We Are the World

Season	Episode
3	26

Release dates

Air date

November 13, 2015

Air date

November 20, 2015

Air date

February 6, 2017

Credits

Writer(s)

Rachael Schaefer

Director

Frank van Keeken

Chronology
Previous	Next
"When the War Is Over"	"Blind"

“	I deserve to be here!	”
— Stephanie

Click here to see more quotes.

"We Are the World" is the 26th episode in Season 3 of The Next Step and the 90th episode overall. It aired on November 13, 2015.

Synopsis

With the small group round fast approaching, Michelle, Giselle, Riley, and Cierra are angry to see that Stephanie isn't putting in as much effort as she should be into practicing. Meanwhile, Thalia must compete with four dancers from different countries in the first round of Internationals, and Eldon begins to suspect that her Polish teammate cares about more than just dance.

Plot

The polish team practices — The Polish team rehearses.

A-Troupe enters the auditorium to practice, only to find the Polish team dancing. Giselle confesses how amazing their dance is and, likewise, how amazing it is that they are all boys. As they perform, Eldon notices the male soloist and sees him as big competition that he needs to keep his eye on. Riley inquires if their team won last year because of how great they are, and Kate reveals that the Polish team didn't make it past the second round.

A-Troupe is waiting in the lobby when Giselle returns to them with new information. Riley reveals in Talking Heads that the Dance Captains are the first to know of upcoming challenges, and that teams must be prepared for anything. Giselle reveals that in the first round of the competition, 4 dancers from different countries will be put on a team, creating 40 teams in total. There are 160 countries at Internationals, and since only 4 groups go through, the amount of countries will be whittled down to 16 after the round. Since Thalia can greet in 56 different languages, she is delegated as the representative for the studio. Kate leads Thalia upstairs to where her team will be waiting. While in the presence of the Polish dancer (who happens to be the team's male soloist), Thalia overhears him talking bad about The Next Step Dance Studio, which she can comprehend because her mom is Polish. Thalia approaches the dancer and says to him, in Polish, that despite him having never heard of their studio, they will be the team that crushes his in the next round. Subsequently, the dancer is shocked to hear that she can speak Polish. The dancer inadvertently apologizes.

Ashley ella chuck — Ella is interviewed by Ashley Leggat and Chuck Anderson.

Meanwhile, Michelle and Riley are walking through the lobby when they see Ashley Leggat and Chuck Anderson preparing for an interview. As the two walk on, Ella approaches Riley who responds with instant hostility. Ella tries to reason with her, but Riley isn't having it and assures Riley that her team will beat them fairly. Just then, Ella's teammate pulls Ella away to be interviewed by Ashley and Chuck. During the interview, Ashley asks Ella how she came up with the choreography, and Ella lies that she created it while on the exchange program. Watching on, Riley begins to wonder if she would have been Miss Internationals Soloist if she had performed the solo.

Cierra season 3 watw — Cierra views the leader board.

Back at the studio, Skylar, Jake, Camille, Richelle, Gabi, and Abi are finishing their leader board which displays all current standings in the Internationals competition. As Camille colours the title, Cierra requests a video chat. Skylar and some of the others chat with her about Internationals and reveal their leaderboard which Cierra loves.

Stephanie, Riley, Giselle, Cierra, and Michelle are practicing their small group, as the round will follow the 4-country dance. As the practice unfolds, it is obvious that Stephanie is marking the routine. At last, Giselle confronts her and Stephanie claims that she needs to save her energy and needs something to eat. Giselle permits her to get a snack, but is still wary. Riley suggests that they replace her with another dancer, and not wanting to go down that path, Michelle decides to go talk to her.

The Polish dancer reveals to Thalia that he can speak French and successfully communicates with the French dancer. In addition, the Vietnamese dancer can speak French. Thalia assures that she can take it from there. Before leaving, Kate attempts to bid farewell in a "foreign" language and fails.

Malta s africa ghana estonia — Malta, South Africa, Ghana, and Estonia perform.

Chuck and Ashley introduce the first round of the competition. The first group, consisting of the countries Ghana, Malta, South Africa, and Estonia, performs. Meanwhile, Thalia and her team are choreographing their dance which is going well.

Michelle finds Stephanie sitting in the lobby, reading a magazine. Aggravated, Michelle discards of the magazine and notifies Stephanie that they are moments away from replacing her. Stephanie does not see that as such a bad thing, as the pressure of the competition is getting to her. Michelle realizes that Stephanie doesn't feel as though she deserves to be on A-Troupe. At this, Michelle stands and yells "Hi everyone, we're at Internationals and I deserve to be here. So does my friend Stephanie, but she won't say it." Stephanie, upon some prodding, yells something along the same lines. Satisfied, Michelle goes with Stephanie back to rehearsal, Stephanie now feeling better.

Thalia's team is taking a break and Thalia is hanging out with Bartek. As the two sit and converse, Eldon shows up and gets suspicious upon seeing the two getting along so well. Bartek, spotting Eldon, warns Thalia that a weird guy is staring at her; Thalia turns to see Eldon and explains to Bartek that he is her "almost" boyfriend.

The team consisting of a Slovenian dancer, Spanish dancer, Chinese dancer, and Australian dancer is performing with Thalia and her fellow dancers warming up back-stage. The team finishes their dance and receives a score of 95, putting them in fourth place. Eldon and James arrive to the opposite wings of the stage, and Eldon is frustrated to see Thalia and Bartek bonding again. James thinks that Eldon is over-reacting.

Back at the studio, the leaderboard has been updated. Cierra videochats the dancers and as she does, Michelle tells Cierra that Thalia will be performing soon. Before sending off, Michelle is shown the leaderboard and notices that the fourth place team has 95 points, meaning that Thalia's team must score higher than that to qualify to the next round. Michelle relays this to Thalia who relays this to Bartek, who furthermore relays this to the rest of the team. Finally, Thalia's team goes on-stage. They perform a spectacular routine to "Unusual Mind" that warrants a standing ovation - and 96 points. Eldon is happy that The Next Step is moving on, but is not thrilled that Bartek is moving on too.

Trivia

Wojdan Dance Academy competed at the previous year's Internationals, but were eliminated in the second round.
Thalia's mother is Polish, and Thalia can speak fluent Polish.
Camille and Gabi have moved up to B-Troupe.
B-Troupe’s scoreboard reveals that the first, twenty-first and twenty-seventh groups to perform have qualified for the second round at Internationals.
- The first group consists of Estonia, Ghana, Malta and South Africa; their score is 94.
- The twenty-first group consists of Ireland, Jamaica, Sweden and Switzerland; their score is 97.
- The twenty-seventh group consists of England, Germany, Italy and the Philippines; their score is 95.
- According to the scoreboard, the nineteenth group is shown to be in fourth place prior to Thalia’s group performing. If closely examined, the board reveals that their score is 93; however, the four countries in the group are mostly indiscernible.
  - Based on a process of elimination, one of the obscured countries appears to be Argentina, while another one seems to be either Algeria, Bulgaria or Nigeria; Algeria is the only one known to be competing at Internationals, though this does not necessarily confirm that it is them.
Along with France, Poland and Vietnam, The Next Step Dance Studio has qualified for the second round.
By the end of this episode, one hundred and forty-four countries have been eliminated, leaving only sixteen countries left competing at Internationals.
As proven by the meeting with all the dance captains of the various teams in the following episode, Thalia is the only dancer in her group who is not the dance captain of their team.
Cierra and Michelle wish Thalia's team good luck in Polish and French respectively, indicating that they have some knowledge of both languages.

Continuity

Thalia's ability to say hello in 56 different languages, first revealed in "Welcome to Miami" becomes a major plot point in the episode. This ability is ultimately why she is deemed the most qualified member of A-Troupe to compete in the 4-person dance.
Riley, Giselle, Cierra, Stephanie and Michelle rehearse choreography for their "Hotel" routine that they first rehearsed in "Cry Me a River".
Stephanie references her return to A-Troupe that happens in "I Hope I Get It".
Eldon references the fact that girls like him because he is a good dancer, which was established in Seasons 1 and 2 with both Emily and Michelle stating that part of the reason they fell for Eldon because he is an incredible dancer.

Errors

Giselle claims that she has never seen that many male dancers in her life when she sees the Polish team rehearse, but when The Next Step competed against Seeds Street Crew, there were 10 male dancers total. However, given that three of the male dancers were part of The Next Step and seven were on Seeds, it's possible that she means that she has never seen that many male dancers on the same team at the same time.
Thalia is put into the four-team dance because she can say "hello" in 56 different languages. By this philosophy Eldon could also have been picked, as Michelle reveals in "You're the One That I Want" that Eldon can say "thank you" in 15 different languages; however, this is never brought up. It is also plausible that the sheer quantity of Thalia's knowledge made her a better option as the other three countries were, to the viewers knowledge, not previously disclosed to Giselle and as such having a member with at least some knowledge of a large amount of languages was better.
When dismissing Kate's exclamation, Thalia speaks to Bartek in English, despite Bartek supposedly not being able to speak the language.
By looking at B-Troupe’s scoreboard, Michelle supposedly learns that Thalia’s team needs to score 95 points or more in order to beat the team in fourth place and qualify for the second round. However, most of the scoreboard is clearly visible earlier in the scene, and upon close examination, it reveals that the team in second place has scored 95 points, while the team in fourth place has actually scored 93. This makes Michelle’s deduction entirely incorrect, as it means Thalia’s team would have only needed to score 94 at most to qualify, as opposed to 96 or higher like she claims.
- Additionally, although Skylar claims that the scoreboard is “completely up to date” prior to Thalia’s team performing, it clearly reads that the nineteenth team to perform is in fourth place with 93 points, despite it being previously stated that the thirty-ninth team has moved into fourth with 95 points. While it is feasible that the team number could have been miswritten (and the countries are essentially unreadable), the difference in the scores of the top three teams appears to be a genuine communication error.

Behind the Scenes

The coach for Wojdan Dance Academy is portrayed by Dorota Mitoraj, who is the key make-up artist for Seasons 1, 2 and 3 of The Next Step.
This episode sees the first use in the show of on-screen subtitles to translate the Polish and French dialogue.
Allain Lupien is credited as a guest choreographer for this episode.