| “ | I say 'no' a lot to protect myself... and hide myself from heartbreak and disappointment. |
” |
— Piper, "The Bicycle Thief" | ||
Piper is a contemporary, jazz[3] and lyrical[4] dancer, who is currently in New York with Amy and living with her older brother James and his girlfriend Riley.
She is a former member of Step Inside, A-Troupe,[6] and a former dance captain and member of TNS West[7].
Piper auditions for A-Troupe when James leaves the studio, hoping she can step out of his shadow. She makes it onto the team, despite James telling her that A-Troupe is too vicious for her;[8][9] he is later proven right, as Piper struggles with Michelle's competitive tactics and eventually witnesses Riley cheating on James.[10][11] Though she lets these events affect her for some time, Piper is eventually able to forgive everyone involved.
After A-Troupe's loss at Regionals, Piper makes it onto Emily's team, but struggles with the acro-oriented choreography.[12][13] When Amy's mother pulls her out of the studio, Piper successfully gets her onto TNS East, but loses her own spot in the process. She therefore joins TNS West,[14] where her initiative in suggesting a dance-a-thon helps her become dance captain.[15] Later, Piper comes up with the successful plan to merge the two rival studios,[16] but loses her captaincy after it is put to a vote.[7]
After the team qualifies for Regionals, Piper is set back by probationary studio head Miss Angela, who quickly proclaims her the weakest in the team.[17] Piper continues struggling with acro, and becomes so anxious that she is reluctant to dance at all. However, she regains confidence with encouragement from those around her, and successfully performs an aerial at Regionals.[18]
Biography
Before the show
Piper dreamed of attending The Next Step Dance Studio, but never did because she feared that she would dance in her older brother James's shadow.[8]
Season 4
Knowing that James will not be returning to A-Troupe, Piper attends The Next Step Dance Studio’s open house and tells him she will be auditioning for the Regionals team.[19] James is appalled and advises her to reconsider, warning her that the competition is "cutthroat" and he won't be there to look out for her.[8] Despite James's rebuke, Piper remains determined to audition, and with encouragement from Riley, she makes it into the team.[9]
Piper suggests the creation of the Zero Percent Club.
Although excited to have made it in, Piper is incredibly nervous, especially since she only knows Riley. Realizing that other new A-Troupers Sloane, Cassie, and Amy are just as nervous as she is, she creates the Zero Percent Club in the hopes of getting their nerves to plummet to 0%, cementing her friendship with all three.[9]
Piper is grouped with Noah and Sloane in the trio auditions for the first qualifier, and motivates Sloane when she realizes she is worried about her lack of technique affecting their chances.[20] She is ecstatic when their group is picked for the qualifier, even though it turns out Richelle will be dancing with them instead of Sloane.[20] She is incredibly excited to dance at the qualifier, causing her to be all the more heartbroken when Noah's back injury costs them the competition and they fail to qualify.[21]
Piper is determined to be in the quintet for the next qualifier, and ties with Michelle for the last spot during the selection process. The two face off with solos to decide who will take it, and Piper is taken aback by Michelle's antagonism towards her, as she thought that everyone on A-Troupe believed in winning fairly. Michelle takes advantage of this, and leads Piper to believe she is struggling with personal matters before tearing her down at the last moment, shocking Piper into making a mess of her solo. She receives sympathy from her friends and berates Michelle for her actions - but after hearing her explanation, Piper realizes that Michelle did what she did because the teams at Regionals will be even more competitive. She vows to be tougher as a result,[10] and is later thankful that Michelle was willing to teach her such a hard lesson.[22]
Piper asks if she can do the duet.
With Noah's status up in the air, Piper is eager to re-audition for the qualifier duet with Alfie, and is later angry and confused when Riley takes the opportunity from her so that she can dance in the duet herself, believing it to mean that Riley has no faith in the team. She is happy when auditions for the duet are re-instated.[23]
While rehearsing the duet with Alfie, Piper is shocked when Michelle pulls Alfie aside and orders him to be her duet partner. Piper confronts her and refuses to let her take Alfie as a partner, effectively deterring Michelle. Piper auditions with Alfie and is granted the opportunity to perform it at the qualifier, thrilling her.[11]
At night, Piper enters Studio A, only to see Riley and Alfie kissing. She is in disbelief and wonders how Riley could do such a thing to James.[11] Piper becomes closed off and reserved around the studio and refuses to be in the same room as Riley or Alfie.[24] When keeping the secret becomes too much, Piper finally confronts Riley; she tells her that she saw the kiss and that if Riley does not tell James about what she did, she will.[1]
Piper cries as she video chats with James.
Piper continues to struggle with the secret and accidentally tells Michelle about Riley and Alfie's kiss. She later receives a video call from James during which she breaks down into tears and tells him that she wishes he were there with her.[1]
Piper struggles to do the duet with Alfie. When she is confronted about this by Emily, she is sure that Alfie will be kicked off of the duet and replaced with a partner she deems as better. Piper is furious when she is taken off the duet instead, and believes that Emily is rewarding a jerk.[25]
Eventually, Piper realizes that Alfie and Riley's relationship is none of her business and apologizes to Alfie.[26] Additionally, after James and Riley get back together and Riley grants her an apology, Piper quickly forgives Riley.[27]
Piper struggles to fill Alfie's shoes in the small group routine, but eventually pulls it off.[28][29]
The Off Season: Season 1
Piper encounters Heather in Neutral Grounds and immediately recognizes her from Regionals, but dismisses this after being falsely informed by Heather that she got the wrong person.[30]
Season 5
Piper auditions for A-Troupe and makes it, though she is saddened when Amy doesn't.[12] Piper struggles with the troupe's choreography, as much of it is acro-based.[13] Piper gets help from Amy (who is now on TNS West) with the choreography, and in turn becomes complicit in Amy lying to her mother about which troupe she belongs to.[31]
Eventually, after being punished by Emily for teaching Amy the troupe's choreography, Piper refuses to lie for Amy anymore and tells her that she will not talk to her until she tells her mother the truth.[31] Piper continues to avoid Amy, especially when Amy is picked to be in Leon Blackwood's dance and she isn't.[32]
Piper realizes she has been cut from TNS East.
However, Piper later takes pity on Amy upon discovering that her mother found out the truth and pulled her out of the studio. Despite Emily's opposition to alternates, Piper is sure that she can get Amy to be one on TNS East, and teaches her some of Daniel's choreography and performs it for Daniel and Emily with Amy. Piper is elated when Amy makes it onto the troupe, although her happiness devolves into devastation when she is cut. Piper approaches Michelle in the hopes of getting onto TNS West, and is instantly allowed onto the team.[14]
Piper discovers that Heather is a dancer and attempts to enlist her as a part of TNS West, seeing as the team is two members short. Piper is saddened to learn that Heather can no longer dance because her parents cannot afford it. Piper tells Michelle about Heather's situation and suggests that they hold a dance-a-thon to raise money to lessen the cost of dance for those who cannot afford it. Her initiative causes Michelle to grant her the title of dance captain and task her with planning the dance-a-thon.[15] Piper gets the most pledges for the dance-a-thon, but is unable to dance after she sprains her ankle in a fall, and convinces Heather to dance in her place, which in turn helps Heather to realize she wants to keep dancing.[33]
Piper comes to dislike newcomer Elliot and believes that his disrespect warrants his removal from the team.[34] To Piper's misfortune, she is paired with Elliot for the duet that is to decide which studio the upcoming dance battle will be held in. Piper is forced to go along with Elliot changing West's choreography. Despite winning with the choreography, Piper comes clean about her feelings about Elliot with Noah's help, effectively taking him off of the team.[35]
Piper smiles deviously after telling Amy of her plan.
Piper is disappointed when her team loses the dance battle to TNS East,[36] but even more so when the entire studio is disallowed from competing at Regionals.[37] Upon overhearing Michelle and Emily's new agreement to completely segregate the two teams, Piper enlists Amy into a plan to get the opposing teams to merge and create a routine to convince Kate to change her decision.[37] The plan proves successful,[16] but after a dispute over whether Piper or TNS East's captain Richelle should be dance captain, they both lose their captaincies to Noah.[7] Unused to being a regular dancer on the team, Piper tries to convince Heather to audition with her for the female hip-hop solo in the qualifier video, but upon Heather's assertion against it, she realizes that she didn't care about the solo herself; she merely misses exercising the power she had as dance captain.[38]
Meanwhile, Piper bonds with Josh in creating a concept for the qualifier video and comes to realize that she has feelings for him.[39] After revealing her crush to Amy and discussing it with her, Piper becomes certain that Josh feels the same way and confesses her feelings to him. She is therefore mortified to discover that he only sees her as a friend.[40]
Despite her earlier humiliation, Piper is ecstatic when the team qualifies for Regionals.[40]
The Off Season: Season 2
Piper auditions for the Stacy Carpenter Scholarship and dances about "embarrassment". After her bad experience with Josh, she is determined to focus on dance and not on relationships.[41]
Season 6
Piper starts the new dance season secretly relieved that Josh has left A-Troupe. Upon meeting the new studio head, Piper is called out for her lack of acro skills. After feeling upset that Miss Angela favours Lily, Piper is advised by Emily and Michelle to stand up for herself. When she does so, Angela subsequently benches her; this coupled with the rest of A-Troupe being forced to do planks while she tries to get her aerial, is the start of Piper's anxiety whilst dancing.[17]
Piper's anxiety prevents her from returning to the studio for quite a few days. When she finally returns, she is more than happy to be in the back row, something that confuses Finn.[6] This curiosity about her starts him pursuing her, first romantically,[42] then as a friend.[43]
For the rest of the dance season, Piper struggles both to get her aerial and with her anxiety. Her anxiety causes her to vote for Noah to be removed from A-Troupe so that The Next Step will perform in the intermediate advanced division instead of the senior advanced division at Regionals. However, after he helps her with her aerial, she rescinds her previous vote and Noah is subsequently allowed back on the team.[5]
Despite Noah and Davis both helping Piper with her aerial, Piper still fails to achieve the trick. As a result, when auditioning for the contemporary routine for Regionals, Davis agrees not to do one so that they will compete on an even playing field. Piper's anxiety causes her to believe that even without tricks, Davis is out-dancing her, so she attempts and finally succeeds to perform her aerial. Although Piper is instantly apologetic for betraying Davis, this action ruins their friendship[44] and ultimately results in Davis quitting A-Troupe and joining Encore Dance Studios.[45]
At Regionals, Piper fails to perform her aerial during the contemporary routine and falls onstage. She freaks out after the performance, but Finn comforts her. Piper is relieved when Noah and Richelle score high enough in their ballet duet to qualify them for the finals.[46]
After her failure to perform her aerial and subsequent scarring, Piper attempts to change the aerial in the finals routine to fouettés. Emily refuses to allow her to do so; Piper attempts to run off and not perform in the finals routine. After a reassuring conversation with Emily, Piper returns and successfully performs her aerial in the routine, which symbolically appears to end her anxiety.[47]
Along with the rest of A-Troupe, Piper is disappointed when Encore wins Regionals. However, upon learning that Ms Angela cheated and they have a chance to compete against AcroNation in a tiebreaker, Piper is thrilled. Piper is elated when they win Regionals and qualify for Nationals.[48]
The Off Season: Season 3
Piper is excited when Amy returns to A-Troupe and catches her up on all that has happened at The Next Step since Amy left, including Noah and Jacquie leaving the studio.[49]
Season 7
Piper initially struggles to balance her friendship between Amy and Finn after the former returns to A-Troupe. After a botched hangout between the three of them, Amy and Finn are finally able to resolve their antagonism towards each other and become friendly.[50] After Piper is forced to bail on a hangout with both Amy and Finn, she suggests that they hang out together instead. This ultimately makes Piper feel like a third wheel when hanging out with them[51], however, she does not see this as a real problem until she discovers that Finn has feelings for Amy and she herself likes Finn.[52]
Piper initially tries to hide her feelings for Finn from both him and Amy. However, Amy realizes that Piper has feelings for him when Piper accuses Amy of still having romantic feelings for Henry, given their previous relationship history.[53] After Piper successfully deceives Amy about her feelings for Finn, Finn realizes that Piper has feelings for him, thanks to a conversation with Amy. Ultimately, Piper confesses her feelings to Finn, who kisses her, to which Amy is initially unaware.[54]
Piper feels extremely guilty after kissing Finn behind Amy's back and attempts to avoid him, although this fails as they are put in a group together, along with Richelle, Lily and Kenzie, when the Dancemania crew visit the studio. The situation worsens when Richelle decides that the story of their dance will be Piper falling in love with Finn and 'stealing' him from Lily; Finn and Piper are against this idea with Piper feeling like the dance is reminiscent to her real-life situation where she feels like she's stealing Finn away from Amy. Piper later talks to Finn and tearfully tells him that kissing him was a big mistake and that dancing with him in front of Amy was torture. Although, in reality all she wants is to be with Finn, even though she knows that she can't be.[55]
Initially, Finn and Piper attempt to pretend that they never kissed, but both of them are bothered by it. Piper decides that she wants to tell Amy about them and at first Finn is against the idea. Although, when Finn and Amy break up, Finn tells Piper that he wants to be with her, but Piper decides to tell Amy first which Finn eventually agrees to. When Amy discovers the truth, she ends her friendship with Piper, leaving her devastated.[56] Piper attempts to save her friendship with Amy, but isn't successful. Piper also tells Finn that they can never be together due to their betrayal of Amy. Although, Amy eventually comes around and forgives both Piper and Finn, therefore they begin dating.[57]
Piper becomes increasingly anxious over Finn continuing to be late to their dates and decides to set alarms on his phone for every event at Dancemania, but whilst rehearsing for the resurrection duet with Kingston, the alarms become distracting and Finn silences his phone causing him to fall asleep and miss his flight to Dancemania.[58] Piper initially blames herself for Finn missing his flight, although eventually shifts her blame over to him. Things get much worse when there is a storm and Finn's flight to Dancemania is cancelled,[59] this causes Nick to remove Piper from the opening dance, and she is even more upset to discover that due to her not performing in the opening dance, she can not perform in any other dances moving forward and can no longer compete in the competition. Finn eventually arrives at Dancemania meaning that Piper can perform, but she is still mad at Finn as she has not had time to stretch and connect with him before the dance, stressing her out. When The Next Step lose the group stages, Piper's fury at Finn grows as the blames their lack of chemistry as the reason they didn't win.[60]
Piper continues to be mad with Finn, but comes around to forgive him after he helps Ozzy win the resurrection round and he creates a song for her, performing it to her on the Dancemania stage with the rest of A-Troupe.[2]
During the Dancemania finale, Piper is shocked to learn that one of the show's judges, Maria, is corrupt and has promised Richelle a win. Piper partakes in A-Troupe's plan to join forces with Richelle and disqualify themselves. The plan is successful and both A-Troupe and Richelle's contracts with Dancemania are voided, meaning that they are no longer professional dancers. Due to this, Piper and the rest of A-Troupe return to the studio and challenge B-Troupe to see which team will represent The Next Step at Nationals.[61]
The Off Season: Season 4
During the summer that The Next Step Dance Studio is being renovated, Piper visits her brother, James and Riley (neither of whom are seen, only mentioned) in New York and they show her around the city.[62]
When she returns, she and Amy meet TeaAra Bling and have an awkward conversation with her in Studio A. Following this, she and Finn have a double date with Cleo and Jude in the new cafe below the studio, Middle C Bubble Tea.[63]
Season 8
Following a vast majority of A-Troupe's decision to forfeit Nationals, Piper joins Step Inside in order to combat being dancelled by DanceMania judge Maria after she appeared upon a livestream alongside TeaAra Bling and Piper, Finn, Kingston, Richelle, and Amy audition for Radiation Dance Crew manager Moxie Martinez, however she believes that she cannot sign them due to bad publicity that they are receiving due to a mole providing negative publicity to influencer TeaAra Bling and recently being dancelled by Maria. Moxie informs Richelle and company that they need to prove their doubters wrong before she can sign them, which leads directly to Richelle and Shad's creation of Step Inside.[64][65]
When Richelle and Shad aim to pick a soloist for Step Inside, Piper, Amy and Kenzie perform a trio together in the hopes that one of them will be picked, yet this is not the case. Later, Piper, Amy, and Lily choreograph a routine for Step Inside, yet Lily is struggling with the news about Kingston's audition and as such leaves rehearsal leaving Cleo to cover for her, before Cleo later joins Step Inside and becomes a part of the girls' quartet. At this time, Piper is offered the chance by James to move to New York and live with him and Riley. However, she is initially afraid of leaving behind her friends and taking the pair up on their offer. Both Piper and Finn are afraid of their futures if Step Inside were to go wrong, with Finn briefly working in Middle C — yet being fired on his first day after a series of mishaps. Piper later overcomes her fear with Amy planning on getting accepted into The Manhattan Institute of Drama and Dance through Step Inside's performance, yet despite this she never informed Finn and he only found out through a TeaAra Bling video.[66][67][68][69][70]
Before Piper's group number with Amy, Lily and Richelle (in place of Cleo, who broke her leg and was unable to dance, yet replaced Shad as the singer after he left for a record contract with Maria), Piper supports Amy by listening in on a conversation between Moxie Martinez and Drew where he stated he wanted Amy to prove that she were a triple threat before he could reconsider his decision as to whether or not to accept her into The Manhattan Institute of Drama and Dance — therefore seeing Piper and Amy agree with Cleo that Amy could sing some of the track for their routine.[71]
On Piper's last day at The Next Step, she plans several grand gestures for Finn, who is due to leave for a world tour with Radiation the following day after being signed as a replacement for Shad as a direct result of Step Inside's performance, but is upset at how each attempt she made went wrong in some way, until Finn reassures her that he never needed the grand gestures to begin with, though she had wanted to provide them as he had partaken in a grand gesture for her at Dancemania.[72]
Personality
Piper is kind, eager, and determined, and according to Riley, is sensible.[8] She is a people person, much like her brother, and is able to motivate others easily. She is also incredibly trusting, which initially makes her quite naïve, but she overcomes this trait after Michelle tricks her into ruining her audition for the second qualifier.[10]
Piper is very sensitive, and often lets emotions cloud her judgment, made evident by her ongoing anger and disdain towards Riley and Alfie after seeing them kiss.[11] Likewise, Piper tends to hold grudges, as shown when she briefly refuses to speak to Amy after she gets her into trouble with Emily.[32] All these traits are also displayed through her treatment of Finn during Dancemania: she sets multiple alarms for an exhausted Finn, causing him to turn his phone off and miss his flight to the competition,[59] and proceeds to blame him for the team’s subsequent misfortunes - though the two soon make up.[2]
After Piper unintentionally forces A-Troupe do planks after failing to perform an aerial for Miss Angela, she begins suffering from anxiety and a lack of self-confidence.[17] This anxiety causes her to vote Noah off the team,[5] betray Davis by performing an aerial when they are auditioning for the contemporary routine,[44] and to try and avoid performing in the finals at Regionals.[18] As time passes, and with help from Finn and Emily, Piper eventually becomes more capable of managing her anxiety.[73]
Physical appearance
Characteristics
Like her brother James, Piper has dark brown hair and brown eyes; however, her skin is lighter than his. She often wears her hair in a high bun, but occasionally wears it half-up, half-down. She is fairly short, although she is not the shortest member of A-Troupe.[74]
Attire
While dancing, Piper usually wears a tank top and shorts, though starting in Season 6, she often wears leggings. In earlier seasons her dance attire is usually pink, blue or purple, and is later mostly red, though in Season 7, her wardrobe shifts back to include more blue and pink again.
Piper's street style is quite vibrant, and usually includes prints, designs, and statement pieces. She notably wears cheetah print and rhinestones in earlier seasons, and lots of her later clothes feature floral patterns. At first, she does not stick to a particular style, varying between wearing skirts, dresses and even overalls; however, in later seasons, she usually wears pants with a cropped shirt.
Abilities
Dancing
- Acro: Piper cannot tumble, and is generally considered weak at acro.[13] She struggles to learn how to do an aerial, and is targeted by Miss Angela for being unable to perform one;[17] however, she eventually masters the skill.[44]
- Ballet: Piper is very proficient at ballet, and is able dance en pointe. She pulls off a ballet/hip-hop duet with Elliot at the competition for home studio advantage.[35]
- Contemporary: Piper's dominant style of dance is contemporary. She is very proficient at the style, and has flawless technique.
- Hip-hop: Hip-hop is not Piper's strongest style, though she becomes proficient in tutting after a lesson from Sloane.[20] She is noticeably surprised when she isn't picked to audition for the hip-hop solo in the qualifier video, confessing that she always saw herself as a strong hip-hop dancer.[38]
- Jazz: Jazz is one of Piper's dominant styles. She does not perform jazz that often, though she is proficient when she does.[3]
- Lyrical: Lyrical is another of Piper's dominant styles. She is very proficient at this style.[4]
Relationships
- Main article: Piper/Relationships
Appearances
Dances
- Solos
- Duets
- Trios
- Group dances
- Solos
- Duets
- Group dances
- Solos
- Duets
- Group dances
- Duets
- Group dances
- Solos
- Duets
- Trios
- Group dances
- Duets
- Trios
- Group dances
(Amy, Finn, Heath, Kingston, Lily, Ozzy, Richelle)
("One Song Glory")
Trivia
- Piper likes history.[75]
- Piper enjoys fishing.[43]
- Piper hates milk.[52]
- Piper is lactose intolerant.
- Piper does a very odd and specific laugh when she likes someone.[76]
- Piper is one of three characters to have the longest-running white walls introductory appearances, consisting of 4.5 seasons, the other two being Amy and Richelle.
- Piper is one of two main characters to be mentioned (albeit indirectly) before she makes a physical appearance, the other being Jacquie.
Quotes
- Main article: Piper/Quotes
Gallery
|
"Look at that painting!"
To view the Piper gallery, click here. |
References
|