#Salome's Last Dance | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

linnienin · 2 years ago

Text

🌛A s t e r o i d ⁕ S a l o m è🌜 ( 5 6 2 ) and the Dance of the Seven Veils

~~~~~~~~~~~ Y o u r ⁕ e n c h a n t i n g ⁕ e n e r g y ~~~~~~~~~~~

An astro walkthrough post following Salomè's steps in the Dance of the Seven Veils through the lens of the Seven Deadly Sins.

⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕⁓⁕

The gifs in this post (excluded the last one) were created by me and are from the movie "Salomè" (1953) with Rita Hayworth

"Look at the moon! How strange the moon seems! She is like a woman rising from the tomb. She is like a dead woman. You would fancy she was looking for dead things."

"Salomè", Oscar Wilde

W h o ⁕ i s ⁕ S a l o m è (quick summary of her story):

⁕ Salomè, the princess of Judaea, falls in love with the prophet John The Baptist (i'll refer to him as 'the prophet' to avoid repeating his name too much) and orders to free him from the prison he was held in (for condemning the marriage of Salome's parents, King Herod and his wife Herodias as unlawful)

⁕ The prophet rejects her, but she assures him she will kiss his mouth sooner or later, no matter what.

⁕ Salome's mother in the meantime convinces her daughter to view the prophet as an evil person that deserves to die (alimenting her fresh feeling from the rejection)

⁕ When Salomè is asked by her stepfather king Herod (who lusts over her) to dance she agrees only if she can asks anything in return.

⁕ Once the dance's over, Salomè requests the decapitated head of John the Baptist on a silver plate.

⁕ To the horror of all the partecipants, she finally kisses the mouth of the prophet consumed by her lustful desires.

⁕ King Herod, sickened and shocked, orders her execution.

(this is the William Shakespeare opera version based on the biblical one)

M y ⁕ i n t e r p r e t a t i o n :

In a birth chart Asteroid Salomè represents:

⁕ Your enchanting power

⁕ How people target your naivety to use your talent

⁕ The extremes you're ready to face in order to get what you want.

⁕ What you want but can't have

⁕ What desires consumes you

I also want to make a quick clarification between asteroid Salomè and Sirene because both are seducing and mesmerizing energies, but imo: Sirene : conscious type of seduction, aim for what they want, in control of their actions , calculated Salomè: unconscious type of seduction, influenced by others in their choices, controlled by their desires, not in control of themselves

P o s t ⁕ g u i d e:

I'll go through the steps of the whole Dance and make them into little sections:

⁕ Every section is about one of the Seven Deadly Sins ⁕ Within every section there will be interpretations of different Salomè signs/degrees, depending on which Sins they fall into (in my personal opinion)

Disclaimer: every single sign could fall into every single sin since they're all part of human nature, but one would always prevail on others imo, and this is just my personal take on them.

Enjoy ✨

1 s t ⁕ v e i l ⁕ o f f : P R I D E

⁕ Leo Salomè/Salomè at 5°-17°-29° : You enchant with your confidence and talent. Your creativity allows you to shine from within and make a strong impression on people.

⁕ You draw attention to yourself easily, and others envy this, so they target your individuality to trigger the worst out of you. They want to robb you of your 'Main character' type of energy, using your exposition and will to take up space, to their own interest. They feed your ego only to break your mirror into several pieces later, leaving you not recognizing yourself anymore. You'll find yourself becoming riddiculous just to gain that attention again, blending with the masses for validation, but feeling extremely guilty and shameful about it. This is how they trigger your pride. ⁕ You have a great desire to be able to show yourself without getting judged. You want to dive deep into your creative mind and feel accepted and appreciated for your dramatic and showy persona. When people don't understand your needs, you can get arrogant, narcissistic and selfish .

⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓

⁕ Aquarius Salomè/Salomè at 11°-23°: You enchant with your uniqueness and innovation. Your mindblowing perspectives draws people in and out of curiosity, and you release them with more confusion and even more questions, to trap them in getting back to you.

⁕ You know this is your strategy to create multiple connections and dodge your way to the top, but envious people want to stop you from climbing up that ladder. They'll use you and your network for their own interests, but turning their back to you once they get what they want. This is how they trigger your pride. ⁕ When no one truly deeply understand you, your different view and quirky personality, you start to doubt your identity, facing the negative effects of feeling like the black sheep. You lose the courage to stand up for yourself as you isolate from the world with no track of time and completely dissociating from reality. You become inexistent, cause you won't merge with the masses. A great desire to instill change and put reality in discussion burns in you, but if people keep overlooking your ideas, you just explode and can become rebellious, distant and unpredictable.

2 n d ⁕ v e i l ⁕ o f f : G R E E D

⁕ Capricorn Salomè/Salomè at 10°-22° : You enchant with your loyalty and perseverance. Your disciplined and committed persona inspire people, but they also get envious of all the accomplishments you've achieved with such resiliency.

⁕ You view life simply and clearly, this is what allows you to be so precise with no hesitation when making important choices. And because this is such a rare quality, people want to robb you of it and use it for themselves and their interests. However, you base your self worth on materialism and achievements and when people don't validate them, you only want to get more to prove yourself. This is how others target your weeknesses and trigger your greed. ⁕ They show you the best of everything to make you feel inferior and in consequence wanting it all. But the truth is you don't need it all to feel complete within. You have a great desire to feel the best and most powerful of all, but because you attach your emotions to the outside and not accept them inside of you out of fear of showing your vulnerabilities, you are therefore not in tune with yourself and you are controlled by the world. You want to become the best version of yourself, but if you don't truly accept your imperfections, you can get dissatisfied, demanding and cold with no way of enjoying life like you envisioned you'd have.

3 r d ⁕ v e i l ⁕ o f f : L U S T

⁕ Scorpio Salomè/Salomè at 8°-20° : You enchant with your mystery and intensity. Your enigmatic and independent spirit makes you an extremely interesting character everyone wants to get to know.

⁕ You attract unwanted attention, and you are the center topic of everyone's gossipy chitchat. You are people's dream, and everyone envy your subtle popularity, they all want to get a little sip of you. People view you as a prize they want to conquer to make themselves appear bigger. You have a great desire to form deep and meaningful connections, so you give a chance to others in exploring your hidden and vulnerable side, but all they do is take advantage of your thoughtfulness to feed their curiosity and ego, and once they get what they want, they only come back to you when they need a little refresh. This is how they trigger your lust. ⁕ You hide your emotional side because of past wounds, but your intense feelings still need an outlet or else they'd consume you. You need someone that cherish and care for your complexity and is willing to explore the dark without judgements otherwise you'll become insatiable, unfulfilled and uncontrollable, confusing the real profund emotional depth with a toxic emotionless bond based on superficial desires.

4 t h ⁕ v e i l ⁕ o f f : E N V Y

⁕ Virgo Salomè/Salomè at 6°-18° : You enchant with your skills and intelligence. Your analytical mind and organized approach give you the ability to grasp details and process them in an incredible clear and systematic way.

⁕ People envy your critical thinking and your kind, hardworking nature, so they take advantage of your modesty to use your talents for their interests. You take pride in giving yourself to others to help them out, but when this gets to an extreme and hinders you from developing your own identity, you get stuck in a limbo of constant crave for validation and endless comparisons. This is how your envy gets triggered. ⁕ You look at others' freedom and accomplishments, and you feel guilty you haven't reached that level yet, so you blame yourself for your inability and incompetence, believing you'll never get better and so remain stuck in your delusions. You have a great desire to master your talents and get genuine recognition from yourself and others, but when you don't take on this path, you become fussy, critical and judgemental.

⁕ Gemini Salomè/Salomè at 3°-15°-27°: You enchant with your wit and sarcasm. Your exceptionally curious mind make you jump on every kind of topic with no shame, letting you explore anything and expanding your horizons making you very clever and articulated.

⁕ You excel in debates and are such a social butterfly, you know how to grasp people's attentions with your words. And well, who wouldn't be envious of such a skill? People use your talents by making you feel like you're guiding them and you have the control over the situation, but then you focus too much on the details that you forget the bigger picture, and this includes you forging your own path and understanding what you truly want from life. Those distractions that people throws at you trigger your envy. ⁕ You look up at the people that make decisions and have a clear idea of what they want to do and you feel jealous of their resolution in walking only one path. You overthink so much you'd love to know how to find peace even for just a second, but you get absorbed in the envy, and at your worst you get gossipy, superficial and inconsistent. You have a great desire of knowing yourself fully, being flexible while also find stability within your flexibility. But if you can't look within and stop comparing with others, you'll never know your truth.

5 t h ⁕ v e i l ⁕ o f f : G L U T T O N Y

⁕ Libra Salomè/Salomè 7°-19° : You enchant with your charisma and tactfulness. Your cooperative nature and romantic aura enhance your already stunning natural beauty, and people envy this hard core because it appears as you have been blessed with everything by life.

⁕ They take advantage of your agreeable temperament to use you for their interests. So you live your life as a secondary character, always trying to please others but never taking into account your own will. People use this indecisiveness of yours to trigger your gluttony. ⁕ You never feel satisfied because you don't even know what you want. So you only "eat" more because you crave that instant moment of pleasure constantly. As you base your worth from outside sources, you feel empty inside, hence why you keep feeling the need to put things inside you to fill that void. You have a great desire to make the world fair for everyone and form genuine connections between people, but if you can't complete this purpose, you become unbalanced, overly-indulgent and insecure.

⁕ Taurus Salomè/Salomè at 2°-14°-26° : You enchant with your steadiness and sensuality. Your driven and kind hearted nature allows you to always put your best in everything you focus on, and you're not one to lose your focus easily.

⁕ People envy how firm and determined you are, despite looking very gracious outwardly, you never give up, and this beautiful combo of extremes make you look like a person that possess everything. Others are gonna want to break your peaceful and unshakable nature, taking advantage of your kindness, they're gonna try to use your resiliency for their interests and letting you see how much there is of the world by shifting your focus on the pleasures of life. Soon you're gonna enter the sensual world and you'd never want to go back. This is how they trigger your gluttony. ⁕ Your body craves intimacy and contact, but you've been living in your head, only focusing on possessions denying your sensual side. Now after realizing how food can fill you and make you enjoy the experience, you become addicted to it. The idea of something that doesn't take up space like everything in materialism, but can instead grow you to take up space (eating) makes you feel important and not tie your self worth to outward successes. But it's still making up for your lack of love coming from within, and if you can't feel it you can get stubborn, possessive and self-absorbed.

6 t h ⁕ v e i l ⁕ o f f : W R A T H

⁕ Aries Salomè/Salomè at 1°-13°-25° : You enchant with your assertivity and bravery. Your optimistic and dynamic spirit combined with your dominant demeanor allow you to be a great leader.

⁕ You fearlessness and ease in overcoming challenges make people envious of the power you hold. They use your spontaneous and competitive nature to their interests, trying to make fun of you, to slowly make you lose the confidence in yourself and step down the throne you deserve, but you can't stand the view of this injustice (both if made to you or to others).This is how they trigger your wrath. ⁕ You are not afraid to speak up, but after you lose your confidence, your words are spilled out with impulsiveness and aggressiveness, making people afraid of how quick you can lose your temper. You have a great desire to help others realize their potential, and you want to guide them on the tortuous path of life, but if people ignore you and make you feel small, then you become impatient, insensitive and reckless.

⁕ Sagittarius Salomè/Salomè at 9°-21° : You enchant with your wisdom and open-mindedness. Your free spirit allows you to experience life humbly giving you the ability to transform your mistakes in insightful life lessons.

⁕ You change people's perspectives by elaborating a wide range of informations and putting them in a clear view thanks to your capability of grasping patterns, and others envy this. They want to robb your wisdom, to feel like wise Gods themselves, so they use your knowledge to shut your voice down, triggering your wrath. ⁕ Once you raise your voice and let everyone see this impulsive side of yourself, you can witness people losing interest and trust in you, making you insecure and small, full of existential crisis. You have a great desire to change the world for the best, and to let people see different point of view with your philosophy, but when you are not understood you can turn into a close-minded, highly opinionated and skeptical person.

7 t h ⁕ v e i l ⁕ r e v e a l : S L O T H

⁕ Pisces Salomè/Salomè at 12°-24° : You enchant with your vulnerability and spirituality. Your imagination allows you to put yourself in other people's shoes and understand their point of view in an empathetic way.

⁕ Your easygoing and adaptable nature make others envious of you. They take advantage of your compassion by treating you as their personal punching bag, their shoulder to cry on, their victim to sacrifce. They suck all your energy into their personal interests, leaving you completely numb and not giving you space to display your creativity. This is how they trigger your sloth. ⁕ You have a great desire to feel emotions and share them with people that truly understand you, but if people neglect this aspect of yourself, you become lazy, unmotivated and hopeless. The world holds no meaning to you and you'd rather spend time feeling delusional than open up in fear of not being accepted.

⁕ Cancer Salomè/Salomè at 4°-16°-28° : You enchant with your softness and compassion. Your nurturing and maternal energy makes others feel at home and safe.

⁕ Your incredible intuition knows everyone's needs and your affectionate nature make you want to help everyone just to see a smile on their faces. Unfortunately others can misuse this gift of yours to their interest since they're envious of how perfectly in tune you are with your emotions. When you can sense that all you see are fake smiles, you start to question your ability to heal others and your sensitive side is hightened. This is the perfect moment for those people to strike some offensive words that will make you insecure and want to just disappear from the world. This is how they trigger your sloth. ⁕ You isolate and close yourself in your shell to protect you from further damage. You feel you are unworthy and that you don't bring any value to the world, so you dwell in your sense of guilt and fear, unable to do anything. You have a great desire to make the world a better place, to share your love and emotions with others, to protect those in needs, but if you can't express this side of youself you become pessimistic, moody and manipulative.

And you've reached the end! Congrats! And thanks for staying with me ✨

I hope you enjoyed this post and find it helpful in understanding your own Salomè placement 😊

Hope the dance steps were easy to follow too 💃

It took me some time to make cause i wanted to truly dive deep in the meaning of it and not only talk about the magnetizing part, but remember, this is only my interpretation, i'd love to peacefully discuss with you if you disagree with me 👍

I'm kinda tempted to make a post on Salomè through the houses, let me know if you'd love to know more on this asteroid

as always,

I wish you a wonderful day ahead (or night) 😘 and i'll see you in the next post! Yours Linnie 🌛

#astro notes #astro observations #asteroid salomè #salomè through the signs #salomè astrology #asteroid astrology #astro community

901 notes · View notes

ozu-teapot · 1 year ago

Text

Salome's Last Dance | Ken Russell | 1988

Imogen Millais-Scott, Douglas Hodge

#Imogen Millais-Scott #Douglas Hodge #Ken Russell #Salome's Last Dance #1988

129 notes · View notes

kaleidodreams · 3 months ago

Text

Updated 100 Memorable Skating Programs

Back in 2018, I created the original version of this list. (You can find the master post here.) Since 2024 marks my 30th year as an official fan of figure skating and there have been some more great programs created since the last time, I thought it was about time to update the list in honor of World Ice Skating Day. Same rules apply as last time:

Only senior competitive programs starting from the 1993-1994 season are eligible, since that's the first season I really started watching figure skating.

Each skater may only be listed once, unless a partner/discipline switch is involved.

Choice of music may also not be repeated. (Yes, there are two James Bond programs on the list, but Yuna and Wakaba use different music for the most part, so I'm letting it slide.)

I debated long and hard about whether or not I should still include programs from skaters who have proven themselves to be not so great people. I'm someone who has little difficulty separating the art from the artist, so in the end, I decided to keep them listed (although most of them got knocked down a few pegs). This list is more about the choreography than the skater anyway, although there are certainly some problematic choreographers out there, too. (Looking at you especially, Morozov!) So, just because a skater is listed doesn't mean that I'm a fan of them or that I condone their actions! I just think certain programs are still great regardless of the skaters' terrible behavior off the ice.

Choreographers are noted if known. If you know who choreographed the programs without a choreographer named, please let me know!

I've also created a handy playlist on YouTube if you don't want to click on all these links.

Ashley Wagner - Moulin Rouge (Shae-Lynn Bourne) 2016 Worlds

Jason Brown - Melancholy (Rohene Ward) 2023 Nationals

Patrick Chan - Phantom of the Opera (Lori Nichol) 2011 Canadian Nationals

Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje -Je suis malade (Pasquale Camerlengo) 2012 Worlds

Meryl Davis/Charlie White - Kajra Re/Silsila Ye Chahat Ka/Dola Re Dola (Marina Zueva, Igor Shpilband, and Anuja Rajendra) 2010 Olympics

Mao Asada - Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 (Tatiana Tarasova) 2014 Olympics

Sui/Han - Rain, In Your Black Eyes (Lori Nichol) 2019 Worlds

Marina Anissina/Gwendal Peizerat - Romeo & Juliet 1998 Olympics

Cain/LeDuc - W.E. (Pasquale Camerlengo) 2022 US Nationals

Daisuke Takahashi - Blues for Klook (Pasquale Camerlengo) 2012 Worlds

Kurt Browning - Casablanca (Sandra Bezic) 1994 Olympics

Michelle Kwan - Salome (Lori Nichol) 1996 Worlds

Alexei Yagudin - Winter (Tatiana Tarasova and Nikolai Morosov) 2002 Olympics

Jamie Sale/David Pelletier - Love Story (Lori Nichol) 2002 Olympics

Jeremy Abbott - Exogenesis (Jeremy Abbott and Yuka Sato) Nationals 2012

Oksana Grishuk/Evgeni Platov - The Feeling Begins 1997 Worlds

Yuzuru Hanyu - Seimei (Shae-Lynn Bourne) 2015 Grand Prix Final

Chock/Bates - Egyptian Snake Dance (Marie-France Dubreuil, Ginette Cournoyer, and Sam Chouinard) 2019 Grand Prix Final

Javier Fernandez - Guys and Dolls (David Wilson) 2016 Worlds

Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres - Sound of Silence (John Kerr and Silvia Fontana) 2017 Euros

Evgenia Medvedeva - Anna Karenina (Daniil Gleichengauz) 2018 Olympics

Nathan Chen - Philip Glass medley (Shae-Lynn Bourne) 2021 Worlds

Gabriella Papadakis/Guilliame Cizeron - Elegie (Saxon Fraser and Marie-France Dubreuil) 2022 Olympics

Aljona Savchenko/Bruno Massot - La terre vue du ciel (Christopher Dean) 2018 Olympics

Kevin Aymoz - Bolero (Brice Mousset and Kevin Aymoz) 2023 Skate America

Julia Lipnitskaya - Schindler’s List (Ilia Averbukh) 2014 Olympics

Elena Berezhnaya/Anton Sikharulidze - Lady Caliph 2002 Olympics

Yu-na Kim - James Bond medley (David Wilson) 2010 Olympics

Shoma Uno - Buenos Aires Hora Cero (Mihoko Higuchi) 2016 Grand Prix Final

Michal Brezina - The Way You Look Tonight (Jeffrey Buttle) 2016 Skate Canada

Shae-Lynn Bourne/Victor Kraatz - Riverdance 1998 Olympics

Adam Rippon - O/Fly On (Benji Schwimmer) 2016 Trophee de France

Jeffrey Buttle - Bells of Moscow (David Wilson) 2005 Worlds

Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier - Vincent (Carol Lane and Juris Razgulajevs) 2019 Canadian Nationals

Rudy Galindo - Swan Lake (Sharlene Franke) 1996 US Nationals

Sasha Cohen - Malaguena (Tatiana Tarasova) 2004 Worlds

Aljona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy - Pina (Ingo Steur) 2011 Grand Prix Final

Samantha Cesario - Carmen (Inese Budevica) 2013 Trophee Eric Bompard

Tatsuki Machida - East of Eden (Phillip Mills) 2014 Worlds

Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao - Turandot (Lea Ann Miller, Renee Roca, and Gorsha Sur) 2003 Worlds

Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker - Liebestraume (Pasquale Camerlengo) 2018 Nationals

Olga Mikutina - My Nocturnal Serenade (Rostislav Sinicyn) 2023 Europeans

Lu Chen - The Last Emperor (Toller Cranston) 1995 Worlds

Giada Russo - Red Violin (Edoardo de Bernardis) 2016 Europeans

Junhwan Cha - Fate of the Clockmaker/Cloak and Dagger (Shae-Lynn Bourne) 2022 Olympics

Han Yan - La La Land (Yuka Sato and Kurt Browning) 2019 Chinese Interclub League

Wakaba Higuchi - Skyfall (Shae-Lynn Bourne) 2018 Worlds

Kazuki Tomono - Die Fledermaus (Misha Ge) 2022 Japanese Nationals

Yuma Kagiyama - Believer (Shae-Lynn Bourne) 2024 Worlds

Karen Chen - On Golden Pond (Karen Chen) 2017 Nationals

Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani - Coppelia (Marina Zueva and Cheryl Yeager) 2016 Nationals

Yuko Kavaguti/Alexander Smirov - Manfred Symphony (Peter Tchernyshev) 2014 Skate America

Philippe Candeloro - The Three Musketeers (Natacha Dabadie) 1998 Olympics

Alexander Abt - Songs from the Victorious City 1998 Nations Cup

Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir - Prince medley 2017 Worlds

Ekaterina Gordeeva/Sergei Grinkov - Moonlight Sonata (Marina Zueva) 1994 Olympics

Satoko Miyahara - Madama Butterfly (Tom Dickson) 2017 Japanese Nationals

Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha - The White Crow (Romain Haguenauer and Ginette Cournoyer) 2023 Four Continents

Anjelika Krylova/Oleg Ovsiannikov - Masquerade Waltz 1997 Worlds

Alena Kostornaia - The Departure, November (Daniil Gleikhengauz) 2019 Grand Prix Final

Nelli Zhiganshina/Alexander Gazsi - Two from the Grave (Ilia Averbukh) 2013 Worlds

Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov - The Man and The Shadow (Nikolai Morozov) 2015 Grand Prix Final

Stephanie Rosenthal - Rockit (Stewart and Christi Sturgeon) 2006 Nationals

Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue - Across the Sky, Caught Out In The Rain (Marie-France Dubreuil) 2018 Nationals

Mikhail Kolyada - The Nutcracker (Ilia Averbukh) 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia

Sinead Kerr/John Kerr - The Landing/Turn Around/Gravity of Love (Evgeni Platov) 2008 Worlds

Kaetlyn Osmond - Sous le ciel de Paris, Milord (Lance Vipond) 2016 Grand Prix Final

Carolina Kostner - Ave Maria (Lori Nichol) 2014 Olympics

Karina Manta/Joe Johnson - Sweet Dreams (Christopher Dean) 2019 Nationals

Gracie Gold - Firebird (Lori Nichol) 2016 Nationals

Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri - Atonement/Song For A Little Sparrow (Barbara Fusar-Poli and Corrado Giordani) 2022 Europeans

Keegan Messing - Singing in the Rain (Lance Vipond) 2018 Worlds

Elizabeth Punsalan/Jerod Swallow - Astor Piazolla medley (Igor Shpilband) 1998 Olympics

Rika Kihira - A Beautiful Storm (Tom Dickson) 2018 NHK Trophy

Mariah Bell - Chicago (Rohene Ward) 2016 Skate America

Brian Joubert - Rise (Evgeni Platov) 2009 Europeans

Stephane Lambiel - Poeta (Antonio Najarro) 2007 Worlds

Kaori Sakamoto - The Matrix (Benoit Richaud) 2020 NHK Trophy

Akiko Suzuki - O (Pasquale Camerlengo) 2012 NHK Trophy

Qing Pang/Jian Tong - The Impossible Dream (Shae-Lynn Bourne and David Wilson) 2010 Olympics

Takahito Kozuka - Io ci saro (Lori Nichol) 2014 Japanese National

Smart/Diaz - Mask of Zorro 2022 Europeans

Matt Savoie - Ennio Morricone medley (Tom Dickson) 2006 Nationals

Deniss Vasiljevs - Puttin’ On The Ritz (Benoit Richaud) 2016 Worlds

Caroline Green/Michael Parsons - Violin Concerto No.1 Eso Concerto, Clouds, The Mind on the Wind (Elena Novak and Alexei Kiliakov) 2022 Four Continents

Tara Lipinski - The Rainbow (Sandra Bezic) 1998 Olympics

Denis Ten - SOS d'un terrien en détresse (David Wilson) 2017 Shanghai Trophy

Valentina Marchei/Ondrej Hotarek - Tu Vuo Fa L'Americano (Massimo Scali) 2018 Europeans

Krisztina Czako - The Addams Family (Igor Bobrin) 1997 Europeans

Cheng Peng/Yang Jin - My Drag (Lori Nichol) 2016 GPF

Bradie Tennell - Mechanisms, Chronos (Benoit Richaud) 2020 4CC

Evgeny Plushenko - Tribute to Nijinsky 2004 Russian Nationals

Vanessa Gusmeroli - Rats D'Hotel 1999 Worlds

Julianne Seguin/Charlie Bilodeau - Monde Inverse (Shae-Lynn Bourne and Shae Zukiwsky) 2015 Skate America

Isabeau Levito - Dulcea Și Tandra Mea Fiară (Yulia Kuznetsova) 2022 MK John Wilson Trophy

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva - Batwannis Beek/Sandstorm (Tatiana Prokofieva) 2015 Europeans

Kana Muramoto/Daisuke Takahashi - Soran Bushi (Marina Zoueva, Ilia Tkachenko, and Koyo Yanai) 2021 NHK Trophy

Amber Glenn - This Time (Kaitlyn Weaver and Randi Strong) 2024 Lombardia Trophy

Ivan Righini - You Raise Me Up (Ivan Righini) 2016 Europeans

Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte - Life is Beautiful (Liudmila Vlasova) 2017 NHK Trophy

#figure skating #world ice skating day #ashley wagner #jason brown #patrick chan #weaver/poje #davis white #mao asada #sui/han #anissina/peizerat #cain/leduc #daisuke takahashi #(and a bunch of others)

42 notes · View notes

daecheonsa · 28 days ago

Text

STARRING: The Watcher. FEATURING: Oh Byeongsang, Gu Yonghyung, Ji Yooseob, Jang Kitae, Shin Hwihun, Omori Shogo, Salome Mari, Song Sasung, Jung Kijung, Park Heejin. WORD COUNT: 10k. CW: There is a very brief and very vague mention of dieting, but it's barely there at all. Factual and non-descript mention of drugs, and open judgement of those who struggle with substance abuse - this is also over pretty quick. Other than that, I don't think anything requires a warning, but let me know if you spot something I've missed!

ㅤㅤㅤTHE SPECTACLE opens with an ill performance of dynasty. Your phone screen flashes through archival footage of a bunch of idols nobody has heard from in a while, and your first instinct is to roll your eyes. The lineup on offer starts out impressive, but the clips begin to move quicker as the years goes on. Names flash across the screen, and not one of them has appeared on the charts in the last five years, but you do recognise them, which is probably the point of this.

The audio cuts between songs at a dizzying pace, but the only ones you remember are the ones from over a decade ago. You remember them from when you were a kid. They played at your birthday parties and you danced to them at school festivals. Sang to them on the bus on the way to your first school trip. You think you’re supposed to be thinking back of those days with fondness, and it’s supposed to be filling you with so much nostalgia that you’ll immediately invest yourself in the poor boys you’re about to meet, but instead it makes you feel a little bit sad.

How had Ohjang Entertainment fallen so low?

When the show finally gets done reminding you of B-thru-D-list celebrities, it abruptly cuts to a shot of Oh Byeongsang, in some luxury looking office that you imagine has to be paid for by money laundering. He gazes creepily down the camera, with a prideful look on his face, as if reacting to what we’ve all just seen. He looks so much older than you remember him, and it’s kind of jarring to see him with grey hair. Surely he has a son or a nephew old enough to dump the company on by now, you think. No way he’s actually still running it.

“People are going to expect this group to fail.” He says. You can’t help but laugh at the bluntness of it. The camera pans in on Byeongsang’s aged face as he smirks. It sends a shiver down your spine. “That’s exciting.”

You scoff as the episode launches into its opening credits. You’d expected melodrama from this show solely from the fact that it was called GOD SAVE THE DAMNED, in all capital letters, but this was already feeling like a lot. You do kind of like the title song, even if the credits themselves seem a little unnecessary for a YouTube series. You’d already known that, though. Unfortunately, stupid as this whole thing already seems, you have an obligation to keep up with DAM.NATION. That’s what this group is called, by the way. DAM.NATION. In all capital letters.

You know that already because earlier in the month it came to your attention that Ohjang Entertainment were debuting a new boy group. That news alone was bizarre enough to you, because it seemed so utterly pointless. Last time they were in the news, they’d been trying to find buyers for their company, and failing. The time before that, they’d disbanded their final group with a two sentence notice. Just as you were wondering; ‘why even bother,’ you’d discovered the title of their reality show. You’re sure it has something to do with the dark and spooky concept the group seems to have, but it comes across so bleak and pessimistic that it made you laugh. So you wrote a mindless article about the new boy group, mostly just hoping to foster some harmless mockery in the comments.

It had backfired, though. It turns out that, for a bunch of weird reasons, people are interested in the trainees at Ohjang, and the article got more traction than you thought it would. Now, your boss wants you to review GOD SAVED THE DAMNED. To do that, you need to do the one thing you really hoped you wouldn’t, and actually watch it.

As the opening sequence comes to an end, we’re back in Byeongsang’s office. It seems to be a different day, as his tie is a different color.

“I don’t take offense when people say that Ohjang Entertainment isn’t what it used to be. I’m under no delusion about the state of my company.” He says, with a serious look on his face. “Ohjang produced some of the greatest artists of the first and second generations, but as times changed and the industry became more diluted, it was difficult to keep up. We were swept away in the wave.”

You’re not exactly sure what emotion they want you to be feeling, but for some reason you imagine how it must feel to be DAM.NATION’s parents, sitting at home and watching this. Their kids wanting to be idols at all must be a headache to begin with, and ‘my son is going to debut under Ohjang Entertainment’ can’t be an easy thing to say with pride in 2024. It’s just salt in the wound for the guy in charge to stare down the camera and say, ‘yeah, this is going to be a mess.’

“But something I pride myself on is that I can spot talent. If there’s one thing I excel at, it’s putting together a team.” Byeongsang says. Once again, the screen is filled with Music Bank stages of the past, and you’re given another quick briefing on the company’s former groups. Not one of them remains signed there; in fact, by all accounts, DAM.NATION are the label’s only act. They even have the audacity to include poor Bouquet, which only serves to make you notice that they were excluded in the first sequence.

Bouquet was disbanded because of constant lineup changes. You can’t help but laugh, so you pause the video to make note of that thought. If nothing else, it’ll make a good tweet.

“Over the past few years, I’ve put together six candidates. As of now, there’s no guarantee that all of them will make the debut team, though I have confidence that all of them have the potential to.” He finally seems to be getting to the point, and in spite of yourself you start to feel a little anticipation. You can’t help but be interested in who these trainees are. If the comments on your last article are anything to go by, some of them are already mildly controversial, and on average they seem a little old for a rookie group.

You’re glad of that; it’s refreshing to watch an idol group debut without feeling like a senior citizen, but you also can’t help but wonder what they’re planning to do in a couple of years, when the members start enlisting. Quickly, though, you suppose that Ohjang probably can’t afford to dream as far ahead as that anyway.

“Some of these boys are ready to debut, and some are not.” Byeongsang continues, tone grave. “Some have been training together for years, and some have been with us for a matter of months. I have a vision for these kids, and I’ve put them together for a reason, but we can’t debut an unpolished group. If they don’t pass the next couple of evaluations, they’ll be cut from the lineup.”

The camera cuts to an angle behind Byeongsang’s shoulder, where you can see six pieces of paper laid out upon his desk.

“The divide in skill happens pretty evenly down the middle.” He says. His voice sounds unnaturally clear, like obvious ADR. “We’ve three who are great, and three who are getting there.” As he speaks, he reaches out to turn over one of the pieces of paper. The camera just lingers long enough to get a glimpse of a face that you swear you’ve seen before, and then it cuts. Suddenly, you’re in a practice room that you remember from a ton of dance videos you watched in 2016, and staring at the back of a boy who sits on the floor, breathing heavily as a mess of legs dance around him, their top halves out of frame.

“The best of the bunch,” Byeongsang’s post-production vocals are piped in over the footage as the boy twists around until you can see his face, palm hitting wood as he readies to push himself upwards. “Is no stranger to any of this.”

Across the screen flashes the name YONGHYUNG.

As Gu Yonghyung rises out of frame,the background music launches into the familiar chorus of Giddy Up, the theme song of the 2019 survival show NextUP. Everyone watched that show; it spawned NBT- Next Big Thing, one of the five thousand groups to have featured now-star Cairo Go. They’d been aptly named. In just two years, they’d topped the charts thrice, appeared on just about every notable variety show you could think of, debuted in South Korea, Japan and America, and sold out Tokyo Dome and Seoul Olympic Arena. You remember NextUP, you remember NBT - and so you know that Gu Yonghyung wasn’t there for any of that. He’d been the sole representative of Ohjang and he’d made it all the way to the end just to lose out at the final stretch. They’d sent him right after disbanding Bouquet, which you can remember being a big scandal. As if it had been an act of disrespect for this random trainee to continue pursuing his career instead of giving up before he started, in solidarity with women he’d probably never even met.

The hate train hadn’t lasted though, and for most of the show, it seemed likely that he would make the cut and get into the group. When he didn’t, he had looked so crushed and injusticed that his teary lack of applause had been heartbreaking enough to inspire an entire investigation into the way they’d been counting votes, but from what you know, nothing had ever come of it. Yonghyung had worked peripherally ever since; you knew he was around and doing stuff, but none of it ever hit your radar, because it was pretty much anything and everything but releasing music. You had just assumed he’d probably cut his losses and signed to somewhere else. That he’s still under Ohjang is baffling to you. You have to wonder just what kinds of promises they’d made to these boys.

“Hey,” From a studio, Yonghyung greets the camera, after a small montage of his moments on the NextUP. He still looks about the same; a little older, a little thinner and a lot more tired, but the boyish, lopsided grin he gives is still the one that had once had all of your peers gushing and racing to download the app and spend all of their points on voting his name. There’s a swift cut to a closer shot, with just his head and shoulders in frame. “It’s been a while.”

“Yonghyung is ready to debut.” Says a dance instructor, as the camera cuts back into the practice room from before. A subtitle tells you that you’re being spoken to by Ji Yooseob, Dance Coach/Choreographer. You don’t recall ever hearing of him, but it’s not like you look into choreographers very often. He looks fairly young, though, and he’s teaching at Ohjang, so the likelihood is that he’s not someone people have really heard of. “He’s been ready for a long time. So it’s true that, at this point, he’s kind of stuck waiting for the other boys to catch up. For a lot of people, I think that could be quite demoralizing.”

While Yooseob speaks, we’re given some b-roll of Yonghyung interacting with the others; most of them have hats pulled over their brow, or masks on, or are just moving too quick for you to take attendance. “But not Yonghyung,” comes Yooseob’s voice, over a clip of Yonghyung laughing along with the others, clapping the little one- you think that’s Shogo- on the back as they move into their formations. “I’ve never seen him come to practice without a good attitude. He’s the ideal student, really. He’s good at motivating the other boys; whether that’s through being a good friend to them, or just giving them a standard to compete against.”

“What do you think I’m going to tell you?” Asks the version of Yooseob that you can see in the footage, rather than his disembodied voice. It’s a new scene, only the pair of them remain in the practice room. Yooseob sits in front of the mirror; Yonghyung stands in front of him. The camera closes into his face just long enough for you to see a droplet of sweat fall from his jaw.

“I don’t have a personality.” Yonghyung answers, flatly and without any emotion. Yooseob snorts, looking taken aback by the words.

“No,” He laughs. “I’d never say that about you. I know your personality. Every day, when you’re laughing with the boys, or listening to my feedback, you show it to me. But when you’re dancing…” He quickly splays his fingers out, as if mimicking a cloud. “Poof. Yonghyung is gone, and all that’s left is angles and math. You’re at the stage now where you have to forget about perfecting everything and start thinking about how to use the moves to communicate something to your audience.”

Yonghyung nods, eyes cast downwards as he takes the critique. “Yes, sir.”

Yooseob looks at him for a few seconds, face thoughtful. “What do you want to say?”

Yonghyung looks up at him, an expression like a deer in headlights. “Sorry?” He asks, off guard.

“What do you want to say? When you get on stage, and your fans watch you perform again, what do you want them to think? You’re training to be an idol, right? Not just a singer, not just a dancer, an idol. So when people ask ‘What makes Gu Yonghyung an idol?’ …What do you want the answer to be?”

With each ticking second, Yonghyung seems to grow more upset. He stares forward and doesn’t answer until Yooseob raises his eyebrows, impatience flashing across his face. Yonghyung hangs his head again, and says, “I don’t know.”

“Well. There lies the problem.” Yooseob shrugs, pulling his phone out of the deep pocket of his Chrome Hearts hoodie. “That’s the wall you’ve hit. If you want to keep making progress, you’re gonna have to figure out a way over it.”

Yonghyung nods again, with a frustrated look in his eyes; the camera angle chosen specifically to capture it. You can’t help but think it all sounds like nonsense. By the end of NextUP, Yonghyung already sang, rapped and danced at a high standard and he’d had years of training on top of that now. Besides, you’ve already been told he’s debut-ready. Nobody really cares what his personality is like; nobody expects to ever receive a true, unfiltered display of it, either.

You consider the fact that it may just serve Ohjang Entertainment best for Yonghyung, who carries in his basket every last egg they own, not to build up too much self esteem.

“Run through it once more, and then I’ll let you go. You’re filming today, right?” Yooseob asks. Yonghyung nods, and so he says, “Well, you should also think about the fact that some of the new skills you’re learning while acting may be transferable here.”

The camera lingers on Yonghyung’s frustrated face for a few seconds. His own voice precedes the cut back to his shot in the studio. “They keep giving me the same critique. Month after month.” He sighs as the camera reaches him, eyes cast downward as he wrings his hands. “I perform well, but I’m not showing enough of my personality. It makes me feel so stupid. I don’t understand what it is they want me to do.”

“Yonghyung has talent, but more importantly, he has brand recognition,” Byeongsang says, as we’re suddenly back in his office. He offers the camera a broad smile. “I wouldn’t say there’s anything that Yonghyung needs to improve on. However, he is a necessary player on this team. And so it’s imperative that his critiques remain aspirational, because if left to stagnate, I fear it’s quite likely that he may feel he has outgrown us and begin to look around for other opportunities.”

You can’t help but laugh. You want to think that you can’t believe that he would admit such a thing outright, but unfortunately, you very much can. If you didn’t find him to be so loathsome, you may be impressed by his complete, smiling lack of shame.

You’re taken sharply to a recording studio, where Yonghyung records his bridge in Boy Comics, the track you’d just heard in the intro. He’s having trouble finding the key, and it cycles through a few cuts of him messing up before a frustrated sigh tears through him and he buries his face in his hands.

“Just get Shogo to do it.” Comes his voice, muffled and defeated behind his hands.

“There’s no time to even get him here.” The producer says. They’ve been filming from behind his hooded head, but as he speaks, they cut to a shot from his desk. His name pops up on screen, but you don’t need to read it. You pause the video, a hand falling over your brow. Jesus Christ, this group really was destined to be a trainwreck.

Mid-frame, the slightly blurry face of Jang Kitae (Artist, Producer, informs the subtitle, which you suppose is one way to describe him) is void of emotion, the same usual heavy bags under his eyes and greasy hair. Of all the people in the world. You shake your head, and press play again.

“We’re hours behind schedule, Yonghyung. Sasung has been waiting outside for hours. You’re both late for dance practice now, so we need to get this quickly ‘cause your managers are getting pissed at me.”

“Then can Sasung hyung just do it?” For a second, the frame lingers over Yonghyung’s shoulder, and when it cuts back to behind Kitae, you can’t help but notice the camera man standing behind him in the already tight booth. You wonder if it occurs to anyone that that may affect performance.

“No,” Says Kitae, tone and expression still blank. Yonghyung’s face pulls downwards in stress as he tosses his head back. “You’re the one people care about, and it’s the big moment of the song.”

“But hyung, I can’t change my vocal range on the spot, how am I supposed to-” Yonghyung cuts himself off as the camera man in the booth tries to shuffle past to film him from the front, comically large camera coming ridiculously close to his face in the process. We see from its lens as he sighs roughly, shoving at the camera slightly and backing up. “Can we please just, for five minutes, turn these things-”

As the camera cuts off abruptly, discomfort begins to settle in your stomach, and you shuffle out of the tension. Why are they showing you so much strife, right from the beginning? Didn’t Byeongsang say this was the best of the best?

The camera had cut to Jang Kitae, in a confessional shot set up in the same studio. You’d assume it was filmed the same night, because he’s in the same clothes, but he looks like the kind of guy who’d stay in the same clothes for a few days at a time, so who knows. He’s been talking, but you have a proclivity for tuning him out, and you realise that you haven’t listened to a word he’s been saying. This is work, so with a roll of your eyes, you skip back to the beginning of his confessional.

“Yonghyung is extremely dedicated.” Kitae says, “There’s not many of these boys taking an interest in production yet, but Yonghyung has had really strong opinions on their sound from the beginning. If he doesn’t need to be somewhere else, he’s in the studio. That kid is always working on something, or trying to involve himself in what I’m doing. You got some pop-stars in this group of boys, and you got some who just like to sing and dance, but then in the middle you got Yonghyung, and he’s like, a musician.”

What a fucking asshole. He wipes under his nose, quickly, and you shake your head again.

“The thing about Yonghyung is, though, that he cracks under pressure. And he’s been cast in this new drama, so there’s a lot of that now.” As if they don’t expect their audience to believe him, they show us some PR footage of Yonghyung in a school uniform, holding a heat pack up to the cheek of another boy in slow motion, with orange tinted sunlight sparkling through the springtime trees behind them. You don’t recognise the other actor, and it seems to boast the standard production value of a moderately well-made YouTube video. A little subtitle in the corner tells us that the clip was taken from Heaven On Earth (2023), which is interesting, because it finally dates this show.

From what you’ve pieced together from endless nights of scrolling in desperation for context on this weird boy-group you’ve been assigned to, all of Yonghyung’s public schedules halted after the Warrior video was posted a year ago. That means they’ve been sitting on this docuseries for around a year, which probably shouldn’t strike you as all that strange, but you did think it was going to answer the question of what DAM.NATION have been doing since their introductory Warrior cover, not what they were doing before it.

“The drama itself is taking a lot out of him. Like, juggling filming with practice is a lot to handle, but then in the show he’s playing a gay guy, so there’s this portion of his fans who are crazy offended by that. What was it called? BL?” Kitae is given confirmation from someone off camera, and he nods gruffly. You note that he still appears a little dead behind the eyes, and has yet to communicate an emotion. “So there’s this pressure from them, too. I say screw them, if a role on a TV show is the final straw, but I don’t think he’s ever really had his fans tell him he’s letting them down before. Ohjang told all of us- I guess mentors is the word, they told all the mentors to go a little hard on Yonghyung for a while, and I try, but it feels cruel. I mean, you keep telling someone they’re doing bad when they’re not, they’re obviously just going to hit a point where they give up.”

You’re a little taken aback. Although you suppose it seems impossible for Jang Kitae to be trusted not to say things he shouldn’t, you’re surprised Ohjang is allowing open criticism of them in a video uploaded to their own official platform.

“It feels like it’s just gone, like,” We’re back in the studio, where a choked up Yonghyung now sits at the soundboard with Kitae. He flattens his hand and slides it diagonally up into the air, reaching a peak a few inches out from his nose and gliding it back down the other side. “For months I’m top rank, and it’s always just, like, no notes, no notes, ‘you’re definitely going to be our main rapper’, and now suddenly I just can’t do anything right. Like, I’m down to getting the worst critiques, consistently.”

“They’re being harsher on you because they consider you the best trainee.” Kitae says, swaying his chair in a way that almost completely obscures his face. That’s when you realise that the quality of the shot is weird, and you wonder for a few seconds if they’re aware that they’re being filmed at all. But the way that Yonghyung’s chair is positioned is almost like he’s cheating to camera, and you dismiss the idea completely as you remind yourself of the likelihood that everything you’re seeing is completely scripted at any rate.

“Well, how’s that fair?” Yonghyung asks, sounding a little more petulant than you’re used to him ever sounding on NextUP. “What’s the point in being the best, then?”

Kitae doesn’t dignify the question with a proper response, just gazes emptily forward as usual, mouth never fully closed. “You’re not the best. There’s not one trainee here who is consistent enough across every category to be the best. It’s all too many variables right now, for people to start categorising things like that. Shogo has you beat in singing, but he can’t do what you do when you got a camera pointed at you.”

“Push them out of the way?” Yonghyung asks, dabbing at his eyes with an unenthusiastic laugh.

Kitae leans back in his chair, pursing his lips. “Nobody expected you to make it that far on that show. The odds of anybody from Ohjang making it were nothing. But you got to the end cause you can make people like you. The advantage you have over the other boys, and the thing that makes the boss think you’re the best, is that I think you know what makes a good idol and you really care about being that. I think, based mostly on the fact that you’re strong-arming your name onto the credits of all of my songs, that you have a real investment in this music being good, and you want it packaged and delivered like a proper, old school idol should do it.”

Yonghyung looks at Kitae for a few moments, unsurely, and sniffs. “Of course I want it to be good. That’s why I’m so frustrated and upset right now. It’s like they’re setting it up to fail, now. If it’s so important that I sing this part of the song, why can’t we change it to be in my range? And why am I singing so much, anyway? I was supposed to be the rapper, and now-”

“It’s not about range. I wrote it for you. You learned how to sing by copying guide tracks, and you think it’s not in your range because they don’t make you sing like this very often. But I’ve done a thousand voice lessons with you guys at this point. I know what you can do. The reason you can’t sing it is because you’re trying to sing it pretty, and it’s not supposed to be pretty. It’s supposed to be spiteful.”

There’s silence for a few seconds. “Just tell me, hyung, was this all just for the cameras? We both know you’re going to autotune me anyway.” Yonghyung sits forward with a lowered tone, and you lose a little faith that they’re aware there’s still a camera rolling.

Kitae kind of makes a face, and almost looks disappointed. A few awkward moments pass; a weird cut in the middle implying that it lasts longer than you’re made to sit through. You feel like you’ve already sat through an age of this conversation. When are the pretty boys going to start dancing? Yonghyung just cries to himself, and for a second, the reality sinks in that you’re watching GOD SAVE THE DAMNED, in all capital letters, the reality show about the boyband DAM.NATION, in all capital letters. And all of this grief and introspection is over a tiny little bridge in a song named Boy Comics. You’ve heard the song, and Yonghyung sounds fine on it. You’ve watched enough of these shows to know the set up for a found-my-confidence arc when you see one, but Jang Kitae giving impromptu MNET survivor therapy is a pretty insane opening for a show designed to build hype around a boyband.

You’d started this show with a rather positive, though dispassionate, opinion on Gu Yonghyung, but right now, you’ve yet to see him do much more than whine and question instructions.

“You know what I think locked you in?” Kitae asks. You sigh, but resist the urge not to skip forward. “Like, the thing that made people remember you after you were eliminated?” He leaves it there, but Yonghyung doesn’t try to guess, or anything, so a few awkward seconds pass. More and more, you begin to feel as if you’re committing some kind of intrusion. “You didn’t clap. That [REDACTED] was rigged and you didn’t clap for the winners in the end.”

Yonghyung looks at him as if he’s grown another head. You already feel a little pity for him. Most NextUP contestants hesitated to even acknowledge they were even on the show, lest they be branded ‘sore loser’ and descended upon by Go Cairo fans. Those people certainly didn’t need reminding of who inspired the investigation into the authenticity of his win to begin with. “I’ve regretted that ever since that day. That was the stupidest thing I ever did.”

“No. That was golden [REDACTED] television. You got the last word.”

“It’s really nothing to be proud of.” Yonghyung says. “All of the effort I put into being professional went to waste in a second.”

“You kept your chin up. I guess that’s my whole point. I just think you need to think about that, instead of thinking about what the idols you liked at thirteen did, or the things you think made the NBT guys get picked. I’m not just inflating your ego, I’m saying all of this ‘cause I think what’s going on up here,” Kitae jabs at the side of his head with his index finger a few times. “Is that you’re all wrapped up in being ‘An Idol.’ And you’ve given that this rule of, like, perfect, and polished, and impossible to scrutinise. And you’ve got that down to an art, dude. But this part of the song needs impact, it needs some real, genuine feeling put into it, and it’s because I’m asking for that that you’re freaking out and convincing yourself you can’t do it.”

Yonghyung rubs at his eyes, sniffling as he simply nods his head. Kitae sighs, and slaps his knees as he stands.

“I’ll go distract Sasung for a few minutes. You stop crying, then get to dance practice. I’ll get up early tomorrow to get this finished if you will. But we’re running out of time. So it needs to be finished tomorrow.”

“Thanks, hyung,” Yonghyung mutters weakly. Kitae ruffles his hair as he passes him on the way out.

“What Yonghyung can offer a team in terms of musicality and notoriety is valuable.” Says Byeongsang, back in his office. “But when it comes to performance, he lacks command. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; any strong team needs balanced members like Yonghyung. But if they want to stand out, they also need an ace.” He turns over the next photograph. “So the most instrumental member of the team will be the centre.”

The camera cuts to a practice room. A familiar sample is pushed through tinny speakers. A gasp of breath warps and repeats as the lights flash upon the back of another trainee. Everyone in the country knows this song. And so none should be surprised when, as the first beat of Coming of Age Ceremony drops in and with it bends the young man’s knees, the name HWIHUN fills the frame.

You watch as, for a few minutes, Shin Hwihun follows the iconic choreography to a song he must have been born knowing the steps to. He dances well, but you can’t help but roll your eyes. Nothing had come across as more scripted or forced so far, than this moment right here.

You could give him props, if you really wanted to. Each angle is hit immaculately, his facial expressions never drop, eyes cast downwards at the instructor, haughty and hooded. Shin Hwihun is a good dancer, and easily, you could find praise for him with which to pad out the article you’re going to have to write about this episode. But you won’t do that, because you don’t particularly want to find the good in him.

His mother, the artist behind Coming of Age Ceremony, as well as a hundred other recognisable hits, is Na Younghwa. Before a couple of years ago, his presence in this group might have been enough to give them a fighting shot all on it’s own, but that was before Na Younghwa went to jail for getting caught with narcotics. Once upon a time, her fans would make post after post daydreaming about the day the cute little baby on her hip would follow in her footsteps and ring in a new era of idols.

It’s been some time since anybody waxed hopeful about Hwihun that way, and even longer since they would have cared to see him dancing to his mom’s inappropriate song. The apple never falls far from the tree. If they want you to tell him he sings like Na Younghwa and waacks like Na Younghwa; why should you bother expecting him to behave any less like a spoiled delinquent?

“Of course, reputation precedes Shin Hwihun,” Byeongsang says, back in his office, pulling his face into a complicated expression. “That can be a good thing, when the goal is to make a person famous, but I suppose the difficult part is that that reputation is not necessarily his own. And so some of the public opinion surrounding him is, unfortunately, not based on anything he himself has done. Hwihun’s… family issues are not unbeknownst to us. And as brutal as it may sound, we did need to carefully measure the benefits of keeping him within this lineup. After all, the troubles of one member will ultimately affect the entire group.”

Byeongsang smooths his hand across the obscured portraits, a grim expression on his wrinkled face. You’re aware that it would be a pointless endeavour, to try and get around addressing Na Younghwa, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t expecting Ohjang to try. Even mentioning her vaguely seems like a step too far, but you suppose that if there is anything you��ve taken from this show it’s that it seems intent on talking about things it probably shouldn’t.

“But at the end of the day, I believe Hwihun has everything it takes to be a star on his own merit. Regardless of whatever judgement you may have come to pass on anybody else, one can still objectively look at the situation and see that Hwihun had no involvement. One does not choose their family. He came to audition with us with a genuine desire to debut, and so in my opinion, he’s as deserving of a shot in this group as anybody else.”

And by now, you think, anybody who hadn’t made the connection between Shin Hwihun and Na Younghwa has had ample time to google his family and find out what the hell Byeongsang is going on about. All this yammering was doing nothing except making sure that any potential supporter of this group is aware, right from his introductory title card, that this boy is surrounded in scandal.

But he has an earnest desire to debut, so of course Ohjang Entertainment, who’s role in his management includes PR, would lead with the fact his mother is a drug addict. Because he’s the damned. (Sorry, you mean THE DAMNED.) Is that really the concept? Is this record label really stupid enough to debut a group that nobody will want to support on purpose?

Perhaps that’s why they’re all approaching enlistment age and all Gu Yonghyung has done so far is throw tantrums. You don’t doubt that these six boys have put real stakes in this group and genuinely want it to do well, and so for an overwhelming few seconds you become angry. You pause the video and wonder if this is exploitation and if you should be partaking in it.

Only partially because of the paycheck involved, you waver before you can close the video. Is k-pop really so jaded, or are you?

There is a chance that you have approached GOD SAVE THE DAMNED with bias. After all, if nothing else, they’ve given you a brutally honest view of the project already. You don’t often get that anywhere else, nor do you often get to see idols in such distress. Before a second has passed, there’s a thousand clickbait titles running through your head. People love to read about idols being mistreated, and they love to think they’re discovering the dark, hidden unseen of the idol industry. People are coming to you to read about DAM.NATION; for whatever reason, the topic at hand is serving you content on a silver platter. You know that, whether you like it or not, you need to write about this show. And so, you need to watch it.

You hit play.

You’re taken back to the dance studio, where Yooseob regards Hwihun, who’s now finished his performance of Coming of Age Ceremony, with a critical gaze.

“Why this song?” He asks.

“Well,” Hwihun says, standing before him, puffing out a laugh, eyes flickering towards the camera for just a second. “Best to just get it out the way, right?”

Yooseob sucks his teeth, eyes dropping down to his notes as Byeongsang’s voice is once more funnelled over the scene.

“Hwihun has a certain understanding that you just can’t teach. Perhaps it’s a benefit from being born in the game, but the things that Yonghyung has spent years honing - how to present oneself, how to intuit what an audience wants to see from you… they come naturally to Hwihun. He might not be the strongest singer or dancer on the team, and when he raps, it’s honestly a little funny. But he has the presence of a star. Frankly speaking, that makes those things not matter as much.”

“This is an evaluation.” Yooseob says, flatly. His eyes fall on Hwihun once more, who doesn’t let his smile drop for a second. “I’m well aware that you can dance to Coming of Age Ceremony. But you’re being judged on your ability to debut in a boyband, not how well you can perform as a Na Younghwa tribute act. I’d have liked to have seen you do a more recent idol choreography.”

Hwihun’s lips don’t drop from the curve he’s frozen them in, but there’s a shift in his eyes; something akin to annoyance. “Well, play an idol song and I’ll dance to it for you.”

Yooseob stares at him with a stony expression. A few moments tick by - both of them just look at one another, the camera cutting back and forth, and you can’t help but laugh as Yooseob eventually breaks the silence with a sigh. “The other boys didn’t get to change their song. I need to evaluate you based on what you presented to me. Would you like to do another run through of Coming Of Age Ceremony?”

“Will it affect my ranking if I do?”

Yooseob snorts. “I don’t imagine so.”

And, still with a sickly sweet expression, Hwihun bows deeply. “Then I won’t take up any more of your time. Thank you, seonsaengnim.”

“Yeah. Send Shogo in on your way out.”

“Nobody wanted me to do this less than my mom,” comes Hwihun’s ADRed voice, as we watch him strut out of the practice room, leaving an unimpressed Yooseob behind in the studio without so much as a backwards glance. As the glass door swings shut, we smash back to the studio that Yonghyung was in, where Shin Hwihun now sits, tucking a lock of long, inky black hair behind his ear. He is handsome, you’ll give him that. It was as if they’d cloned Younghwa - and for as much as you dislike the woman, there’s no denying that she was one of the most stunning faces this industry had to offer. “I wanted to be an idol since I was a tiny little kid, but I wasn’t even allowed to bring up the idea of auditioning for a label. I guess she knows better than anyone how hard this industry can be. But when I became an adult and still wanted to pursue it, she eventually gave her blessing. I came to Ohjang when I was nineteen, which would have been… 2018? Or maybe 2019, I think I just hadn’t had my birthday yet. Only Yonghyung has been here longer than I have. I have to admit, I didn’t think I’d still be training five or six years later. I kinda thought… well, I really don’t think I should say this, but I’d expected nepotism to come into play a tiny bit. I think it’s pretty clear to see that I’m not offered much special treatment here. They really make me work to prove that I can be a name of my own.”

“Hwihun’s good,” Yooseob says, as we’re abruptly thrown back to the dance studio for his own confessional. “But he runs the risk of resting on his laurels. Whenever he sees that he’s getting ahead of the other boys, he pulls back his efforts. It shouldn’t be a huge problem, but he, Yonghyung and Shogo are kind of aspirational to the other boys. Not only does it set a dangerous precedent for them to see the most consistently high ranking boys slacking off, but if they perceive someone like Hwihun, who has so many connections and such public interest behind him simply for being born, to be coasting by, then their motivation to perform well can totally plummet. Yes, the skills of being an idol come naturally to him, but the work ethic is a whole different story, and I’d argue that that’s far more important in the long run.”

Just from having seen shows like this before, you can only imagine that whatever work ethic is lacking in Hwihun will be discovered before the end of episode three. But still, it strikes you as an odd way to introduce a highly anticipated rookie to fans who have been eagerly waiting to see what he can do.

When the scene changes, they finally show you a new location. You seem to be looking at a very small, very cramped dorm room, the space in which is primarily taken up by a set of bunk beds and one twin bed. Yonghyung lounges on the single bed, watching something back on an iPad and lazily eating out of a bag of potato chips that’s been torn open and left on the nightstand. On the bottom of the bunk bed is Hwihun, animated in some kind of muted discussion, helping himself to the chips as well. Above him is another boy - you can see him clear enough to be sure it’s Shogo this time, though nothing appears on the screen to introduce him just yet. He lies straight, mostly under his bedsheet, tapping away on a cellphone, seemingly taking no interest in the mundane conversation below him. They’re filming from the top corner of the room, which means that, although you can see all three boys, you can’t really see any of them from an optimal angle.

“-So yeah, anyway, Yooseob got mad at me for doing my mom’s song, but… Iunno, if I didn’t do it now I’d just have to do it later. How’d yours go?” Hwihun asks. Yonghyung deflates, dropping his iPad on the bed. You get a quick glimpse before he clicks the screen off, and see what looks to be six boys in a dance studio, so you assume he’s monitoring some kind of rehearsal.

“Same as always, I’m technically good but I have no personality.” Yonghyung grumbles, seemingly still in no better of a mood than you’ve seen him in so far. Hwihun laughs.

“Dude, they’re just making stuff up to critique us for.” He says, shaking his head, though Yonghyung doesn’t seem any more convinced than he did when Kitae was the one saying it. “There’s no chance they debut this group without you.”

The words seem to give Yonghyung pause, and he turns to face Hwihun properly. “You really think they’re gonna cut any of us? This late in the game?”

“Yeah, Heejin.” Hwihun nods bluntly. That’s a name that’s never cropped up in your comment section, so you take note of it. It hadn’t escaped anybody with even the slightest interest in DAM.NATION that, of the boys who appeared in the Warrior video, there were only five names to put to six faces. Four out of six already had some kind of entertainment experience or were otherwise notable, but two were total strangers. Still, the budding fanbase had managed to track down Shogo and find out, at the very least, his name and birthday already - so the fact that the sixth boy was left a total mystery was especially odd. As far as you’re aware, this is potentially the first reliable piece of information about him. “Who I hear, by the way, has a major bee in his bonnet that you’re being allowed to film a drama, and he was told no.”

“Did you hear what Sasung-hyung was saying earlier?” Yonghyung changes the subject quickly, through a mouthful of potato. “Apparently the top three rankings this month are gonna get some kind of benefit.”

“All the more reason for him to have it out for you.”

Yonghyung snorts, quirking an eyebrow, but for some reason, still seems reluctant to discuss the topic of Heejin. “Yeah, but knowing this place, a special ‘benefit’ probably just means that they’ll be allowed to eat lunch for a while, or something.”

Hwihun laughs humorlessly, popping a chip in his mouth and crunching it down loudly as he shuts his mouth. “Still, who do you think will be the top 3 this month?”

“You two for sure,” Yonghyung shrugs, pausing for a second as his eyes drift around the room thoughtfully. “Ordinarily, I’d say Kijung, but…”

“We weren’t allowed to rap this time.” Hwihun finishes, in a comprehending tone. “Yeah, he’s screwed.”

“So it’s probably Sasung-hyung in third.”

Hwihun gives him a doubtful look, but seems to let whatever he’s thinking pass. “What about you, Sho?” He asks instead. When no answer comes, he rolls onto his back and kicks up roughly at the mattress above him to get the other boy’s attention. Shogo pushes himself upwards, pulling an airpod out of his ear that you hadn’t noticed was ever there and leaning over the railing of his bed to regard the others.

“Huh?”

“Top three,” Hwihun repeats, as he pushes himself back up to sit on his backside and leans forward, straining his neck to meet Shogo’s eyes. For good measure, he holds up three fingers. “Who do you think it’ll be?”

Shogo hums. Because he’s looking down, you can’t see his face anymore, but they don’t bother switching the angle of the camera. Once more, you start to feel a little weird. They do know they’re being filmed, right?

“Us.” Shogo says, simply, almost as if Hwihun had asked something stupid. For good measure, he adds, “Duh.”

“There’s no way I’m above four this time,” Yonghyung shakes his head. “I totally flopped in my eval, and I held back the Boy Comics recording for hours. Sasung-hyung sings well. He’ll be third.”

“Maybe,” Shogo counters, “But either way, you don’t have anything to worry about. The fact that we’re recording songs at all now means that we’re debuting soon. Jang Kitae sunbaenim is, like, an actual famous celebrity, if they’ve got him mentoring us then that means they’re starting to get serious. It can’t have been cheap to get him on board. They’re not gonna do something like that wastefully. And when we do debut, they’re gonna need you if they want anybody to tune in at all.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Hwihun agrees. “Plus, between the three of us, you got all your bases covered. Main vocalist,” He gestures to Shogo, “main rapper,” to Yonghyung, “and main dancer,” to himself.

Yonghyung makes a complicated expression, sliding further down the bed as he mutters, “I suppose,” and it sounds as if there’s going to be more to it, but before he can get it out, there’s a hammering on the door.

“Manager’s gonna be here in five!” Calls a male voice, which you can only presume is one of the other trainees. As if they’ve been shocked, the boys shoot upright. Yonghyung rushes to gingerly pick up the chips by their torn packet, balancing the pile precariously on the bag as Hwihun hastily pulls open the top drawer of the nightstand for them to be dumped into, closing it with a slam as Shogo pulls up the corner of his mattress, balancing his cellphone on one of the slats of his bed frame and letting the mattress fall back down with a thump.

Although you usually wouldn’t, you smile. It’s kind of endearing to see idols breaking the rules, when the rules are so mundane.

“Of course, when you’re dealing with a singing group, stage presence and survival show appearances can only get you so far.” Byeongsang, once more, feels the need to ruin the scene. They smash back to his office with no shame, as if the mood wasn’t finally picking up a little. His hand hovers over the third portrait, hovering as if for suspense. “The main vocalist is a key role in any group. There are plenty of good singers amongst these boys. But we’re aiming for excellence. There’s only one boy that comes close to that.”

You’re taken back to a recording studio. From behind, a boy speaks out a soft ‘Ah-ah,’ into the mic, and then begins to trill his voice, and make all sorts of odd noises that you can only assume are vocal warm-ups. Through the glass of the recording booth, you make out the glamorous face of Salome Mari - one which fills you with a great deal more confidence than that of Jang Kitae’s.

Salome produced most of Bouquet’s later stuff, the stuff that Lizzy was around for. You liked Bouquet - you’d always hoped that one day, you’d see them succeed, but it had never worked out that way. But thanks to Salome, they at least went out on a fantastic string of singles. As much as she deserves to be producing for a far wider range of artists with a far wider reach than anything Ohjang could offer her, it’s a comforting face. This is a pair of hands that are safe to be in, musically, and her involvement is probably the biggest selling point of this group you’d seen so far. She watches patiently as Shogo prepares, pressing down on her buzzer to politely say ‘Whenever you’re ready,’ which you think is her way of telling him to hurry up.

As he opens his mouth to sing the chorus of Bouquet’s Original Sin; which is coincidentally your favourite Bouquet song, as well as the last one they ever put out, the camera angle changes to face the recording booth. In it stands a boy you’d just seen, and redundantly, the name SHOGO is presented upon the screen. Were he to be singing any other song, you might feel as if he’d been robbed of a big entrance like the other two boys had gotten, but his voice kind of blows you away. Byeongsang hadn’t been kidding when he’d implied that Shogo’s talent was leagues above the rest.

That is- until he gets to the post-chorus refrain, and his voice pitches up and cracks halfway through a ‘we-o-ya-ya-ya.’ He cuts himself off with an embarrassed ‘oh,’ immediately covering his face and bowing to Salome. “Sorry,” he says into the microphone, but Salome just laughs kindly and shakes her head.

“That’s okay,” she says, gently. “Happens to the best of us. You were killing it up till then.”

“You rushed my warm-ups,” Shogo accuses in good humour, through his fingers, and Salome raises her hands in defence, chuckling along with him.

“Sorry, sorry. Take your time and let me know when you’re ready.”

For a few seconds, we’re treated to more of Shogo’s warm-ups, before the audio cuts out. As he mouths soundlessly, Salome’s voice fills your ears.

“Shogo is like my little prodigy,” She says, before it cuts to her confessional. She sits in the same swivel chair in the same recording studio as Kitae had filmed his in, and tosses her curly hair over her shoulder as she smiles fondly. Along the bottom of the screen, the insert-text announces her as Salome Mari, Producer. “He’s a joy to work with. I really hope he can make it through all these evaluations that are coming up, ‘cause he really has something of value to bring. The only thing that’s standing in his way is that sometimes his nerves get the better of him, but we’re still giving him grace with that, ‘cause this is all still very new to him.”

“It’s only been six months since I joined Ohjang, so I have a lot of catching up to do compared to the other boys. Since the other coaches have so much on their plate, Salome’s been taking the time to work with me on my singing, which is really nice of her. She doesn’t have to do that, it’s in her own time, so I’m trying my best to get to the level Ohjang want me at as quickly as possible. Working with Salome is really fun, but she thinks I have stage fright because I always mess up when I sing in front of her,” In Shogo’s own talking-head, he laughs bashfully and scratches at the back of his neck with reddened ears. You can’t help but pick up on the lack of honorifics. Of course, Shogo is Japanese and Salome is English, and so there’s no real reason to expect them to adhere to your cultural rules, but against your better judgement, it rubs you the wrong way. “I don’t do it as much when it’s Kitae-sunbaenim or Yooseob-seonsaengnim.”

“Why is that?” Asks a voice from somewhere behind the camera, muffled and reiterated through a subtitle. Shogo lets out an embarrassed snort.

“They’re not pretty like her.”

For a few seconds the screen cuts to black; and then, the ascending synthesisers of Original Sin’s instrumental filters in. In the dance studio, under the stern, watchful eye of Yooseob, Shogo launches into what seems to be an original choreography - the soft and ethereal dance moves of Bouquet replaced with something a bit more masculine and a bit more sensual. You’re not exactly sure how to feel about the changes, having held the original in such high regard, but given Hwihun’s critique, you suppose it’ll probably do Shogo some favours, at least.

Except for the fact that, though he sings exceptionally well, Shogo’s dancing clearly requires a bit more work. His powerful voice and near-flawless technique are at complete odds with the clunky and awkward movements of his body, and as he stumbles through his routine, Yooseob simply watches with an unamused expression. He only gets far enough into the song to redeem his ‘we-o-ya-ya-ya,’ before Yooseob raises his hand, and a non-descript staff member in a mask and cap, who has been hanging around the edge of the room, cuts the music.

“What the hell are you doing?” Yooseob asks, flatly.

Shogo blinks. “Uh, pardon?”

“It says here,” he taps his clipboard with his pen, “That you’re a consistently top-three ranking trainee. Is this supposed to be a top-three performance? How [REDACTED] bad are the other guys?”

Shogo bows ninety-degrees, and apologises in a small, nervous voice. Yooseob scoffs.

“Don’t just apologise. I’m actually asking. How bad are the other boys?”

Shogo’s eyes dart around nervously, and he takes a few minutes to speak, clearly very unsure of how to approach such an unusual question. You sigh. Here comes more cruelty, you suppose. “Everyone is talented,” Shogo eventually says. “I’ll work harder.”

Yooseob sucks his teeth. “Cut back on your vocal training. I want to see you here outside of lesson-hours far more often than I do. You don’t need to be in the recording studios hanging out with Salome every night. It’s not like they’re going to have you standing in the middle singing while the other boys dance around you.”

Shogo bows his head again. “Yes, sir.”

“I mean it, Shogo. Your voice may have carried you this far, but we’re getting serious now and you can’t debut in this state. Get Hwihun or Yonghyung to help you nail the basics down, before you start trying to do complicated choreographies like this. Don’t be so cocky.”

“Yes, sir.”

Yooseob is practically rattling his pen against the clipboard at this point, and with his free hand he pulls his baseball cap further down, covering his eyes, shaking his head. “I’m gonna let you try again tomorrow when the lower boys have their evaluations. Cause I can’t evaluate you based on what I just saw. I have literally nothing to say about it. This song is called Original Sin, it’s all about temptation. It’s up to you if you want to present yourself as Eve or the Serpent, but you have to present something. It’s not enough to know the moves. You need to put consideration into how you’re moving your body, not just where your body is moving to. You can pour emotion into a song when you sing it. Do that while you dance it, too.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” You can tell by the way the words have to be pushed through his throat that Shogo has gotten choked up. You don’t really think you can blame him. If you’d gotten a critique this harsh, you’d have just quit on the spot and walked out of Ohjang HQ never to look back again.

Though, you suppose, getting the hell out of Ohjang as fast as they can would be the advice you’d offer any one of these boys.

Yooseob nods once, and says; “Go.”

“It’s not like I ever thought I was the best dancer, or anything.” Shogo looks tearful even in his confessional, hanging his head in a deep sigh. “But if I’m so terrible, why would they wait until now to tell me? Yooseob-seonsaengnim made it sound like I haven’t been trying at all. I really have. I really, really tried my-”

Shogo cuts himself off as his voice breaks, and makes a frustrated face as he bites on his lower lip, looking off to the side and clearing his throat roughly. He dabs at his left eye with the back of his hand, and says;

“Sorry, can we take a quick break?”

The screen once more fades to black. As it fades back in, you’re back in the practice room, but you’re informed by yet more text that it’s now TWO DAYS LATER. Two, not one. You tap the screen to see that you’re nearing the end of the episode, and so you assume that the other boys will be properly introduced to you next time around. You snort. The main reason anybody will be watching this is to find out who the sixth boy is, so it stands to reason they’d drag out that reveal as long as they possibly can.

Still, the six boys sit in a line on the floor, cross-legged and all looking as if they fear certain death. Across from them, on uncomfortable looking, metal folding chairs are Salome, Kitae and Yooseob.

“The CEO isn’t exactly pleased with what you guys showed this month,” says Yooseob, grimly. “Don’t get emotional. No matter what happens today, it’s all in aid of your improvement. If you had all practiced harder, this would be a much happier occasion.”

Beside him, Salome shoots him a pointed look. “But just remember, we’re judging your singing and dancing, which are things that will always have room for improvement, no matter how good you are.” She cuts in, keeping her face kind as it turns to regard the boys. “We’re not judging your value as people. Just keep in mind that nothing said in this room will ever reflect that.”

Kitae, who looks exhausted, has as blank a face as ever, but raises his fist in weak encouragement as Salome speaks. The three of them don’t seem any more eager to be here than the boys do.

The room falls into an uncomfortable quiet once more. Fortunately you don’t have to sit in it for much longer, because the glass door soon swings open, and in steps Oh Byeongsang, looking even older and even uglier in the fluorescence, away from the perfectly crafted lighting of his office. The entire room scrambles to their feet to bow at him. He waves a hand dismissively, murmuring in acknowledging and signalling for everyone to take their seats as he strides towards the centre of the room, between the trainees and the coaches. He faces the boys with an unreadable visage.

“I don’t have a wealth of time, so before we get into the rankings, I’d like to give some announcements. I’ve heard that rumour has spread of potential benefits for this month’s top three. These rumours are true. This will be the last evaluation to utilise the ranking system, and next month will be the final evaluation overall. Following that, debut preparations will be officially underway.”

The boys break into murmurs, trading wide-eyed glances and whispering amongst each other. Very quickly, Byeongsang raises a hand to quell them.

“The top three trainees will be guaranteed a spot in the debut group.” He says, simply. You watch in real time as the implications of what he’s about to say next settle on their faces. The sixth boy - presumably Heejin, lets out a bitter laugh. Song Sasung nudges him, the other boys whip their heads around to shoot him incredulous looks, and Salome raises a finger to her lips from behind the CEO; who barrels on as if he hadn’t heard. “This is not the only benefit. They will also be given the chance to express their opinions in the formation of the final lineup. As, unfortunately, the final evaluation will still run the risk of elimination from Ohjang Entertainment‘s trainee programme. For those of you who are underperforming, it would be irresponsible of me to guarantee your debut.”

The shot faces Byeongsang long enough for you to see Kitae slot his tongue into his cheek and look to the side with a displeased expression, in an uncharacteristic display of minor emotion. Salome casts her eyes downwards, unable to look at the trainees, while Yooseob stares at a spot on the wall with a stony expression.

That feeling you had earlier, that all of this is unfair and cruel and exploitative, washes over you once more. This man really is a total prick.

“I understand that this is an anxiety-inducing thing to hear. So, I’ll skip the usual fanfare and get right to the results. In first place…” He pauses, seemingly for effect, perhaps a little more aware of the fact that he’s filming a television show than he is aware of the fact that he’s playing around with these boys’ futures. “Is Gu Yonghyung.”

The shot closes in on Yonghyung‘s face. He simply gapes for a few seconds, before folding himself over his knees in a bow. Beside him, Hwihun smiles uncertainly and claps him on the back, and when he straightens back up, he looks more shell-shocked than he does happy or proud.

“In second place… Shin Hwihun.”

Hwihun doesn’t bow, just sighs in relief, nodding to himself with his eyes trained on his sneakers, avoiding eye contact even as both Yonghyung and Shogo, who flank either side of him, try to make it.

“And in third…”

The camera lingers on Oh Byeongsang’s face for half a minute. He opens his mouth, and the footage cuts out.

The instrumental of Boy Comics blares.

And the credits roll.

#fictional idol community #fictional idol group #bts addition #idol oc #kpop fanfic #𝖣𝖠𝖬.𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡:ㅤㅤ( awake / arise or be forever fall'n ) ━━ㅤㅤ'predebut' era.#𝖣𝖠𝖬.𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡:ㅤㅤ( awake / arise or be forever fall'n ) ━━ㅤㅤprose.

20 notes · View notes

wanderlustinwonderland18 · 6 months ago

Text

Turkkila & Versluis: “We Want To Differentiate Ourselves From Previous Years”

Earlier this month, ice dance couple Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis skated in the show L'Apprenti Sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) organized in Champéry, Switzerland. The choreography was done by Salome Brunner and Stéphane Lambiel. The Finns were the only ice dancers in the show. How did they end up there?

“Last year, I edited the music for Deniss Vasiljevs' free program The Lion King,” Matthias says. This season, Matthias has done ten different music cuts for Lambiel's students.

“Towards the end of May, Stéphane asked us if we would be interested in joining the show. It was a great honor,” he continues.

“We were with an amazing group of skaters, some of the world's best. It's unique to skate with a live pianist,” Juulia shares.

In the show, Juulia and Matthias performed to Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No 2. They presented wonderful lifts and spectacular movements. The international audience was impressed by the couple's soulful performance.

Finland's top couple has been training hard throughout the summer.

“Early May, we went to Rome for new choreography. In June, we had some vacation time and in July, we went to the Czech Republic for five weeks of summer camp,” Juulia says.

The rhythm dance theme for the 2024–25 season is Social Dancing from the 1950s–1970s.

“We chose music from the 1960s because we suspect that many teams will use disco from the 70s,” Juulia explains.

The pair found a go-go jive song that they immediately liked, and combined it with James Brown's classic I Got You.

“We wanted high energy music that the audience can recognize. There is no slow part in our rhythm dance. It is challenging,” Juulia reflects.

The couple's free dance is the Argentine Tango La Rubia Mirella, which is based on true events. The story was introduced to the couple by an Argentinian tango dancer, who worked with them on and off the ice.

“The beginning is quite soft, but the end is really strong. We want to show that we can be strong and fast. The language of movement is traditional tango, but the program is not built from typical dance movements,” Matthias shares.

Juulia plays a strong woman initially, but is used and abused by men. Matthias plays the role of a villain. The ending is dramatic.

“When there is a clear story, you have to bring in more emotion and drama,” Juulia states.

The pair's programs will first be seen in the Challenger Series competitions, followed by the Grand Prix events in Finland and China.

“We are aiming for medal positions in both GP competitions, and thus a place in the GP final. We are trying to collect world ranking points so that we can start competitions in the right groups during the Olympic season,” the couple says in unison.

With a fierce tango, Juulia and Matthias will be taking a different path this upcoming season, changing their image as classical lyrical skaters.

“We want to differentiate ourselves from previous years. A new combination lift is in the works for the free program, and the choreographic elements will be totally in character with the tango,” Juulia sums up.

51 notes · View notes

eretzyisrael · 4 months ago

Text

by Michael Feldberg

In 1908, dropping out of school after the eighth grade, the gangly, strong-voiced Fanny Borach worked as a chorus girl in a burlesque revue. By the end of that year, she changed her last name to Brice. Grossman speculates that Fanny probably changed her name to escape limited Jewish stage roles. Ironically, a year later, she would make her first Broadway mark in a musical comedy, The College Girls, singing Irving Berlin‘s “Sadie Salome, Go Home” with a put-on Yiddish accent while dancing a parody of the seductive veil dance in Richard Strauss’ opera Salome. Her act brought down the house. Despite her desire for universality, Brice found her niche as a “Jewish” entertainer.

When Brice stuck to broad farce and Yiddish-accented parodies of other female stars, the critics loved her. When she tried playing non-ethnic roles in Broadway plays, they panned her. Brice starred in the Ziegfield Follies in the 1920s and ’30s and became known for her beautiful voice and limber grace, which she always used in the service of humor. She tried dramatic Broadway roles, but the critics thought her plays unsuccessful.

As Brice’s fame increased, so did her notoriety. In 1918, she married Jules “Nicky” Arnstein, a handsome, urbane, but somewhat inept con man and thief she had lived with for six years. Despite Arnstein’s infidelity and a stretch in Sing Sing Prison for illegal wiretapping, the devoted Brice stayed married to him, had two children and supported him by working on stage almost constantly, almost to the very end of each pregnancy. Brice’s tumultuous relationship with the ne’er-do-well Arnstein gave her material for a rare non-ethnic success: appearing the Ziegfield Follies of 1921 the usually manic comedienne stood nearly motionless on the stage and, singing in a beautiful, unaccented voice, moved audiences to tears with her rendition of “My Man,” with its now-classic lyrics, “But whatever my man is, I am his forever.”

#fanny brice

14 notes · View notes

flowerandblood · 2 years ago

Text

A Winter Beauty (14)

[Aemond Targaryen x fem!Stark reader]

[warnings: smut, sex content, religious kink, domination, fluff]

[description: Aemond and his family arrive at Winterfell for Rickon Stark's Name Day. There, Aemond meets his daughter, who arouses his desire. I changed some names and facts for the sake of the plot. Viserys is also slightly younger in this version.]

* English is not my first language. Please, do not repost. Enjoy! *

Previous and next parts: Masterlist

______

Prince Aegon and Princess Helaena's wedding ceremony was beautiful. The guests admired the bride's dress, the decor of the great Sept, the orchestra playing sublime music as they both entered.

Y/N couldn't enjoy the event though. Both Aegon and Helaena looked miserable, tired, and resigned. All that preparation and hard work for two people who wanted nothing to do with each other. Lady Stark looked at her husband surreptitiously and saw in his gaze, that he was thinking the same as she was.

During the wedding, everyone watched with concern as Aegon was getting drunker and drunker at a rapid pace. Helaena hadn't even touched her food.

Lady Stark, when they were alone, advised her what to do to reduce the pain during the act itself, what position was the most comfortable. When Helaena asked her curiously how she knew so much about this embarrassing act, she lied that she knew it from her mother.

She didn't know if any advice could prepare her for what was waiting for her. By comparison, her first time with Aemond had been, despite the initial pain and discomfort, a passion of wild elation and pleasure. She couldn't have imagined a better lover, they were perfectly matched in that aspect and had similar temperaments.

Lady Stark's face lit up with joy only when she saw young Alen Reed in the crowd, the same one to whom she presented her wreath and lock of hair at the tournament. He looked like he had fully recovered and gained a bit of muscle since the last time she had seen him. He had to practice very hard. He bowed low to her and Aemond.

"My Prince, I have come to humbly ask for the grace to dance with your beautiful betrothed." He said uncertainly without looking up.

Lady Stark looked at him with a warm gaze, and Aemond nodded. Y/N got up with a big smile. Young Reed looked at her embarrassed and extended his hand towards her.

"My Lady." He said. She nodded and placed her hand over his. They headed downstairs together to join the other couples. Lady Stark saw that her appearance attracted the attention of many men and women.

She wasn't dressed as was fashionable at Kings Landing, but she knew she looked beautiful. Alen turned out to be a very good, sensitive dancer who treated her with great respect. His behavior touched her heart. She thought that his chosen one would be a very happy woman.

"Thank you, my Lady, for what you did for me at the tournament." He said finally between one of the turns, embarrassed, looking at her uncertainly. Lady Stark smiled understandingly.

"You have nothing to be thankful for. I am proud that I gave my wreath to you that day." She said sincerely, and he blushed even more, lowering his head.

The music ended and everyone around started clapping appreciatively. Alen Reed was about to bow and leave, but Lady Stark offered him her hand. He kissed her respectfully, which was a great honor for him.

She thought he and her Salome would make a perfect match. She wondered if Aemond would agree to bring him down to Kings Landing and make him one of the squires.

Lady Stark began to move among the guests, some of whom bowed to her and congratulated her on her engagement. She was startled when she saw Borros Baratheon sitting at the table with his wife and four daughters.

They looked at her as if she looked indecent to say the least. She felt that she could not pass by them indifferently, so she bowed humbly to them, her eyes downcast.

"Ah, that's the famous Lady Stark." Lord Baratheon said, breaking a piece of bread in his hands, dipping it in the sauce. He spoke so loudly that several people around him turned to look at them curiously. "I thought you were actually more beautiful, my Lady, since you managed to seduce the prince."

Y/N swallowed softly and hushed the insult humbly, knowing she couldn't be provoked. She looked at him calmly.

"I'm sorry to have disappointed you, my Lord." She said softly, unable to stop the slight smile that appeared on her lips. Lord Borros frowned.

He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it when he saw Aemond stand beside her, suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

Looking at his expression, she guessed that he heard the lord's rather loud words. His jaw was clenched, his gaze black. She saw that he was weighing the words that were about to come out of them.

"I think I just heard you insulting my betrothed, Lord Baratheon." He said coldly, his nose twitching dangerously with each breath.

Lord Borros snorted, taking a bite of his bread into his mouth and chewing as he spoke.

“The truth is not a insult. But this isn't the first time in history when a man thinks with his cock instead of his head." He said lightly, looking at them with amusement.

“You surely know something about it yourself, Lord Baratheon. You have so many bastards all over the kingdom you've probably lost count."

Lord Borros choked on his bread and was unable to respond to the insult, and Aemond took advantage of this, grabbed Lady Stark by the arm, and they both ran off into the crowd, leaving all the commotion behind them.

Y/N looked at him with amusement, but was grateful that he stood up for her in front of everyone, finally showing Lord Baratheon and his daughters what he really thought.

***

A few weeks have passed since the wedding of Prince Aegon and Princess Helaena. After the first wedding night, Helaena did not leave her chamber. Lady Stark visited her, comforted her and stroked her hair, but she just stared blankly ahead without saying a word.

Luckily it got a little better after that. Aegon had done his marital duty, Helaena was with child, and he no longer had to go near her.

Immediately after the wedding, the king called Lord and Lady Stark to his chamber. He explained to them that he and the queen would like their daughter to stay in Kings Landing, and that her wedding to Prince Aemond would take place sooner than planned.

Lady Stark was frightened by this change of plans, she feared that her daughter was with child, but the king reassured her that this was not the reason. However, he did not tell them about his son's secret marriage to their daughter. He presented them with a fait accompli, and whether they wanted it or not, they had to agree.

In the end it turned out, that Prince Aemond and Lady Stark didn't have to wait four months for their wedding, but one. Their ceremony was not to be so spectacular, fewer guests were invited, so it did not require as much preparation.

Y/N was heartbroken at the thought that she might not be able to decorate her wedding gown in time. Much to her delight, Helaena offered to help her embroider, so often when Aemond was training with Criston or attending the king's council, they would spend time together in her chamber.

Lady Stark did not want her husband to see her dress before their wedding, so she often spent some of the evenings, that they usually spent together, sewing in her chamber, away from his eyes.

Her husband was not pleased with this fact, because she usually crept into bed when he was long asleep. He woke her up in the morning and took her half asleep, but he missed the passionate raptures with her and their little games.

In addition, Queen Alicent invited her to her chamber one day and gave her a prayer book, saying that since there were only three weeks left until their wedding, she should pray fervently to Mother and Maiden for fertility, happiness in marriage and the greatest possible devotion to the prince and the kingdom.

She told her that she could use her private chapel located in the Red Keep for this task, so that she would not have to walk all the way to the Great Sept every day.

Lady Stark had no choice. She knew that some of her servants reported every move she made to the queen, and she would have known at once if she hadn't been there.

Because she sewed all day, she had only evenings to pray. The chapel was not far from her chamber, so fortunately she was able to walk there alone.

She went to the chapel, as she did every evening, and knelt before the statues of the seven gods, sighing. She opened a small book at the place marked with a band, where a prayer entitled "For future consort" was written.

She was reading it silently when she heard the door open suddenly. She saw Aemond standing there, looking at her in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" He asked quietly. Lady Stark showed him the book the queen had given her without getting up from her knees.

"I do your mother's will and offer my prayers to your gods, to make me a good wife." She said, an amused smile appeared on her face.

She saw a shadow pass over her husband's face, his eye darken. He closed the door behind him and turned the key. Y/N swallowed softly.

"What are you doing?" She asked uncertainly. Aemond moved toward her, standing behind her.

"Do not stop. Pray." He said low. "Look ahead."

Lady Stark immediately shivered and swallowed hard. She wondered if what she thought was about to happen. Her legs trembled with excitement, she felt her wetness run down her thigh. Her lips twitched uncertainly as she looked at her book, trying to concentrate.

"Maiden, make me humble to do my husband's will obediently." She spoke softly, her voice quavering as she felt him walk closer to her, standing right behind her.

"Keep my temper and emotions from blinding my eyes, protect me from… Ah!" She moaned suddenly, feeling him grab her hips and pull her back, so that she was kneeling not on the kneeler but on the floor. She began to breathe quickly, feeling his hands on her thighs. "Aemond…"

"Bend over and keep praying." He said in a tone that brooked no objection, she heard his breathing quicken too. Y/N felt the insides begin to tighten around nothing in excitement. All these days she said the same prayer, she practically knew the words by heart.

“Pro-protect me… protect me from the evil eye, don't let shame come to me. Sa-save me…from…” She inhaled as she felt Aemond lift her hips up, so that she had to put his hands on the floor, leaning down. She felt him lift her nightgown, exposing her buttocks, and touched her wet entrance gently with his fingers.

"Look at you. How wet and shamelessly exposed you are to me and my gods." He purred appreciatively, his voice laced with dangerous lust. The thought that she had done this to him, that she was the one who made him like it, gave her wild satisfaction. She just wanted him to fuck her.

"Is this worthy of the consort of a prince faithfully devoted to the Seven Gods?" He asked, massaging her clit slowly, feeling her body quiver with excitement, her juices slowly trickling down her thighs. He felt like his cock would explode at such arousing sight, it throbbed all over his pants.

"No." She whispered softly, her lips slightly parted, her throat dry with excitement. She bent down to lean more towards him, pressed her face to the cold floor, looked as if she was bowing down to someone. "Make me worthy of you, my prince."

There was silence for a moment, broken only by their ragged breaths. Suddenly she heard him slowly undo his pants and kneel behind her. She clenched her hands on the floor, digging her fingers into it, unable to take the excitement any longer. She felt her whole core pulsing around nothing, hot and thirsty. She needed it.

She moaned loudly as she felt his cock rubbing against her wet entrance, spreading her wetness all over him. She felt how hot and hard he was, how much he throbbed.

"How shall I make you worthy, if you do not pray, my Lady?" He asked in a voice full of heat and amusement, he was delighted with what he saw, she had never been spread before him so crudely.

He realized that not only was she enjoying their sinful intimacy, she was like a demon in the body of an angel, but he wasn't much better than her.

Lady Stark sobbed softly, swallowed, her whole thighs trembled, her knees ached from the hard earth. She thought with a smile that she was now experiencing her true penance.

"Save me from… im-impure thoughts, from the touch... that... can enslave my body..." She stopped with a loud moan as she felt his tip inside her, her cunt tightening around him, wanting him with all of her. Aemond felt it and moaned low, his hands gripping tight around her buttocks.

"...that…that can take me… from, from faith, ah, yes, yes, yes!" She moaned as she felt him begin to fuck her, entering her with quick, sharp movements, their bodies slamming against each other with loud, wet sounds, their juices dripping silently onto the stone floor below them, both gasping loudly.

"Keep going or I'll stop." He hissed through clenched teeth, though she knew he wouldn't. Her hips greedily responded to his every thrust, floating with pleasure, her lips slightly parted in silent, broken moans, she was no longer able to concentrate.

"From faith… which will make me… that I won't… be de-devoted only to...to... my husband." She sputtered with difficulty, the only sound in the background was the slap of his thighs against her wet buttocks, his cock entering her as deep as ever, pushing inside her, rubbing where it needed.

"Show me, show me how much devoted you are to me, you sinful woman" He mumbled, panting heavily, he felt that he was about to come. Her walls tightened on him mercilessly, his cock throbbed, all swollen, entering her brutally.

He watched helplessly as it disappears and reappears between her buttocks. Her juices glistened in the candlelight like the holy water of the gods themselves.

"I am devoted only to you, my husband, my king, my dragon god" She moaned helplessly and heard his loud, low groan of pleasure. Her sounds stuck in her throat, her chest tightened as she felt an orgasm so strong, that she lost consciousness for a moment.

She felt him take his cock out of her just in time and came to the floor, squeezing himself tight, his white semen spilling over the stone beneath him.

After a moment Lady Stark turned onto her back, so she could finally look at him. They were both panting loudly. His gaze betrayed disbelief, terror and indescribable fulfillment.

"Tomorrow also help me in prayer, my husband."

_____

If you want to be tagged in the next parts, let me know. ~

@zenka69 @melsunshine @opheliaas-stuff @namoreno @dreamlandcreations @darkenchantress @moira-strangle-me-please @yentroucnagol @cloudroomblog @thehumanistsdiary @a-beaverhausen @avadakadabra93

@crazymusicgirl104 - I couldnt tag you. :(

291 notes · View notes