SERA00 00 rank Stories! First Dance Lessons

SERA00 00 Rank Adventures!

00s:
Macey, Mikayla, Oakley, Kaya, Liesl, Haley, Scarlett, Yumichan, Tomiko, Braelyn, Aspen, Sammi, Echo, Briar Rose

I, Evie, bring to you the adventures of SERA00's latest additions... The 6th generation 00 ranks! From the PVs, fans are already betting on who will be promoted first- popular contenders include Macey, Yumichan, Tomiko, and Sammi.
Alexandrea has us busy with Dry (22nd single). The head instructor for training the newbies is Rowan Chowdury. Right now they're about to go through an intense dance session. Because there are no senior 00 ranks, the stage is all theirs when it comes to the 00 rank stage (recall stages, set lists of songs performed at the daily concerts, ie. Team Aurora 3rd Stage). They have no one experienced to put in front to follow; they must be confident when performing for their audience.
The 00 ranks are scheduled to perform their first stage on June 27, 2013. They are working hard towards that goal. Immense pressure will be put on the girl chosen as 00 rank centre; rumor is that Miss Avery and management have already chosen one.
I knock on the door to the dance studio they're occupying. "Come in," a voice calls. I open the door and step in. I already hear some gasps and many eyes.
I smile and wave at the 00 ranks. "Hey everyone! I'm Evangeline Vera of Team Aurora."
Rowan looks me over. "Evie, you're dripping sweat in my dance studio."
I grimace. "Sorry...just finished a dance class with Alexandrea. Lower centre is a giant leap from coupling songs."
Rowan laughs. She points at me. "Girls, I'm gonna work you until you sweat harder than this idol here. Get up!"
A bunch of groans arise from the twelve girls as they push themselves to their feet and surround Rowan and me. I decide to give them a piece of advice. "Never do that." They all look at me curiously, and Rowan smiles, knowing where this is going. "Never groan when you are called. Yes, you are idols. But this is your job. The first time the fourth generation groaned, it was unfortunately, in front of Miss Avery. She's a figure to be admired and she gave us a real reprimanding for groaning when we haven't even started to work hard. So try your best." I figured about half of them were my age or younger. It felt weird giving advice to the older girls, but in this world, age doesn't matter. Ranking, experience, and popularity do. As far as I can tell, I'm...probably more well known than the 00 ranks...at this point.
"Oh yeah," Rowan says, "Evie mentioned centre...speaking of centre, SERA00 management has chosen the 00 rank centre. For the kawaii unit song Giant Strawberry of 00 rank 1st Stage, which is the set list we will be working with first, those members have been chosen as well."
I notice the 00s exchanging nervous glances. The only ones who looked calm, I would have to say, were Sassan's friends. I guess they figured the same thing as me. Because they were associated with Sassan, it was likely they would not be chosen. It would provoke fans to criticize the management for favoritism. In this way, the centre position was not rigged in their favour. "Don't worry about it," I tell girls, "Whether you want to or not want to be centre...you don't really have a choice if you're picked. But if you're not picked, it doesn't mean your career is off to a bad start, okay? Even though Sassan was picked by Miss Avery...okay maybe that's not a useful piece of info at this point. Miss Rowan, please do carry on."
"Ah, well, she is correct. Please stand in formation and step forwards if your name is called." Rowan prods around in her bag and finds a sealed envelop, which she proceeds to open. "The centre of the 00 ranks has been chosen to be...Samantha Willis." There was a smatter of applause as the girl stood forwards. Samantha Willis, nickname Sammi, average height, long brown hair. Yes, from her debut photos, many people were wondering about her ethnicity. She is half Irish, half Chinese. Most of SERA00 is Caucasian; inevitable since we are located in North America. There are few mixes like Sammi...Angel is another one, and the only I can think of right now. Typical me, as an Angel-fan. Some of the girls are frowning, like, why her? I think Macey wanted to be chosen. Again, the Sassan girls seem to be unaffected. I really should stop calling them that. It's not polite to them either.
The girls are holding their breath for the Giant Strawberry cast announcement. Even though it's not officially named the lower centres, they all well know that those girls chosen will end up as lower centre. Giant Strawberry is a four-girl unit song, consisting of one centre and three lower centres. "As for Giant Strawberry," Rowan continues, "the cast is as follows. Centre, Samantha Willis." I think she looks kinda scared. Normal for a newcomer; even I'm still freaking out about lower centre in Dry! "Lower centres, Yumi Tsukino, Briar Ross, and Macey Fent."
Yumi, probably the oldest one excluding Tomiko, steps forwards excitedly. Briar Ross, dubbed Briar Rose, is a girl of small build and she looks really shy as she steps forwards. Lastly, Macey has an almost smug smile on her face, but her eyes show that she was disatisfied in only getting lower centre. I recognize her ambitious attitude; it will help her a long way in her career. Macey is one to watch.
But then again, Sammi, whether she likes it or not, is the one who will explode in popularity since she will be the centre of the 00 performances.
Rowan claps twice. "Positions for first stage Party Hour." The girls cluster in the middle of the studio. The ones in front are down low, and they all tuck in their limbs. "Samantha!" Rowan yells. "You're centre! Who do you think that position we left open during practice is for?"
Samantha scurries to the cientre position, murmuring an apology to the dance instructor as she passed. She slips through the first rank and hesitantly places herself in front of a girl named Aspen.
"Own it," I whisper not-so-softly. As a C rank, I'm always in the back of Team Aurora's formation, so I'm always in a position o watch Sassan at the tip. From reviewing documentaries of SERA00 and of Sassan, I can tell so far that she was really shocked to have been picked as centre; she was shy, like Sammi. But now, you don't see any cases of the popular members going, sorry, I have to stand in front of you. Sorry, you have to look at my back when you perform. No, they all know that they've earned the position. They walk straight up there and take it. They know they belong there because the fans want them there.
"Ready?" Rowan says. "Centre goes straight out, lunge, arms up, then back to your side like before. Here we go." She presses the play button on the stereo. The music blasts out. I know the dance for Party Hour. There are six quick low pulses and on "paaa-rty" everyone lunges out from the clustered position. And then the song goes "it's coming up, the hour to, paaa-rty!". On "it's coming up" everyone skips into singing/dancing formation, which is usually three lines, and then on "the hour to" it's -
"Paaarty! It's com-"
The music cuts off. Rowan has gone into perfectionist mode. "No no no! Don't be lazy! Use some energy in your dancing! And smile, for goodness sake! No matter what you do, the first rule is SMILE. People come to see you perform and be happy, not a bunch of dripping wet depressed girls stumble around on stage!"
"Paaarty! It's c-"
"Again!"
"Paaa-"
"Bigger actions when you lunge!"
"Pa-"
"Smile!" Rowan screeches.
"Paaarty! It's coming up, the hour to-"
"On the hour to, as you slide in your right foot, move your body, your hip, slightly to the left to reflect the movement. For party-" Rowan demonstrates. "Punch right hand left hand and right hand with the left knee drive it up! Bring your hands down and wave as you skii-iip!" she instructs in tune with the melody. The girls try out the dance moves as Rowan moves to the stereo.
"Paaarty! It's coming up, the hour to, paaarty! Let's go, come on, let's go and paaarty!" The track they are dancing to is still the fifth generation version of Party Hour. I guess the sixth gens haven't had a chance to record their version yet.
"Again!" Rowan yells, but doesn't start the stereo. The girls make no move, waiting for the music. "Again," Rowan growls. "If there's no music, make your own." She draws blank faces. "Sing!" she shouts. "I hope every one of you know the lyrics of all the stages by heart by now!"
The girls eye each other nervously and get into position. They freeze in place, not knowing when to start. A girl raises her voice. "Okay, one, two, three, four!"
"Paaarty! It's coming up, the hour to, paaarty!" I see Rowan instinctively leaning in to see who had called the time. It was a girl named Echo, Eclair Holland.
Anyways, I don't have to tell you what happened after Rowan started raging about their singing.
Rowan gives me a little more backstage info after the 00s lesson for my blog. "Yeah, the first stage of training is a little shaky, but their skills and attitude will start to stabilize after they get onstage and experience it for themselves. I'm sure you know what I mean, a you were a 00 only a few years ago."
I nod. "So any insight on why Sammi was chosen as centre?"
Rowan stretches out her arms. "Ah...the understudy centre.