Wisps of Starlight

01

_01

Intro: Lilasaki Agbayani

☾

▎"Saki? Huy Lilasaki! Gising na, lapit na tayo sa first stop."

"Saki", as her friends commonly call her, fluttered open her eyes slowly to the voice of her friend, Lia. Lia's wake up call was rather loud, eliciting hushes from their other teammates.

"Ah 'lamat Lia, sorry sa abala" Lia nonchalantly grinned it off as Lilasaki shifted on her seat and opened up the bus's window, letting the summer morning breeze graze her face.

She was met by the sight of acres and acres of land stretching as far as the sunlight reaches. Funny, she thought, how moments ago, buildings and billboards stood mighty tall to where these fields were. Sure Manila has its highlights, but these are truly incomparable.

"Anong oras na? Gosh ilang oras na ba tayo bumabyahe, ang sakit na ng likod ko." She asked Lia, who she sat next to since the beginning of the trip

"Somewhere past 5 am, di ako sure. Ahh, nangangalay na katawan ko! Magsisimula agad ako mag-stretching pag dating sa dance studio." Lia replied, yawning.

At the corner of Lilasaki's eyes, she watches her friend stretch a bit with her phone on one hand. Lia is one tall lady so it was a bit harder for her to move around so she chose the aisle seat, while Saki was stuck on the window seat admiring scenery the road has to offer.

Lilasaki and Lia are part of an all girls dance club from a school in Manila. Their crew consisted of 30 highschool students. Most are in junior high and the other few, including Lilasaki and Lia, are senior highschoolers. Both of them are some of the few senior high school students in the team, along with 7 more, and have been dancing together since first year in junior high.

Lia's style is more of modern hiphop, Lilasaki's style is more of a combination of basic contemporary and power femme. Though their dance styles are quite contrasting, it's not drastic when they perform a similar routine on stage. All 30 of them may be different individually, but on stage they are a pleasant blend of passionate dancers conquering the platform.

Dance crews are especially busy in any given time of the year. From training during after classes the whole week to getting invited to numerous competitions and various performances. This year, their dance crew got invited to perform in the annual summer festival in Lilasaki's late father's province, Bicol. At first the idea of performing in a far place was heavily rejected by their coach, however they agreed in the end when the same organizers of the festival sponsored the trip. The sponsor, a team advocating the importance of arts, told them that they had booked the girls an overnight room at a hotel and a bus. That goes without saying, the crew was more than grateful for the offer.

So there they were, 30 drowsy girls who had to bear the dread of the conditioning the day before. Most of them were dead tired from all the previous training and last minute academic workload. At exactly 3:30 am on a fine Friday morning, they went off to avoid the heavy traffic at the rural area and to arrive early at the dance hall.

"Hey you two, gusto nyo?" Denise from the front seat asked, handing the two a container of corn flakes from where she was seated. She is one of the seniors from the arts and design track who keenly studied contemporary dancing and gymnastics so it was no surprise that her flexibility skills are almost limitless, her passion and enthusiasm are some of the reasons why she's the leader of the team.

"Kakakain ko lang Denden , pero thank you!" Lia smiled and shifted her focus back on her phone. Ate Denise motioned to Lilasaki but politely declined as she went back to her seat.