Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 14, 2018 16:50:32 GMT -8
Anya pouted at him, "I know... I'll have to find a place in the house where I won't disturb anyone. Maybe I'll ask mom and dad to clear out a space in the garage for me." She nodded, "There's an idea. I might do that." She smiled to Taijia, "Then I can be like you and practice every day."
She thought over the song, "I think Peek-A-Boo would be hard, but not impossible. I'll have to try it out and see what I can do about vocal training and stuff like that." She let out a huff, "This already sounds like a lot of work..." She smiled at her friend, "But if I get to train with you, then it will be worth it."
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 17, 2018 3:43:33 GMT -8
Taijia laughed softly when Anya pouted about it being a lot of work, but he told her reassuringly, "You'll get into a routine of it once you start trying to practice every day. The hardest part is the first week or two from what I hear from the other people in the advanced dance classes at the studio."
Tai finished the last of his lunch, packing up the containers neatly so that there wouldn't be too much mess for him to clean up when he got home, and then he leaned back on his hands, looking up at the tree that they always ate under. He said, "If you like the song enough to work at it, picking the harder song probably isn't a bad idea, though we could always practice both for a little while and see which one you are feeling happier about after a week or two."
He thought about it for a moment longer and added, "I bet your mom would pay for your voice lessons, though Uncle Jin might help you out just because you're my friend. I mean, I can help with that too, but I'm better at explaining dancing stuff."
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 17, 2018 17:10:34 GMT -8
"That's the problem is the hard part." Anya joked with a giggle. She leaned back against the tree, mimicking Taijia's position but instead looking up at the sky. "Maybe we can try both. That's probably not a bad idea." She agreed.
She contemplated asking her mom for vocal lessons. It being so sudden, she worried her mom would get curious as to why, and she hadn't yet been serious enough about it to tell her she was planning to audition. Even asking for space in the garage would raise some eyebrows in the house. Though, she supposed she could thank her brother, as that would not be weirdest request made even within the last week, so asking for space to practice dance wouldn't be too alarming. Plus, her mom already knew her and Tai liked dancing. "Maybe... Yunjin can help me. I'm worried if I tell my mom I want vocal lessons, she'll want to know why, and I could say I just want to try I guess, but I don't know... I feel like she won't take me seriously yet if I tell her I want to audition." She paused, frowning, "Or she'll think I'm only doing it because you're doing it. Which, I probably wouldn't have even thought to audition without knowing you, but that's different than doing it because you're doing it!" She argued against herself.
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 17, 2018 21:56:46 GMT -8
Tai looked thoughtful for a bit. Anya had expressed interest in auditioning too a few years ago without his prompting, and he had assumed that that held true. He asked her a little bit tentatively, "I just want to make sure, I'm not pushing you to do this when you don't want to, right?"
He fiddled with the hem of his shirt, sitting up more upright, and said, "Maybe you should take it one step at a time though, with your mom? You've been taking dance classes for a while, so actually wanting to practice more will show her you're getting more serious about it maybe?"
He paused again, still sounding a touch worried and added, "And Kangwan said that when people who are our age audition, they are looking for potential, and to a certain extent looks, more than actual skill yet. When I was reading over the details, it looked like it was going to be a two stage audition too. There's the global part, where they're going to a bunch of different cities and doing auditions, and then there's going to be a training camp and final audition in Seoul for people they invite from the global auditions. If you want to be ready for that, getting used to practicing, and practicing your Korean is probably going to be important."
He didn't add that he could just speak Korean with her if she wanted, but he thought about it. He wondered if she would ask him to.
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 19, 2018 17:55:20 GMT -8
Anya froze, blinking slowly as she looked out thoughtfully. After a long moment, she shook her head. "No. You just kind of... made it feel more possible, I guess? I had wanted to be an idol before I met you, but it just felt more like a big dream than something that would actually happen. Then I met you, and you had the determination and desire to get to the point I thought was unreachable. So it is because of you, but it didn't start because of you, if that makes sense?" She tilted her head to the side as she finished her sentence.
She leaned forward, arms resting on her legs, and let out a sigh. "Yeah, I think I will start with asking mom and dad to clear a space in the garage for me, and I'll start practicing every morning. With that alone, she may notice I'm serious about dancing, and then in a couple weeks I can ask her about vocal lessons, and maybe tell her about the auditions." She seemd to be thinking outloud again rather than actually conversing.
A pout came onto her face at his last comment. "I told dad to teach me Korean and he still hasn't!" She let out a huff. "So I still only know the basics - oh! I know!" She said, bouncing up and looking to Taijia with a big grin, "Maybe you and Yunjin can teach me! And Hwangjung and Sungyong too if they're around, I guess."
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 19, 2018 23:37:58 GMT -8
Taijia sighed in relief. He told Anya, "That makes sense. Giving you the idea that something was doable is way less of an uncomfortable place than dragging you into something. I mean, we've been friends for a long time partially because we have a lot in common, except the fact that you like talking to most people a lot more than I do."
Tai laughed at Anya's grumbling about Korean, and told her, "I don't know how much you actually know in Korean, but I could just start talking it to you. Uncle Jin is a good teacher, and Uncle Hwannie has the best accent of the Uncles, but he's not there quite as often anymore, though I go over to his new house a lot since it's just next door, and he's helping Jiuk get better with his Korean too. But Uncle Sheng shouldn't teach you because he has a pretty strong Chinese accent in Korean, and you'd just end up sounding really confusing. He's perfectly easy to understand, but not as good a teacher for that reason. I will definitely help though."
He felt the excitement again, now that they'd figured out a plan. He hoped that Anya's mom and dad wouldn't be too weird about her wanting to audition, but he figured that it could be made to work out, especially if Anya's mom saw that she was serious.
The warning bell rang then, and Tai stood. They had plenty of time to get back to their next class, and at least that was one that they had together. He waited for Anya to be ready so that they could walk back together and said, "I've got free time this afternoon if you want to come start learning the dances."
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 22, 2018 13:42:17 GMT -8
"At this point we've been friends almost over half our lives!" She giggled. More seriously, she added, "I do like that we always have things in common, whether it be dance or music or even something completely unrelated." She laughed again before adding, much more jokingly, "And if I don't talk to people, who would? Someone has to do it!"
"Right now, I really only know the basics. Remi taught me how to read it, and taught me introductions, but that's about all I know. After taking the class, Remi occasionally mutters to himself in Korean, but to my understanding it's mostly nonsense or useless words or words I should not repeat." She let out a sigh as she rolled her eyes, "But yes, I would love it if you could teach and help me learn. Yunjin, too."
She followed Taijia to their next classroom, stalling a little like he was. "I'll ask my mom if I can go to your house after school then! I want to get as much practice as I can before the audition!"
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 23, 2018 2:01:03 GMT -8
Taijia nodded at her explanation of how much Korean she knew, and he said, "I don't know how to teach Korean really, but I can at least talk to you in Korean and then translate what I'm saying to English, and Uncle Jin has a bunch of different intro Korean books around the house because he was deciding on which one to use for the Korean class he's teaching at the high school now. We can ask him which ones would be best for you to use, and we can probably just borrow it from him."
As they headed back in to the school building, he pointed things out to Anya and told her what they were in Korean, not quite sure what else he could do yet.
***Time Skip to the end of the day.***
Tai wasn't exactly sure who was picking him up from school, but he whispered to Anya as their last class let out, "I'm going to go on ahead and let whoever's picking me up know that you're coming over, as long as your mom said you could. Catch up to me in the pick up area?"
He waited for her to respond before he headed to check in with whichever of the Uncles was picking him up.
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 25, 2018 16:40:17 GMT -8
"Sounds good to me!" Anya agreed. She was always willing to see more books than just the ones Remi had from his class.
Anya nodded, checking her phone to see if her mom responded, but not seeing anything yet. Just as she was going to put her phone into her pocket, it vibrated with a message from her mom, giving her permission to go. She finished packing up her bag, having not cleaned up earlier because she'd been distracted by her thoughts, like if Red Velvet was her final choice, what kind of dance she should do, etc. As she left the classroom, bidding the teacher goodbye, she pulled her phone out of her pocket agian and sent a quick message to her mom asking about what time she should be home, or if she was getting picked up, and so forth. By the time she got to the pick up area, she hadn't heard anything back yet from her mom, and she wondered if her mom had appointments that whole day, and just sent the quick message in between. She had just reached Taijia when her phone vibrated again. Be home by dark unless Remi will pick you up, or Yunjin, Sungyong, or Hwangjung will drop you off. She looked up at her friend, "Mom says I can stay until dark unless I can get a ride back home, either from my brother or one of your uncles." She told him simply.
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 26, 2018 3:49:44 GMT -8
Taijia smiled at her, clearly slightly relieved when she said that she had permission from her mom. He told her, "Come on, Uncle Hwannie is waiting in the parking lot to drive us home. I can have him check in with Uncle Jin to see if he can take you home and maybe you can stay for dinner that way."
He sighed and added, "This would be simpler if I had a phone already."
He knew that his Uncles sort of thought that he was a little too young for his own phone yet, though they had let him choose between having a computer for his room and getting a phone for his tenth birthday, and while he'd chosen the computer, he kind of wished that he'd been able to do both. He shook his head for a second, and smiled a little bit at Anya and said, "We can go over the choreo for the two songs that you were thinking of once we get home, and I might come up with a few other things for you try, or you can come up with a few other things. Then we can decide on one or two to work on, and get you going on memorizing the first bit."
His Uncle Hwannie had managed to find a parking place right near the release gate, which was surprising since pick up time was normally really busy, but Tai was kind of relieved as he clambered in to the backseat giving his Uncle Hwannie a quick greeting in Korean, and plopping his backpack in the middle seat so that it would be in between him and Anya.
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 29, 2018 14:09:53 GMT -8
"Awesome!" Anya squeaked. She gave Taijia a small half-smile at his mutterings about getting a phone, but didn't say anything. Maybe when her parents let her upgrade her phone she could give him her old one. Though they did say that wouldn't happen until she was at least in high school, so there was still a couple years left before she'd get a new phone. Maybe if she got past the audition they'd let her upgrade as a congratulations gift.
She was surprised to see Hwangjung had gotten a good spot in the pick up area, but didn't comment on it, climbing into the backseat after Taijia and also plopping her backpack between them. She copied Tai's greeting, muttering it a little quieter than he had. Finally, she turned to Taijia, "Sounds good to me!" She said, still obviously excited about it, though quieter now that they were in an enclosed space.
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 29, 2018 20:18:17 GMT -8
Once they got back to the house, Hwangjung waved at Yunjin who was just pulling up to the driveway on his own way home from work, and sent them on inside with him. Tai led the way towards the dance studio that was set up in one of the back rooms of the house, and he finished turning an idea over that he'd been thinking about since lunch.
He told Anya, "There's a few other videos I want to show you, other than looking at the choreography for 'Peek-a-Boo' because I had some ideas of what might work well for things, and it might be worth it to have you work on a few things, especially in case you end up needing to show them more than one song."
He started up his laptop that was sitting on the little desk in the corner where it was hooked up to speakers. The desk had been the desk he'd used in early elementary school for his homework, and it was a little bit too short to be good for homework now, but it was a good solid surface for his music set up for the dance room. He said, "So there are a few things, come watch!"
He waited to start up the choreography videos that he'd pulled up until Anya seemed ready, wanting to show them to her and see what she thought before he told her what he thought of them.
[[PLAYLIST: Gfriend "Glass Bead", Gfriend "Me Gustas Tu", Lovelyz "Candy Jelly Love", Lovelyz "Wow", Laboum "Hwi Hwi", Laboum "Fresh Adventure"]]
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 30, 2018 12:56:56 GMT -8
"Okay!" Anya said, following Taijia over to his computer. She was happy to get more ideas, since she was only mostly confident with Peek-a-Boo and she wanted to be 100% confident. She gave her opinions after each one. "Glass Bead seems really doable, and the outfits are really cute, too! I'm not sure if I'd be able to get those notes, though maybe with vocal lessons I could learn how. But even with GFriend the ones hitting the longer notes didn't dance, so maybe I'll keep this one in mind as just a choreography video." She told Taijia before the next video started. "For Me Gustas Tu, I think it'd be so cool to do one of the tricks at the beginning, but they all involved having another person around. Even so, I really like the little dance break near the end, and the high note in this seemed a lot more doable, like I could possibly sing and dance together. We'll have to keep this one in mind, I'd like to try it at least a few times."
She scrunched up her face as Candy Jelly Love ended, "I have nothing against it, and the dance is cute and I'd definitely feel confident I could do the singing and dancing, it just... didn't wow me." She giggled at her unintentional joke as she saw what the next song was called, "Now on to Wow." She was still giggling a bit as it finished, "Wow did... wow me. I'd be willing to try this one too!" As she saw the next upcoming song, she clapped excitedly, "Oh I love Laboum! I can't believe I forgot about them!" She watched the video, mimicking the dance just a little during choruses. "I of course like the song, but it's probably one of my least favorites from Laboum, so I'd rather do something other than Hwi Hwi." She was dancing again as the last song played. "That is one of my favorite songs from them, but again there really isn't much from Fresh Adventure that really 'wows' me, so I think I can pass on that one. We can maybe... keep it mind if the others don't work out. Or something." She looked to Taijia and smiled, "Thank you for that. I'm glad you could tell I wasn't totally sure about Red Velvet... Even if it wasn't that, I'm still glad you found more songs for me to consider."
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 30, 2018 20:24:52 GMT -8
As Anya was watching the different things and listening to the songs, Tai stretched himself out, so that he'd be ready to demonstrate some ideas without hurting himself if he needed to. Once she was done, Tai listened and nodded seriously as Anya told him what she thought of the different songs. When she was finished, he responded, "Any time we're taking a group song like this and making it a performance piece for one person, we have to adjust a bunch of things. Like any time more than one person is singing, or more than one person is doing something different for the dance part, then we're going to have to change what we do to keep the same feeling and style but without needing more than one person."
He pulled up his music program on his computer and found a few tracks that he cued up. He told her, "Of the ones you like, I don't already have something partially done for 'Wow' or 'Peek-a-Boo,' but I can show you what I mean for the two Gfriend songs. When I was doing that pop dance seminar for a month last summer, one of the things that we did as a project was reworking choreo, and I opted to do the choreo with vocals because I was thinking about figuring out eventual audition pieces already, and those were two of the songs I used."
He stretched a little bit more as he explained, "I can show you the versions of the choreo I did for them, but I'd have to make some different changes because I did some stuff like aerials that you don't know how to do. But that doesn't mean that we couldn't figure out tricks that would work for you. But like the high note parts of the two Gfriend songs, they're not the only thing being sung at that part, and they aren't main melody line. They make the song sound cooler, but if you're singing it alone, that isn't the part that you'd sing, except for one bit in 'Me Gustas Tu,' but the base choreo for that part is simpler."
He cued the songs to start up with a few seconds of delay, putting "Glass Bead" first, and went out to the middle of the room and faced Anya. Unlike with the original choreo, he started from a crouching, facing forward position that allowed him to stand, spin to face backwards and spin again, to create a similar visual effect to the spreading out of the formation at the start of the choreo. Then things stayed pretty similar to the original choreo other than doing the choreo for the vocal with the possibility of some added gestures or footwork from other dance parts if that was the main focus of the part until near the end when the high notes started coming in. He put the focus on the main melodic vocal parts there, not using extended high notes, though hitting some of the high notes for brief amounts when they coincided with the main vocal line.
When the part where the other dancers formed a circle around the main vocal part started was where he knew he would have to readjust the choreo for Anya because he used elements like butterfly and illusion drops to create the impression of the spinning while staying closer to centered. That part was hard to keep the vocals up, but it was something that he was sure that Anya could to with practice because it was more endurance than anything else. The end of the choreo, from the kick on, he had kept almost exactly the same because it was one of his favorite parts of the original.
There was a short pause in the sound cues between "Glass Bead" and "Me Gustas Tu," and he got himself into the crouched position of the front dancer in the orginal "Me Gustas Tu" choreo to start that one out. This one had required more work than the "Glass Bead" choreo because it used formation work more heavily, but that had been part of what had made it interesting. For the first formation trick, he'd used a back-flip aerial that dropped straight into the front-to-back splits that he rolled forward over his shoulder out of. It wasn't something that Anya had the skills to do, but he figured that they could find something to put there.
Any time that the dancers did a cascade of movements, Tai used a repetition of the movement to help mimic the effect. About halfway through the song, where the two sections of the formation crossed, Tai used the basic footwork and did a back and forth, switching between the forward and backwards part used by each dancer to bring himself forward in the practice space. And for the section not long after that, where the original choreo involved two people joining hands, Tai used a movement that had him clasp his own hands together, and turn from facing one way to another, incorporating some of the other footwork used to either side of it to keep his feet moving, leading into a one footed spin with his hands clasped above his head.
When towards the end, the formation would hide and reveal the person singing, Tai used crouching and coming back up with arm movements that drew from the choreography of other people in the formation or turning so he faced away and then forwards again. This way there was a feeling of the transitions between the different parts. Again, when the high notes came, he didn't focus on them, but instead, on the main melody line and the choreography that went along with it. The high notes were interesting, but less important to the overall feel of the song than the main melodic line, and he'd been gratified during the performance for the seminar instructors that he'd been praised for focusing on the main line, so he'd been right, despite the fact that some of the older students (all of them were older) had thought it was silly to leave out what they saw as the coolest parts.
He ended that one in the crouched ending pose as well, then stood up and shook out his legs and looked to Anya. He said, "Don't worry, I'm not going to make you try all of that. But do you see what I mean about combining things or using something different to give the effect?"
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Jan 3, 2019 9:46:37 GMT -8
Anya watched Tai's dances with a clear sense of awe. Her dancing had improved greatly since she met Taijia, but she still often struggled with creating her own choreographies. She gave him a delayed nod in response to his ending question. "I think if we're avoiding the high notes for the most part, it would be cool to try to learn at least one trick!" She said, her daze seeming to lift by the end of the sentence. "I really liked your choreo for "Me Gustas Tu"." She added. "I'd love to give that one a shot, but I'd need some help memorizing it without you... Can I record you doing it?" She asked him, tilting her head.
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