I got the amazing opportunity to attend one of the most pristine music and arts school in Seoul: School of Performing Arts. Many K-Pop legends attended this school before me, and I'm hoping to learn a lot from my classmates. Coming in as a foriegner...
In today's dance class, we're getting a special lesson from Korea's top dancer. He is ranked one of the best dancers in his group, and has come to SOPA to teach us one of the choreography for their song. That special guest is Taeyong of NCT. He is known for his flexibility and ability to dance ever so gracefully. Today, he will be teaching us the choreography to BOSS. This is a NCT song where all the members participated. As soon as Taeyong walked in, we were all in shock, especially me. How did our teacher get Taeyong to come in? I mean, he has such a busy schedule because of SuperM. They just released a new album,shouldn't he be promoting right now? How sweet of him to take time out of his schedule to come teach us a class today.
Taeyong stands in front of our class and introduces himself: "Hello, everyone. My name is Taeyong of NCT and SuperM. I am here today to teach you the choreography of BOSS, then you'll perform it with your class and NCT for a special assembly." "What?!" I exclaimed. "Hmm?" Taeyonng asked, looking at me. "We're performing with NCT?" I asked. "Yes, your teacher has arranged that today. Get excited." Taeyong said. "I am, oh I can't wait." I said. "Good, let's get started then." Taeyong said.
Taeyong began teaching us the choreography step by step. This choreography is considerably harder than what we've been doing, but we're taking our time. Here is what the full choreography looks like:
When someone would make a miss step, Taeyong would very kindly correct them. He is way less strict than our teacher. Whenever we mess up, he is very strict about it. He wouldn't want us to miss a step or beat. With Taeyong, he understands his humble beginnings, and is patient with the whole class. By the end of learning all of the choreography in the span of two hours, we are all very exhausted. We're breathing heavily, but are proud that we learned such a hard dance. It makes us even more pumped to perform it in front of the whole school with NCT. We run through the whole song one last time. Then, we go to back stage to have an outfit change. The concept for BOSS is the following type of outfit:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The girls wore the above outfit and the boys wore what the boys in NCT U wore in the music video. Their stylist even came around to put us in the perfect outfits for our performance. After being styled, we were sent out onto stage.
The music begins and we start dancing. NCT doesn't come out on stage until about the chorus to cause an effect. Oh my gosh, this is so cool. We're performing in front of the whole school with an idol group, the people we look up to, and take inspiration from. Our class is having so much fun dancing alongside incredible, talented people. Not only that, but they're singing and rapping live. This feeling is electric, being able to perform with these guys. I will never forget this moment, and I will strive to be the best, in hopes that I reach a level of excellence like NCT.
Our performance ends with that dope pose. We are breathing heavily, but are content with our performance. I feel like we did really good, we probably won't get another opportunity like that one. We leave the stage, waving to the crowd. While walking back to the practice room, my vocal teacher pulls me and Hajoon aside, "Listen to me, I sent your performance of Time Of our Lives to JYP Entertainment. They sent me an email back stating that they're interested in you." "You can't be serious. . . Did they really email you back?" Hajoon asked in disbelief. "I'm being very serious. They want to arrange an audition for you two. You're auditioning together. Don't worry, your training time won't get in the way of your school life." Mr. Moon said. "I- I'm lost for words. Some of my favorite artists are managed under JYP." I said. "You're about to be one of them. Get ready for your auditions tomorrow." Mr. Moon said. "Let's get it!" Hajoon exclaimed, excited to finally become a trainee. "This is amazing! Quickly, we should get some rest and then tomorrow, head straight to JYP." I said, pulling on Hajoon. "Yes, I agree." Hajoon said.
Hajoon and I return to our dorms. My performance took up the rest of the day, so they didn't require me to go to my afternoon classes. I go straight to bed so I'll be properly rested for my audition tomorrow. Hajoon keeps texting me about how excited he is, but I tell him to just go to bed. He can express his excitement tomorrow at the audtion. I can't believe this is actually happening. I might actually debut! This is a big step in my journey to becoming an idol. This is going to be a hard journey though, as I've heard that sometimes, you don't eat many meals or don't sleep as much as you want. All of that besides, I know it will all be worth it in the end. When I finally debut, I can show the world that not all idols neccessary have to be Korean. I'll be changing the game. Yes, I know there are non-Koreans in K-Pop already, but I'll be the very few of my ethnicity to become an idol. My mom will be so proud of me, I can't wait to tell her all about this.
