“Michele?”

The Spanish looked up from her spot at the side. She was the legendary trainer of YG, and also the famed dance partner to Justin Timberlake.

“Yes, YG?” Her voice was a purr as she appraised her flock of promising girls carefully.

“Let’s start with the first bunch. Attention girls, you are all expected to be Triple Threats because you represent YG, so you jolly well be good at these things and be proud of it. Don’t be afraid to show me what you have. Never hold back. But don’t embarrass yourself. You stick to the position you are assigned within Carmeline. Don’t fight even if you think you are better, because chances are, you are not.”

“That’s pessimistic.” One girl murmured at her side, and another giggled.

Michele Martinez stood up, and everybody went silent immediately.

“Those whose names I call, stay. Those whose names I didn’t call, you’re free to go.”

“No. Wait.” YG stopped her. “Let’s do this in another way.”

Eyeing the trainees, he spoke again. “We will play an hour long music medley. I’ve already had it remixed before, so you are to dance with the music. Since we are picking lead dancer for YG, the first skill I am going to see is dancing. The kpop world is in dire need of dancers right now, and I’m going to be looking at both your hard and soft dance aspects. You are not to stop dancing until I tell you otherwise. Michele?”

“I will come over and tap you on the shoulder once. If I tap you, please step out of the floor.”

Everyone nodded, then spaced out.

“Alright, ready? Let’s go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a simple mix of hard and heavy kpop. She couldn’t recognize the song, but it sounded oddly familiar. Must be one of the songs they used for practice, since several of the trainees in front had already started doing some familiar moves. She moved slightly awkwardly, not sure how to begin, then the music suddenly accelerated up into a crescendo and burst out into the , and she recognized the song as Big Bang’s Monster.

Then she just gave herself over to the music.

It went relatively smoothly, as she stretched out the kinks and forgot all existence of other people, keeping to her all private space. Then Michele started to tap out some of the trainees. Not that they weren’t good, but to her trained eye, she knew what they were lacking. Some, strength, others, agility.

The music paused and she hung in a pose with her hand stretched out, trying to catch her breath.

“You at the corner, go.” YG pointed to the girl right beside her, who was an okay dancer, in her opinion. Her heart did a double take almost immediately and she froze in her spot. The music stopped, then YG walked in front of them. Some of the trainees relaxed from their positions and looked at him expectantly, then Michele shook her head at them.

“All of you who relaxed from your positions, out.”

Then there were only ten people left.

“That girl in the corner, I’m sorry, but you were breathing so loudly I could hear you all the way from here. And it’s okay if you pant, but panting so loudly gives off the illusion that you’re really, really tired. And you’re an entertainer. You should be doing this like it’s nothing to you, not putting in this much effort. I think you need to work on your stamina. Technique was alright, keep it up. But this isn’t your thing, I’m sorry.”

Turning around, he addressed the rest of the trainees.

“And as for those of you who relaxed when the music paused, I did not tell you to stop. This outlines a basic disrespect for the rules. Yes, there may be someone who paused the music, but you do what you’ve been told to do. On stage, when the music malfunction, you can’t just stop and let the fans gape. The show has to go on. So these of you, out.”

None of them were too pleased, but let's just say she felt a small spark of smugness as she silently thanked her intense training in classical dances since young. Training on stage since the ripe old age of three had been a good practice for her to prepare for this big stage.

"Michele. Would you