Little things - Taekook (ON HIATUS)

Chapter 4

(You Chose: KARD AND VIXX MASHUP THING)

"Okay, I think I have an idea, but you do not have to do it. I will not force you to do anything. Am I understood?" I say calmly, raising my head proudly and smiling when they all nod in understanding. I scroll through the playlist, my eyes flickering over the options, my thoughts racing.

I turn to face the students, looking over them with half critical eyes. I know their abilities, pretty much, and I know how to help them step forward and become better. I'm just not certain whether they'll let me help them become better at their art. After the whole fuss over my age, and my own ability, I am a little concerned.

But I'm not going to let it affect how I teach. This is my class. And I am the teacher. Not them.

"What are your opinions on partner work?" I say carefully. "I know that it probably sounds horrible, but that's because you're thinking of traditional dances. My mind is going to something a little more modern. Fancy lifts, someone to face during certain parts, someone to dance next to. That is partner work's positive side. It's a chance to make a new friend and work with someone new. What do you think?"

"Does it have to be girl and boy pairs?" one girl asks, and I shake my head. "But it's partner-"
"I know. You can have a female partner if you want. In university, they normally want you to have opposite gender pairs, simply because of the stereotype that men are stronger. But in this class, you can go with whichever you want."

Everyone nods in understanding. "Any other questions?"
"What kind of dance are we doing?" one of the boys asks, one of those gross smirks on his faces, and I roll my eyes at him.
"It will be partially partner work, and partially individual work," I reply, deliberately ignoring the point of his question. He huffs.

"I mean like, what kind of partner work? How close do we get?"

I step forward, looking him directly in the eyes. "There is a difference between being close in a dance respectfully and being close in a dance whilst breaking boundaries. We are going to do the former."
"But dance is all about having fun-"

I lift my head, regarding the whole class with calm but serious eyes. "You must understand something very serious, everyone. If you don't follow these simple rules, you won't be allowed to take part in this choreography at all. You will be asked to stand to the side, and your parents will be contacted. I do not care if that gives me a bad rep among you or your parents. The safety and comfort of everyone is my priority."

I sigh. "My dance partner at uni has the same problem. And it makes me very aware of a very important issue." I shift my weight to one leg, making sure they're listening. "Any partner, male or female, or indeed in between, should not be seen as an object. You should not pair with someone because you admire their appearance or because you want to fuck them. You should pair with someone you can work with. Not someone you plan on working with just to have an excuse to harass them."

"It doesn't do any harm-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there," I interrupt, holding up a hand. "If someone, anyone, who was stronger than you, decided that they wanted to feel you up, how would you feel?"
"Pretty honoured, I mean that means they're into me-"
"I doubt that. Being forced into a situation like that with someone you barely know is terrifying. And often people feel they cannot report it. As they will make themselves seem vulnerable."

I shake my head, turning back to my phone. "This conversation is closed. I will put on a few songs to give you an idea of the kind of music we'll be dancing to. Any objections or ideas, raise your hand and every single thought will be listened to."

I allow myself to smile slightly, as I see them begin to relax a little, realising that I do know what I'm talking about. "And I would advise you to start thinking about who you want to partner with. In the meantime, I am going to start thinking of choreography. See what fits us all best."

I hit play, focusing on various parts of the song at various times, trying to work out what the students could do. It will be difficult, to make them all happy and push them a little in order to help them improve, but it's important to avoid throwing them directly into something they are completely against.

Being a teacher is harder than I expected it to be. How do other people cope with this, again? Seriously. I do not understand it, at all.

Once the playlist is through, I nod to myself, knowing now what needs to be done to solve everything and make it all work. "Okay, everyone, I have a plan now. We're gonna mix a few songs together, play around with the rules a little. The whole show is about people who break stereotypes. So we are gonna make the most of that theme." 

The students nod eagerly, the idea appealing to them more than I was expecting. "That sounds cool," one of the girls says, and I grin. 
"We'll have at least two pairs which break the rules, if you're up for that. One pair of girls and one pair of boys at the very least. Or even a three. That could be cool," I add on, brainstorming out loud.  

They nod again, and I put the songs on again, pausing at various points to make various comments about potential ways to accentuate those moments. The students do the same, working together with each other and with me to figure out ideas and choreography. It's actually a lot of fun, and everyone takes it much more seriously than I was expecting. 

When the lesson ends, we've all had a good work out, it feels like, and there's a strong concept ready for me to build from. I can choreograph now, and that is wonderful. My creativity has sparked up. Which is a rare occurrence. 

I leave the studio with a smile on my face, only to be stopped by one of the parents of the students.

"Excuse me, are you teaching my daughter to dance?" 

I nod awkwardly, making momentary eye contact with the student in question. She looks nervous, almost scared, and I am worried about what she could have said to her mother. But I cannot seem bothered. That would be a bad idea.

"I am, yes. Is there an issue?" I ask politely, and she scowls. 
"My daughter informed me that you were choreographing for a show, and you are going to allow her to partner up with another girl, or even with two people. I do not think you understand the importance of dancing properly, in a traditional way. What do you have to say for yourself, you fraud?"

Oh shit. I have no idea what to say. 

CHOICE ONE: be polite as possible because she controls whether you have a job

CHOICE TWO: get mad at the student for talking to her mother about such things 

CHOICE THREE: get mad at the mother and beat her up

CHOICE FOUR: take the issue to Hoseok and see what he does, because you're still new and surely he has a policy for stuff like this? 

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Izzy x