Rewind With A Superstar System-Chapter 36: Choreography Class

<🎧 Song Recommendation: Instruction by Jax Jones (ft. Demi Lovato & Stefflon Don)

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(Grand Dance Studio — Monday, 11th March, 2019 — 5:07 PM)

The twenty-four contestants were gathered in the underground studio, dressed in an assortment of athletic wear provided by the production team.

It was a cavernous space, easily the size of a basketball court. One entire wall was covered in floor-to-ceiling mirrors that reflected the the twenty-four contestants.

The opposite wall was lined with ballet barres, and the floor was a polished hardwood that squeaked under their sneakers.

The air conditioner was blasting and the atmosphere was fairly calm and filled with anticipation. .

"Do you think the instructor is nice?" a girl beside Von asked her friend.

"I heard they hired someone from K-Pop training camps. Those guys don’t know the definition of nice."

Suddenly, the double doors at the front of the room banged open causing the chatter to die down.

A man walked in. He was short and dressed in a tight black mesh shirt that revealed a muscular physique. He wore a headset microphone and had his hands crossed behind his back.

"My name is Marco. I am your choreographer. I am your gravity. And for the entirety of this week, I am the reason you will not be able to walk up the stairs."

Everyone had confused looks at his declaration.

"Right now, you are all thinking, Marco, I am a singer. I am an artist. Why do I need to dance?"

He walked up to a man in the front row and stared him down. "Tell me, Superstar. Can you hold a stadium of fifty thousand people with just your voice?"

"I... I think so?"

"Wrong!" Marco shouted. "Unless you are Adile, you cannot! And none of you are Adile. In this industry, if you cannot move, you are furniture!"

Marco clapped his hands.

"Form up! I want four rows. Windows to mirrors. Spread out. Give me four arm-lengths of space. Move!"

The contestants all arranged themselves, Von found himself in the third row, sandwiched between Julian and a girl.

"Today, we assess the damage," Marco shouted. "I will play the beat. You will follow my lead."

Marco connected his phone to a speaker in the room and hit play.

A heavy, bass-boosted pop beat exploded from the massive speakers, vibrating the floorboards.

BOOM-KAT. BOOM-BOOM-KAT.

"Five, six, seven, eight! Chest pop! Right! Left! Roll it down!"

Marco started moving whilst observing them. Despite his small build, his body was amazingly fluid, snapping into positions gracefully.

Von tried to follow. He watched Marco through the mirror, but imitating his movement was a different thing.

’Why’s he so fast?’ Von sighed after a while. He could only imitate a movement while watching and before his head registered them, Marco had already switched up.

He glanced around, hoping everyone else was struggling too. To his horror, a good percentage of them were decent.

Julian, at his back, was especially elegant with his movements. And Max... Max hadn’t lied. The rowdy roommate was in his element. Although he was adding unnecessary flair, he still killed it.

"Hey, you!" Marco suddenly pointed his finger.

Everyone stopped to look in his finger’s direction, but had to return when he shouted, "Continue dancing! I am still dancing, so you do not stop!"

They all continued, leaving Von staring at the Instructor that had stopped him. He pointed at his chest to confirm.

"Yes, you. Get over to the wall," Marco ordered without breaking his rhythm.

Von walked out of the formation and leaned against the mirrored wall. A moment later, a guy with a red bandana joined him.

It didn’t take Von long to figure out what was happening. Marco was weeding out the garden and in just two minutes he selected the last one.

"You! With the bangs! Out!"

Alex Hall stopped moving. He walked over slowly to join Von’s group of rejects. Alex had done well to copy the movements visually, but his lack of energy and sluggishness made him look like he was sleepwalking.

With Alex now, they were eight of them standing against the wall.

Marco cut the music and the silence was soon filled by heavy panting of the sixteen survivors in the center.

"Take a breath," Marco commanded.

Some of the contestants immediately moved to sit on the floor, but they weren’t given a chance.

"Up! Did I say sit? You are tired after barely ten minutes? This is the warm-up! Stand up!" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

They scrambled back to their feet and Marco turned his back on the main group and walked slowly toward the eight outcasts.

He looked at Von, then at Alex, then at the others and shook his head with exaggerated pity.

"You eight..." Marco sighed. "You move like rusty shopping carts. You have no rhythm. If I put you on stage today, the audience would ask for a refund!".

"But," Marco paced in front of them. "I am a benevolent god. I will give you a chance to fix your wiring."

He pointed to the floor. "The others will learn choreography. You? You are not ready for steps. You need to learn how to inhabit your own bodies first. Flexibility. Core strength. Isolation."

"Assume this position! Split stance! Hold it until I say stop!"

He showed them what they were to do.

***

(7:37 PM)

Two hours had gone by and the studio looked like a torture chamber.

The sixteen good dancers were in the center, struggling through a complex 8-count routine while drenched in sweat. But the eight outcasts were in hell.

They were lined up against the back wall, holding deep isometric squats and impossible stretches.

"Lower!" Marco yelled from his chair, where he was currently sipping an iced coffee while watching them suffer. "If your legs aren’t shaking, you aren’t working!"

The girl next to Von was already sobbing quietly and Alex looked like he was meditating, though his legs were trembling.

Music played in the background for the main group, but Von’s group was forced to maintain their positions.

Finally, Marco stood up. He walked over to the stereo and hit pause.

"Break!"

The word was like a spell, causing bodies to collapse instantly. The main group dissolved into puddles on the floor. The outcast group crumpled where they stood.

"I will give you one minute to recover," Marco announced, checking his watch. "One minute. Do not get comfortable."

Groans of protest came from every corner of the room.

"One minute? I can’t even feel my toes!" someone yelled.

"This is inhumane..." another voice said in a low tone.

Marco ignored the rebellion. He walked purposefully toward the outcast group, stepping over a groaning contestant and stopping directly in front of Von.

Von was sitting on the floor, breathing steadily. Unlike the others, who looked like they had just run a marathon in a sauna, Von looked... composed.

"You," Marco narrowed his eyes. "Stand up."

Von stood up and Marco stepped closer, invading his personal space. He inspected Von’s face.

"There is no sweat on your forehead," Marco observed. "Your breathing is even."

Von couldn’t tell the Instructor that he had taken a magical pill that rejuvenated him minutes ago, so he shrugged slightly. "Uh, I don’t sweat a lot.".

"Oh? You don’t sweat?" Marco didn’t buy it. "Show me the isolation sequence. Now. Chest, ribcage, hip. Go."

Von tried. He popped his chest and shifted his ribs before rolling his hips.

"Stop," he got interrupted with disdain. "You see why you’re not tired. You were always doing it wrong. Which means you’re just lazy!"

Von had genuinely been giving his all for the first part, and was only revived from the Stamina Recovery Pill. But he couldn’t object the Instructor, so he stayed quiet.

Contrary to his expectations, Marco didn’t subject him to a sole torture, probably out of disappointment. Instead the Instructor had shaked his head and returned to his seat.

After the one minute was elapsed, they had continued where they stopped. This time, having no pills left, Von decided to play it safe.

He chose not to give it his all. It was already stuck in his head that he couldn’t dance. His body felt too stiff for choreography. So instead of fighting the current, he decided to float.

He conserved his energy, performing the drills at 50% capacity, doing just enough to avoid Marco’s wrath but not enough that’ll leave him tired.

By 10:00 PM, Marco clapped his hands to end the session.

"Disappointing," Marco spat the word out as he looked over the exhausted group of twenty-four.

"Only a few of you deserve to be here," Marco said before sliding dismissively over Von. "The rest of you, you are wasting my oxygen."

"I will be back tomorrow at the same time and I do not want to hear excuses. And you," he pointed a finger generally at the outcast group. "If you do not find your rhythm by tomorrow, say goodbye to doing well in the first round. You’ll only end up being a burden to your teammates!"

With that, Marco marched out of the room, leaving Von wondering what he had signed up for.

’I have to do something about this.’