My alarm went off at 7:45 to get dressed and drive to the studio. I groaned and rolled out of bed, doing the usual morning things and getting dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt. As I got in my car I got a DM on instagram. 'good morning, I better see you at auditions' it said. Han really has a way of brightening up someone's morning I thought while rolling my eyes. I opened Spotify, started my playlist and got to driving.
As I arrived at the studio, I realized that there weren't many cars, were they not popular here yet? I wondered as I turned off my car and gathered my things to head inside. They handed me a paper with a number on it to put over my shirt. I got my lucky number, 13, and headed into the room where the auditions were taking place.
I sat my stuff down, found a spot in the room and started stretching. As I was in the middle of my stretches, Han, Chan, Changbin, and a few others walked in the room. People immediately started cheering, I didn't realize how many people showed up until I looked up, there was probably around 150 people here to audition.
Maybe Changbin was right, I probably won't make it past the first day, that doesn't mean I'll go down without a fight though. As they sat down at the table in front of the room I realized there's 8 of them. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, everyone settle down and let's get this started." Chan said. They split everyone into groups of 10 and gave us a track, choreography, and 30 minutes to learn it.
I got with my group and all the girls started talking about how hot the guys at the front were and how they were only here to see them in person for free. I rolled my eyes and started looking at the choreo when one of the guys in the group came to check on us, since it was halfway through. Han came up to me, "I'm glad you decided to show, I was getting kinda worried." he smiled at me and offered a high five. I looked at him dead face and started looking at the choreo again.
"It's thunderous, like you started learning yesterday," he whispered to me. "I want her in the front of the group." Han announced to my group, me freezing in place realizing that he's pointing at me. One of the girls in my group rolled her eyes and looked irritated.
When it was time to show them what we learned, my group was 3rd to go. The guys that were here last night looked shocked to see me standing in front of my group and I smirked at them, accepting their challenge.
Apparently I was the only one in my group to even glance at the choreo and the rest just stood there while I danced the part they wanted to see. Making sure to emphasize the important parts and loosen up when it was more flowy.
By the end of the 15 groups, it was lunch time, and they also started making cuts to the group. My entire group was cut except for me, in fact I think around half the people who showed up this morning were cut. It was pretty scary to see so many people walking out of that room with their heads down, it felt like every other competition.
Once cuts were done, everyone but the 8 boys were in the lobby to eat, I took a look around and saw 50 people left. I smiled knowing that 100 people were cut from the group, this meant I was closer to proving them wrong.
After lunch we gathered in the room again to do another group dance, this time in groups of 5, 10 groups total. They handed out a new track and new choreo, this time we had 45 minutes. I guess this one was supposed to be harder than the other one but it didn't seem as hard as I've done before. After dancing for 10 years in a studio, you learn to have high expectations I guess.
Though this wasn't a hard song or hard choreo, the rhythm of it was somewhat difficult, there was one part I kept messing up on. The guys went around the groups to answer any questions we have and Felix approached my group.
"How's it coming guys?" Felix asked with a small smile.
"Pretty good, can I speak to you for a second in the hallway though?" I asked him, theres no way I was going to ask for clarification in front of everyone.
"Sure, you lead." Felix smiled wider.
As we got into the hallway I turned and said, "can you please tell me the rhythm you want for this part," I said pointing and showing him where I was confused, "there's two rhythms and I don't know which one you guys want." I said looking down slightly, embarrassed to have to ask for help in the first place.
"Oh yeah sure I can help with that, follow me." He said smiling, and started doing the moves. After going over it to make sure I knew the moves, he turned on the track and clapped to the rhythm while I danced. We did this twice and then went back into the room.
"Thank you Felix, but don't tell anyone about that." I said sternly. He nodded quickly and went to join his friends at the front. I could see them giving him confused looks and he just shrugged. I sighed and got ready to preform with my group.
This time we went last. I stood in the middle and as the music started, the two in the front bumped into each other from the confusion. 'That's what you get for not looking at the choreo' I thought and smiled slightly. We continued the dance and I was the only one to get the rhythm right in the middle, thanks to Felix, though I'll never admit it again.
After our performance, they sent everyone into the hallway, calling in group by group in order. I watched many people leave with their heads down and a few join the group again with smiles. When it was our turn, they called me first. I stepped forward and looked at them. They all smiled and said I had made it to the third round, then sent me back to the hallway. Only one other person from my group was sent back with me, everyone else went home. We went back into the room for the last time and took a 5 minute water break.
When we were done with our break, they asked us to put the two songs together, back to back. This worried many people, considering there was only 15 of us left. "As you all know, we're only looking for 8 of you to join us" Chan said looking at us. I was not aware of this but okay I guess. Chan locked eyes with me for a second then sent us to get into groups of 3.
It was me and two guys in my group and we spent 10 minutes together, barely enough time to run through both songs. The two guys decided I should be in the front considering I'm the shortest and the only girl, both of which annoyed me a little. I shouldn't have an advantage just because of two things I have no control over.
We went back and performed for the last time today in front of the guys, but also the other 12 in the room. I was watching the others perform and didn't see many that caught my eye. There was one guy with brown hair that was pretty good, and one other with blonde hair that was alright, that was about it though.
My group got up to go and we got into a triangle formation. The track started and the two behind me were out of sync just barely. I decided to just do my best since clearly they couldn't figure it out.
When all groups were done, the called us up one by one in front of the others to tell us our fate.
They only chose me and two guys, the two that caught my attention, to go with them to the next city for tomorrow's auditions round.
As I was gathering my things to leave, Han, Chan, and Felix came up to me. "You did better than I expected honestly. How long have you been dancing?" Chan asked. He seemed genuinely curious.
"Oh I just started like 2 weeks ago." I said dead serious, all of them looked at each other in shock, making me laugh a little, "I'm just messing with you, I've been dancing at this studio for 10 years." I said.
"Oh I was about to be so impressed." Han smiled.
"Either way, congratulations! You're going to be a Stray Kids backup dancer!" Felix said with a smile.
"Yeah umm.. honestly you could just not show up to the second round and we would still pick you, we'd be idiots not to." Chan said rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"Oh don't worry, I'm still going, I want to see the competition. I haven't competed in a while, I've missed it." I said with a small laugh. "I'll see you guys there!"
