the lead-up to Nationals and retain their positions for some time afterwards.[7][8]
After Emily leaves The Next Step due to a knee injury[9] and Michelle voluntarily steps down due to stress from family issues, Giselle and Shantel compete for the dance captaincy with a trio competition. Giselle wins, making her the new dance captain.[8] She retains the position until after the team's Internationals win, when she decides to leave the studio.[10]
In the lead-up to Regionals, a new captain is not decided until quite late in the dance season. This time, the captain is decided by having three A-Troupe members face off in a series of challenges; after performing well against Amy and Richelle, Skylar is awarded the dance captaincy.[11] She retains the position until the following year's auditions for the Regionals team, when she is cut from A-Troupe.[12]
With the emergence of TNS East and TNS West, Richelle and Piper are appointed the respective dance captains of each team.[13][14] After the teams merge, Noah is voted in as captain of the reformed A-Troupe, making him the first known male dance captain at The Next Step.[15]
When Miss Angela becomes studio head of The Next Step, Noah ends up ceding the dance captaincy to Lily in order to help Piper,[16] and Richelle temporarily becomes Lily’s assistant.[17] However, after Lily's departure, Noah becomes dance captain again.[18] He retains the position until after Regionals, when he decides to leave The Next Step.[19]
To decide who will replace Noah as dance captain, three dancers (Kenzie, Summer and Richelle) are selected as the most likely candidates. At the alternate auditions for the Nationals team, each of them choreograph a trio for three auditioning dancers, which determines both who will fill the alternate spots and which out of the three is best at leading a team. Despite none of her dancers becoming an alternate (and recommending that enthusiasm for dance be favoured over technique), Summer is declared the winner of the challenge, and becomes the new dance captain.[20]
After A-Troupe qualifies for Season 13 of Dancemania, Summer convinces them to do the show, even though she will be unable to compete with them. As a a result, she is forced to both resign as dance captain and leave A-Troupe altogether.[21] In the lead-up to A-Troupe's Dancemania audition and afterwards, Richelle takes over as the troupe's unofficial leader, apparently becoming interim dance captain in all but name.[22] As of their disqualification from Dancemania, it is unclear if A-Troupe currently has an active dance captain.[23]
In deleted scenes, it is revealed that Winnie is named dance captain of B-Troupe ahead of them competing at Nationals. However, she is soon relieved of the role by Nick due to her harshness, and he makes Summer and Cleo co-captains in her place.[24] After Summer’s departure from B-Troupe, Cleo is the troupe’s sole dance captain.[25]
It is revealed in "Dance Captain Diary" that Richelle has been made A-Troupe's new Dance Captain. Kenzie, also puts her name forth and temporarily holds the role, however Richelle is deemed the official Dance Captain.[26]
A-Troupe chooses to pursue professional careers instead of going to Nationals and therefore Richelle loses her Dance Captaincy.[27]
Cleo does not make the new Nationals team following The Challenge and therefore loses her dance captaincy.[28] At some unknown point after this, Winnie becomes the dance captain of B-Troupe.[29]
Kenzie chooses not to pursue a professional career and instead takes the opportunity to stay at The Next Step Dance Studio and become the new dance captain of A-Troupe.[30]
Ariana becomes the temporary dance captain of A-Troupe when Kenzie leaves the studio on an exchange program for Internationals. After participating in two challenges in the Dance Captain Battle Royale set by Eldon, the majority of A-Troupe vote her to be dance captain out of her, Anthony and Izzy.[31]
Other studios
Michelle is the dance captain of her old studio in Wisconsin before she moves away and joins The Next Step Dance Studio.
At Elite Dance Academy, it seems to be common practice to have a dance captain and two assistant captains. Amanda is the first known dance captain, with Tess and Shantel as her assistant captains.[32] Since Amanda’s departure from Elite, it is currently unknown who replaces her as dance captain prior to its closure (though it would likely be Tess, seeing as she was Amanda's assistant while the latter was at Elite).
Marcel is treated as the dance captain of Seeds Street Crew, but is usually referred to as the group's "leader".[33]
Out of the teams which attend Internationals, it is known that Jessica is the dance captain of Summerford School of Dance, Bartek is the dance captain of Wojdan Dance Academy, Minnou is the dance captain of Locronan École Royal de Danse and Nan is the dance captain of the Vietnamese team.[34]
After leaving The Next Step Dance Studio, Skylar joins Gemini Dance Studio and becomes its dance captain.[35]
Simone is introduced as AcroNation West Coast's dance captain[36], although on one occasion, Amy represents AcroNation as its dance captain instead of Simone.[37] In Series 8, after AcroNation found a loophole at Regionals and won, the studio opened three more branches and Aliya became the dance captain of AcroNation East Coast.
Lola is the dance captain of Encore Dance Studios until she leaves to audition for A-Troupe. After leaving The Next Step, Miss Angela becomes the owner of Encore and Lily becomes its dance captain,[37] until they are suspended from competing with Absolute Dance and Lily returns to The Next Step.[38]
Ariana was the dance captain at Ultra Elite before the studio was shut down.[39] Given the relatively short existence of the studio it can be presumed that she was the studio's first and only captain.
List of dance captains
Current
Wojdan Dance Academy
The Next Step Dance Studio
A-Troupe
B-Troupe
Summerford School of Dance
Seeds Street Crew
Locronan École Royal de Danse
Vietnam
AcroNation
AcroNation East Coast
Gemini Dance Studio
Dancetopia
Former
AcroNation
AcroNation West Coast
Elite Dance Academy
Encore Dance Studios
Hunter's Studio
The Next Step Dance Studio
Step Inside
Ultra Elite
Notes
- ↑ In "No Shell", Amy represents AcroNation as the dance captain when the three Regionals finalists are announced although she never replaced Simone as dance captain on-screen. It is later confirmed in "Dance Captain Diary Episode 5" that she actually was dance captain of AcroNation for a brief period of time.
References
- ↑ "Help." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on November 4, 2017.
- ↑ "Sabotage." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on November 4, 2017.
- ↑ "Price Tag." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on November 4, 2017.
- ↑ "I'm So Excited". Wikia. Retrieved on March 30, 2020.
- ↑ "Game On". Wikia. Retrieved on January 14, 2020.
- ↑ "Water It". Wikia. Retrieved on January 14, 2020.
- ↑ "Secrets." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on November 4, 2017.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "I'm Your Captain." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on November 4, 2017.
- ↑ "Secrets". Wikia. Retrieved on January 15, 2020.
- ↑ "One More Time." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on November 4, 2017.
- ↑ "Only You." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on August 13, 2017.
- ↑ "The New Regime." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on May 28, 2017.
- ↑ "Dance, Lies and Hoverboards." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on May 28, 2017.
- ↑ "Heathers." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on May 28, 2017.
- ↑ "Stand and Deliver." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on November 4, 2017.
- ↑ "Wink It Out." Wikia. Retrieved on July 18, 2018.
- ↑ "Dance-Zilla." Wikia. Retrieved on February 18, 2019.
- ↑ "Summer Lovin'." Wikia. Retrieved on July 22, 2018.
- ↑ "Piano Man." Wikia. Retrieved on January 17, 2019.
- ↑ "Alternate Universe." Wikia. Retrieved on January 15, 2020.
- ↑ "There Can Only Be One." Wikia. Retrieved on March 12, 2020.
- ↑ "A Tale of Two Auditions." Wikia. Retrieved on March 30, 2020.
- ↑ “It All Comes Down to This”. Wikia. Retrieved on February 18, 2020.
- ↑ Behind the (Deleted) Scenes: CAPTAIN WINNIE - YouTube. YouTube (July 10, 2020). Retrieved on July 10, 2020.
- ↑ "Big Decisions". Wikia. Retrieved on July 12, 2020.
- ↑ "Dance Captain Diary Episode 8". Wikia. Retrieved on January 5, 2024.
- ↑ "Today for You, Tomorrow for Me". Wikia. Retrieved on October 13, 2022.
- ↑ "Another Suitcase in Another Hall". Wikia. Retrieved on October 13, 2022.
- ↑ "Count Me In". Wikia. Retrieved on April 10, 2024.
- ↑ "I Dreamed a Dream". Wikia. Retrieved on September 29, 2022.
- ↑ "Swing Vote". Wikia. Retrieved on April 10, 2024.
- ↑ "Game, Set, and Match." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on November 4, 2017.
- ↑ "Dancing in the Street." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on November 4, 2017.
- ↑ "Blind." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on November 4, 2017.
- ↑ "This Changes Everything." The Next Step. Family Channel. Retrieved on November 4, 2017.
- ↑ "Mean Twirls." Wikia. Retrieved on January 17, 2019.
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 No Shell." Wikia. Retrieved on January 17, 2019.
- ↑ "The Comeback Kid". Wikia. Retrieved on January 14, 2020.
- ↑ "Setting the Barre".Wikia. Retrieved on April 10, 2024.