under the same sky | chaekura

Chaeyeon: together

We walk into the studio. It's like a normal classroom except, where the front is supposed to be a whiteboard, there's a recording room used for practical lessons for Ms. Kim to tutor us one-on-one. The seats are arranged in 5 rows of 3 pairs. Our class is small so we only take up the first 2 rows. I used to sit beside Chaewon but we changed partners so I shift to the seat at the left of the classroom to sit beside Sakura while Hitomi takes my seat. Ms. Kim likes to keep all the vocal lessons well-structured. We always start with theory, then warm-ups, followed by one-on-ones. Sakura and Hitomi were really nervous before their first one-on-one. I can't really blame them. When I had my first one-on-one, my voice kept shaking in front of the mic. Ms. Kim has this way of making you feel like every word she says is important and every one-on-one is a practical exam. Except for Yuri and Chaewon, Ms. Kim's classes give us all anxiety. I mean, can you blame us? Her pointed features and hawk-like eyes show no emotion at all when she looks at you and she rarely gives compliments. She isn't an unfair teacher, though. She usually gives constructive criticism and is very patient whenever trying to correct our technique. Nako wasn't as scared, though. She went into the recording studio and screamed because she didn't know the glass was a one-way mirror and that we could see her but she couldn't see us. It almost made Ms. Kim laugh. Almost. The dance studios are at the North side of the school, which are at the opposite side from the dormitories, but that doesn't stop me from going there every day after school, before curfew. Sometimes the class hangs back with me if dance is the last class of the day, but it's not, so I'm alone today. Dancing is probably the one thing I can confidently say I'm not bad at. It's probably because I've already started training even before I stepped foot here, but it's the one thing I can never remove from my life. We enter the dance studio to find a teacher lying on the floor of the studio playing a game on his phone.

"Good mor-"
"Wait, don't greet me yet. I need to kill this-," he says, not taking his eyes off his phone. "No, no no no no no NO!" He throws his phone at his bag and sighs. "Hello, my name is Park Jeongmin but please, you can call me Jeongmin. And I will be your new dance instructor," he says smiling widely.
"Good morning..." we all look at each other, hesitating. "...Jeongmin."
"Jeongmin, what happened to Mr. Kim?" Eunbi asks.
"Oh, uhm..." Jeongmin starts, "Mr. Kim has actually resigned."
"RESIGNED? Why would he resign?" Wonyoung asks.
Jeongmin hesitates, avoiding our eyes, but he continues. "Mr. Kim wanted to start on something..." his voice trails off. "...new." It is silent for a while but Jeongmin breaks the silence.
"Anyways, let's start. We have a lot to do this year." He gets up from his seat.

"Okay, you guys don't know me yet and I have yet to know you so let's all start with a quick introduction, but with a twist." He smiles. Connecting his phone to the speakers, a Hip Hop beat comes on. "Now I want all of you to say your name and your hobbie, while freestyling. Like this." He starts doing a moon slide with his feet and goes into some popping and isolation. "My name is Park Jeongmin and dance is my favourite thing to do-" he jumps into a half-split. "in the world." We all burst into applause, still in awe by his dance performance. He spins and points at Eunbi, Michael Jackson-style. The dance is passed on from one person to another, each one displaying different styles of dance. We haven't done freestyling before as a class so it was really fun to watch everyone. I go last as Hyewon passes a really funny wave towards me. I get the wave from my left and bring it down, popping it back up. "I'm Chaeyeon and dance is my passion." I do some simple waaking moves, spin and end with a b-boy pose. The class erupts into an applause and laughter and we all high-five each other, smiling brightly. "Alright, so-" Jeongmin says, turning off the music. "-as you have observed after watching each other, we each interpret this simple beat in many different ways according to our own unique individual styles of dance. The thing about dance is that it's not a skill. Everyone can dance, just like how everyone can sing. Those who choose to pursue dance and are passionate about it sharpen their abilities to improve themselves. Improve. Not change. No 2 dancers are the same. Anyways, dancers who have the same style get boring after a while, no matter how good their technique is. The audience will always want to see you in your own light. They want to get to know you and that personal connection you have with them comes from the way you perform. I just had a glimpse at each of your personalities through this activity. Like how Yena and Yujin are the jokers of your class, how Wonyoung is good at aegyo, how Hyewon is awkward but has good sense, how Chaeyeon-" my gaze turns toward his direction, eyebrows raised. "is very passionate about dance." I look down, red flooding my cheeks. "All of you have shown me a little bit of who you are and that's what I want each and everyone of you to keep working on. Alright, let's start on the first lesson. We'll be doing a bit of technique today but let's do some warm-ups first. Who's the dance representative of the class?" I raise up my hand. "Of course. Okay, can you lead us for warm-ups?" I walk to the front of the room.

Musical theory class was the same. Long and tiring. They should never put it at the end of the day. It makes you want to sleep. Take Wonyoung for example, her head's down. You'd think she's paying attention because she's holding her pen, but if you look at her from a different angle, she's fast asleep. I look at the clock. 5.59pm. The bell rings. Our teacher stops the lesson because even she knows we'd already stopped paying attention after the 16th century. We greet her goodbye and I head to the door to hold it open for everyone to leave. I turn off the lights and head out in the other direction.
"Chaeyeon," a voice behind me says, footsteps coming towards me. I turn around to find Sakura catching up to me. "Where are you going?"
"Oh, uhm- I'm heading to the dance studio," I hesitate. "Do you want to come with?"
"Sure," she smiles. This is the first time she's smiled at me first. I can feel a lump form in my throat. I smile back and we walk to the dance studio.

We enter and I turn on the lights and the air-conditioner. I place my bag down on the right corner of the room, plug my phone into the speakers and sit down next to Sakura in the middle of the studio. She's silent.
"I come here to practice," I start. "On my own, sometimes with everyone else but I come here almost everyday."
"Ohhh..." she says, catching my eye. "That's probably why you're really good at dance." I look up, startled. "Yeah, we all saw you freestyle just now. It was like watching a professional dancer. I think you even surprised Jeongmin."
"...I don't know. I don't even think I'm good enough yet."
"Ehhhhh..." she looks at me like I'm lying. "You are really good. Why do you think that?"
"Because there'll always be someone better." I think long and hard but soneone needs to know. I've been dying to open up. "I had this friend a long time ago and she liked to dance too. And we swore we'd never stop being friends. But she was a lot better than me and she got signed by an entertainment agency and joined a girl group. They've debuted already but, ever since then, everytime I'll ask her to hang out, she's always saying she's busy. Even when she's not promoting." My face starts getting hot. "I felt really lonely then but I wanted to be happy for her. Instead all I thought was, 'Maybe it could have been me instead. If only I was good enough'." Sakura gets up to get tissues from her bag as I feel hot tears stream down my cheeks. "I just really want to get somewhere here. Now. It's like she fulfilled our dream without me, you know?"
"Shhhh shhhhh." She hugs me and pats my head. "You have lots of new friends here. And they're good people, like what you said. And maybe you weren't good enough then, but I'd be surprised if you aren't good enough now. You've been practicing hard and it shows. There's no way you won't get anywhere. And what kind of friend is she if she didn't fulfill her promise to you?" She pulls away to look at me. I sniff and she puts both her palms on my cheek. "What matters is that, I'll keep my promise. Remember? Let's soar together. Under-"
"-the same sky," I say, smiling at her. "Yeah, I remember."
"Now, get up and start practicing." She gets up and pulls me up with her. "I'll join you."
"Sakura, you don't hav-"
"Shhhh..." she walks to my phone. "Together, remember? And please, you can call me Saku-chan." She smiles at me and I smile back, wiping away what's left of my emotional outburst. "Now, which song do you want to start with?"