Shine Seoul City Lights~ A BTS Encounter

Practice Makes Perfect

The rest of the day passed in a blur. I practiced the lyrics for EX'd, then checked the updated version of the album that Manager Nim had sent me. I looked so different from my real self in those pictures. A picture of the album had been uploaded to my new Instagram, along with two of the pictures I'd chosen in Manager Nim's office. I sent long text updates to my friends and family, and then headed to the dance studio to choreograph the duo dance.

I showed Jimin oppa some ideas, and he showed me his. From his request, I'd studied various formations for two-person dances. We worked through the song a few times, and eventually came up with a more complete product. There were a few blank spaces where there wasn't choreo yet, but we had time to come up with that later. There was even a part where Jimin oppa lifted me up over his shoulders and flipped me around so that I landed on his left, slightly in front of him. I wasn't that much smaller than him, and I was mostly muscle, so I weighed about 102 pounds. I had to take a running jump so that he could grab onto my wrists. I would use my momentum to spin over his head, then Jimin oppa would push and let go, letting me fly up and then land on the ground. Unfortunately, it required a lot of coordination, and I wasn't sure how it'd look with my fancy outfit. My palms screamed in discomfort, but I ignored them the best I could, and we practiced over and over again.

By the end of three hours, we'd choreographed the whole dance, and only had to practice it. We were to meet again at the same time the next day, and Jimin oppa told me to practice when I got the chance. I sprinted straight from the dance room to the recording room to meet Taehyung oppa, and arrived several minutes late. We practiced Symphony, which I already knew the lyrics for. Taehyung oppa didn't understand the lyrics, but he was a huge help with the actual singing part. I spent three hours singing until Taehyung oppa said that he had to leave to help Jungkook oppa with something. I was glad, since my voice was beginning to get hoarse.

I went to the kitchen to eat, bringing the food back to my room, and I began studying again. Manager Nim had sent me an email saying that there would be a Music Video filming for my original, EX'd on Saturday the 29th, which meant that I had three days to finish memorizing the song, and learning the choreography. I'd gotten a video from the choreographer with them dancing what he wanted me to learn. It was a man in his 30's, and he agreed to meet me at 12 the next day. I had dance practice with Bangtan from 7-11 tomorrow morning.

So I studied. I got into the rhythm of things and went through three chapters in my Korean notebook, and then started studying the list that Manager Nim wanted me to memorize. By the time I next looked up, it was 12. I'd go to sleep at 2:30, I promised myself. I needed to practice the dance. I watched through the video that the choreographer had sent me, and attempted to copy it. It took me a while to realize that I had to mirror his movements, and ended up starting over. Then I gave up and went back to memorizing EX'd lyrics.

My eyelids were drooping. I didn't even feel my head drop onto my desk, but the next thing I knew, it was 6:50 the next morning.

I leapt to my feet, grabbing clothes out of one of my suitcases; a blue pair of jeans and a grey T-shirt, and sprinted to the shower, just washing my face and dressing. I pulled on my white high tops and left my hair down. I grabbed a bar from the kitchen and ran to the dance practice room. Thankfully, I was only one minute late, and Yoongi oppa hadn't come yet. I bowed at everyone, then sat down hard and tried to eat my bar, still breathing hard. Jungkook gave me a half-smirk as I took a huge bite and I just stared tiredly at him.

"Gwenchana?" He asked. (Are you okay?)

"Neh." I answered, and then stuffed my cheeks again. (Yes)

I joined him as he stretched, and then got up and jumped a few times, loosening my arms and shoulders. Yoongi oppa came a few moments later and we started dancing. We went through the whole concert's dances twice. Thanks to the practice in my room's mirror, I'd managed to get through my dance with Jimin oppa okay. Despite the exhausting dancing and slightly pressured atmosphere, Bangtan kept an upbeat attitude. Everyone was full of energy, which, frankly, I had none of. For my original songs, I only performed EX'd, without the dance. I got a bunch of high-fives and smiles of approval as I finished.

I had an hour of free time, where I went to the kitchen to eat and study flashcards at the same time. My Korean had improved drastically, and I'd basked in the glory of Namjoon oppa's satisfied comments as I had a conversation with him earlier in the morning. Then I met with the choreographer in the second studio, who spoke limited English. Bit by bit, I learned the choreography for my original song. It felt wonderful to have been a part of producing something so cool, especially because the idea of the song had been mine. The choreographer had made something simpler than what I'd seen on YouTube, but it was still difficult choreo. Fortunately, he told me that I wouldn't have to do the whole thing onstage, and could lay off the choreo in the hard singing/rapping parts, since i'd have background dancers.

I recorded his reflection dancing, so that I'd have a mirrored version when I practiced later. After two and a half hours, I got the main points of the song, and only had to practice. I spent another four hours just going through everything over and over again. Practicing and practicing and practicing. In total, I'd spent ten hours in the practice room, and it was 7:00 at night when I left. I thought of Ha Joon oppa in my breaks and wondered when I'd see him next. For some reason I felt a bit afraid to meet with him again, though I wasn't sure why. The kitchen was empty again when I ate my dinner and headed back to my room to study. I'd recorded my rap sections and sent them to Yoongi oppa, who replied with three paragraphs of instructions. I needed to practice my pronunciation.

So much studying. Even through the three years of high school I'd experienced, I'd never studied so hard in my life. And never had that practice been so repetitive. It reminded me a bit of tennis, and how many hours it too me to get a shot just the way I liked it. How I'd spend three hours alone on serving; toss, lean, backswing, jump, climax, contact, follow through. Over, and over, and over, and over again. Practice, practice.

The days were the same. I spent hours in the dance practice room, and the rest of my time on Korean. The texts to my friends and family were becoming more infrequent and shorter; now I was just sending one-text brief summaries of what happened that day, which turned into one-sentence I just practiced dance and Korean and singing all day.

The wounds on my hands and knees were staying the same, but their constant use was beginning to make me almost immune to the pain. The repetitiveness made me seem like I was in a trance. I listened to the performance songs so much I could have recreated them with that software Yoongi oppa had given me without any problem. My nights grew longer and longer, and soon I was studying and practicing until 3 in the morning, and then dragging myself out of bed at 6:30 to meet in the practice room. Ha Joon oppa texted me, but I didn't have the patience or time to answer.

I guess the saying "practice makes perfect" knew where it was going in a way. There was no way to be perfect, or what I envisioned perfect to be, since it was everything that I was not, but I could try my best by just doing things over and over again. So I guess that "practice brings you closer to perfect" would be more accurate.