Author's Intro:

If you guys want to listen to these as you read the dance section then here are the names of the songs. The first song in the dance competition is Super Junior's Bonamana, the second song is Valentine's Tango by The Twins and I think I already wrote it in there but the third song is Upgrade you by Beyonce. Enjoy guys!

There’s a reason why I love dancing just as much as I love singing. With singing, you can close your eyes and lose yourself to the music as words flow inside of you. They fill you in a way that any other form of expression can’t. When I sing, I feel the words from deep inside of my belly, and they burn as they make their way up my throat and out of my mouth. I can taste the tremors of blood pulsing to my head, sizzling the skin it pumps beneath. I can feel the tautness in my face, the readiness in my throat as I belt out the words many people long to hear. In a way, dancing is the same. I feel the moves in my heart, the need to express something through my body tingling along my skin. Rushes of adrenaline pump through me before I explode in a mirage of arms and legs. My heart beats faster as my body twists and convulses into new shapes. I can taste my own sweat, the feeling of rightness right on the tip of my tongue.

It may seem confusing or contradictory but dance has about as much to do with your mouth as singing does with the rest of your body. For a long time, I never understood why I liked dancing so much, why I craved to sing even when so many made fun of me for it. But, my time with BTS and all of ARMY had gradually taught me why I did. I was sharing a part of myself, giving away little bits and pieces that were personally and singularly me. I craved to sing and dance because I wanted to be heard. I was tired of standing in the background, posing as an accessory to someone else. I wanted an identity.

I wanted to be Park Jimin.

    “Hip Hop.” The girls calls out confidently as the song blares from her little stereo. Jimin was confused at first until he heard the rhythmic electronic beats and recognized the song. It had just recently come out. Anyone in their right k-pop mind would recognize a Super Junior song as popular as that one. It was soaring the charts. The girl looked at Jimin expectantly as the opening gave way to Siwon’s charismatic voice. Jimin his lips as he plunged into the dance headfirst. One of the things Jimin learned from his hip-hop dance section was that it was all about keeping the crowd bouncing to the beat. He punctuated his moves with hard slams from his feet onto the studio floor, keeping in time by thumping in two beat intervals. He used his arms to draw the attention to his upper body by slamming his fists, jutting his elbows, and punching the air. When the chorus came on, Jimin made his body movements more complicated. The bass dropped and so did Jimin straight to his knees as he did a series of pivots, kicks, and foot tricks. Just as Leeteuk's signature ‘baby you turn it up’ played through, Jimin felt his chest being pushed out of the way as the girl stepped forward. She threw her hands into the air and popped her hips to both sides to Donghae's lyrics. Then she slid her right hand to the floor and swung to her knees as she went into a spin roll on the floor. Pushing herself up and slamming her foot hard onto the ground, She mouthed the next words to the song.

    “Listen Girl~” She ran her hands down to her knees.

    “Johahae~” She popped her out to the beat of the words.

    “Baby Girl~” She swung her hair to the left and leaned at an angle.

    “Saranghae~” She ran her hands through her hair while body rolling to the beat. She then flipped over completely and went into a complicated series of traditional hip hop spin tricks. When the chorus came back on, she jumped up again and bounced to the beat, waving her hands as if to pump up the group. Then she did a short series of jump-kick tricks and finished with ing her torso up, kneeling on the floor, grabbing her forehead with one hand and sticking her other hand behind her to support her body. The people around them clapped with the impressive ending. Jimin wasn’t about to get upstaged, So he did something on the fly. Jimin did a 720 degree twist in mid-air on his side, and hopped on his right foot at the end to fall down on his back. Only it looked like he was falling onto his head, just as his head made contact with the floor, the rest of his body rolled onto the floor in a high wave. The crowd laughed in disbelief as Jimin used the concept of the worm and mixed it with floor tricks that characterized hip-hop dancing as it’s own. It added a fresh new touch to the typical dance moves of spinning and flipping around on one arm, elbow, knee, or foot. When the chorus repeated again, Jimin went back into doing hard arm s, step-bounces, and little spin tricks on his toes. He finished by spinning on the very top of his sneakers, landing hard on his feet when the last note sounded in the song.

The girl was pursing her lips in consideration. Even if he had gotten the last dance, she still thought what she put forth was better. Turning to the audience, she held up her hand as if to ask the crowd what they think. Going over to Jimin, Taehyung grabbed his hand and lifted it into the air. Their crowd of seven people split into two groups. The first group cheered when Jimin had his hand up. The second group-the larger group-cheered when the girl’s hand was lifted into the air. Jeongguk stared in boredom as he looked directly into Jimin’s eyes. Taehyung moved to stand in front of Jimin and glared at him, challenging him. Jeongguk shrugged his shoulders and went back to his stretching. Taehyung sniffed hard but went back to his position in front of the mirror. As the ad finished, a new song that was completely different from the first came on. It was a sensual tango melody with guitar driving the instrumental music forward, heavy with swells and falls.

“Lyrical.” The girl stated, and this time she took center stage. Her dance was like a bird flying through the air, her arms slicing the wind around her as she spun and jumped and posed with the sound of the guitar. She slide her foot around her in a half circle, kneeling down onto one knee and throwing her hands up above her head and letting them fall in waves in time with the rhythm. Standing onto one leg and leaning to drag her hands up her body, she swayed her hips from right to left as her hands passed her hips, then her stomach, then her chest, then finally to cover . Right in time with the music, her hip jutted out and she threw her hands to her sides. Then as the music picked up pace, she did as well and leaped into a perfectly curved arabesque. Landing on her left foot, she spun and dragged her other leg out to the side of her. As she made her full turn, she pushed off with the leg she was squatting on and dramatically slid into a swooning split. Then she laid on her stomach, pushed herself onto her knees, extended one foot out and stood up, walking with a hip swivel to the guitars melody. Jimin was nervous. He had only spent one semester learning lyrical and it was done rather poorly on his part. He didn’t have the confidence to put together something as profound as her routine, but then he got an idea as she started walking backwards to the beat. Right in the middle of the melody Jimin stepped forward and grabbed her hands. She was startled at first but quickly recovered as she realised he was intervening.

    “My turn.” Jimin whispered. Then, he did the most unusual thing ever. He started dancing backwards. At least, that was the impression everyone got. Jimin started taking powerful steps backwards into the center of the room, maneuvering his arms powerfully as if he had been trying to swim his way through the air but something was pulling him back. Jimin then started doing slower creeping steps in a figure eight while waving his arms around in smooth arches and arcs, all doing so as if in rewind. Jimin started lifting and lowering himself as well as spinning-his upper torso at a slight angle so that it looks like he was growing and dying at the same time. Then he fell onto one knee, sliding them back on the floor as he continued to melodically move his arms and his waist. He was gyrating his hips this time, in the same way that she had been, as if taunting her. But then as the music started to thin out, as the guitar faded away and all that remained was a sullen long tone, Jimin started to wither away, his moves became even less pronounced and he started slowly turning on the floor, his arms no longer waving around but gripping his foot while the other was just out of reach, then as the music came to it’s final end, so did Jimin. He bowed his head right when the music ended, and then it clicked for everyone what he had been communicating. The girls eyes bulged from her sockets in disbelief.

    “A flame.” Jeongguk muttered. Jimin’s flowing motions, his flourishes and flicks, his rotations and stops, they all had been made to mimic that of a flame, but not one that was growing-as most people would expect-one that was dying and slowly burning out. While the girls dance had been about growth, a small bird taking flight and growing more powerful by the minute, Jimin’s had been about being powerful and strong, and slowly falling from grace into nothingness. It was profound. The next song played and it was an upbeat techno song from America, but nobody was paying attention. They all were too stunned to say anything. Jeongguk’s eyes glinted in amusement. After that performance, it was official. Jeongguk now felt that he was worthy enough of a challenge to him. The girl was about to pick the next dance as he walked out in front of her, merely tossing her a look before turning to stare down Jimin. Rather than cower away, Jimin glared just as powerfully at him.

    “My turn.” Jeongguk mocked. Jimin bit his lip and let it slowly slip from his teeth. As he was about to accept the challenge, he felt someone come up from behind him and push him out of the way. Jimin stumbled in shock as Taehyung stood nose to nose with Jeongguk glaring at him.

    “No. My turn.” Taehyung spat. Jeongguk scoffed and rolled his eyes.

    “You're just going to embaress yourself. Go before you get hurt.” Taehyung gave one soft chuckle as his answer and walked off. At first Jeongguk had dismissed it, but then he heard the music change to something completely different. It was a hip-hop song with a strong R&B feel to it. It was upbeat and a little sassy.

“Just like Taehyung...” Jimin thought. The girl immediately recognized the song as it was one of her old dance instructors favorite song to use with modern dance. Taehyung looked to the girl and smirked. He knew the song well too. It may not have been random since Taehyung basically picked it himself, but he didn’t care. Anything to show this jerk up.

“We’re doing modern. And if you’re scared, don’t worry. I’ll go easy on you.” Jeongguk’s expression turned serious. He stepped up in front of Taehyung and looked down at him condescendingly.

“I think you should be worried about yourself.” By this time, the music had turned to its first verse, a fast paced rap sung by a popular hip-hop pop singer. Jeongguk started out by some complicated foot movements combined with his favorite starter-hat tricks. Pulling his hat off of his head and throwing it into the air, Jeongguk let the hat fall from the tip of his right hand, and roll down to his left palm. Catching it and tossing it into the air, he kicked it with his foot and started playing with it as if it were a soccer ball. He finished with the hat landing on his head and then turn