#luxe:febeval

[rkcheri]

   L U X E      ⋰    2월 evaluation  ✦  until the sun rises 🌤️

a cycle, she thinks, how all dance practices become to her. it’s an easy organizational division of learning the choreography step by step, pairing off, then secluding one’s self to their own demise and they try to remember each step while staying on beat. learning it step by step had never been her problem, even pairing off worked wonders when it came to memorizing the movements to the very turn of the heel. but when it came to doing things on her own and trying to get the steps right, everything seemed to go downhill.

i’ll never get this right, she thinks at one in the morning when she’s a little too late for bed and she’s still in the studio; music blasting, trying to at least stay in motion with the video she had taken of herself with one of the other girls’ instruction spoken softly beneath the music. she goes over it again and again but it doesn’t stick nor does it seem to want to as she ends the night tiptoeing into her room and trying her hardest to not wake seolhyun.

she lays feeling like dead weight. exhausted and utterly dissatisfied with her productivity today. having accomplished nothing, it was hard to find sleep. but she succumbs because exhaustion was the hardest to fight when you’ve little to fight with. 

her sanity would have been the cost as she walks in the door of the studio the next day.

she hardly feels good when she hears the song play for the nth time, instrumental rolling on until she has to physically turn off the speakers. a headache was forming and she knew it was of her own doing. there was no way she felt leader material at this rate. being one of the weakest dancers on their team, how was she supposed to help the group when she could physically feel herself dragging them down with each step she took whenever she played the music.

she plays the song again, tries twice as hard, continues to do so until her feet feel swollen and blisters grow at her ankles. bandaids come in handy when blood and popped skin have become numb and all the pain she feels is the drumming in her ears.

was this really supposed to be luxe’s leader?

[rkxayah]

LUXE 💎 SECOND EVALUATION performing debut song ‘ I FEEL GOOD ’ february 28th, 2018

it's the first time they will perform in front of anyone as luxe and just thinking about it is enough to send eunae's energy through the roof. she's already hyper in general but today, while they're getting ready to begin the song, she's never felt so alive before. it's such an exhilarating feeling to stand in front of the panel, with her group members, to show them what they've been practicing. she knows they're ready, she knows they're capable of doing this. there will be a lot of things to improve on, a lot of criticism after they're done, she's sure of it. but it's all for the best, to prepare them for the harshness of the industry, so they debut at their very best. she just hopes all of the girls will give it their all, but there's very little doubt in her mind as she glances at each of them: jihyun, dawon, seolhyun, jiwon, seoyoung. they're all radiant, at their right spot and waiting for the song to start.

being in the center at the very beginning would be intimidating for some, but after repeating the choreography over and over again, eunae feels like she's confident enough to tackle it. they all get their spotlight at some point during the song, which she absolutely loves because they all have such unique colors and personalities that not letting it show would be disappointing. she's grateful to no end for the importance they gave her in the debut song. since she's not good at singing, she didn't expect to be given so many lines, but the rapping is not only decent in i feel good but very present. it's exciting, but also a burden since she doesn't feel like her skills are at their best just yet. she's been taking workshops to try and improve her pronunciation and technique and now is the time to actually prove it to so jisub. he called her an amateur once and she sure as hell never wants to hear that word throw in her direction ever again.

dawon opens the song with her powerful voice and soon enough it's eunae's turn.

Hey everybody Hey everybody Hey everybody

Hey say need more basses May day stop and game set Baby I feel good yo Play as if you’re crazy and scream louder Beat it Get it I’m so High it’s just us I I I I Feel

she starts with the ablibs while they all sing together, immediately following with her first rap verse. singing live has gotten so much easier since royal survival, where she's had to perform in front of an audience multiple times. it lessens the stress of having a panel in front of her, as she thinks it can't actually be worse than that time where she had no idea what her fate would be. she sounds a lot more stable now, plus the choreography doesn't require her to dance along with the other girls as she raps, but she's rather allowed to go a bit more freestyle, hyping up the invisible crowd.

as her verse ends, she goes back in formation, standing next to jihyun who takes the center spot for the chorus. they might have practiced it hundreds of time by now, eunae still loves this song as much as the first time she heard it. it's not alienating, the beat is awesome and it's exactly what she wanted their debut concept to be. they're out there to have fun, energize the public and hopefully it'll catch on. she dances cheerfully until her next part while hearing the other members sing their parts. it now hits her that they're luxe, that they're about to begin this wonderful journey together without a single clue what's going to happen. they've been chosen and now they need to show that so jisub was right to believe in them

It’s a dark night so let’s light up this night brightly Um uh uh, hold on You know I like the way you move slow down NA NA NA NA NA NA Don’t stop, please don’t stop Get high like you’re crazy Like you lost your mind in this heat

it honestly feels like it's in the middle of the summer and they're partying at the beach, which has her wonder if it might be when they'll debut. it's always hard to know for sure though, since the staff is good at hiding everything from them until they're ready to share. that's not so bad for eunae, because it's extremely hard for her to keep such news to herself and she needs a lot of self control not to spill everything to her mom over the phone.

when the song's done, eunae feels confident. they all improved tremendously since the show ended, they all put their heart, soul and energy into it to the point where they go back to their dorm at impossible hours completely exhausted. it might not be flawless, but she knows they did the best they could and so she doesn't feel shameful about presenting the fruit of their labor to them.

she observes the ceo closely, waiting for his verdict in silence.

[rksona]

★ — move ;

starter for @seolhyunrk !

it was hard not to get lost in her emotions for what was to come, whirlwinds of excitement and anxiety engulfing her all at once. their debut preparations were well underway, though dawon wasn’t sure if it was passing by too fast or too slow. there was a part of her that felt nothing but joy knowing that she was so close to achieving her lifelong dream, though there was another part of her that doubted whether or not she was ready for such a thing. what if she would somehow manage to find a way to mess everything up so close to the finish line?

learning the choreography had been something to take her mind off of things, though she wasn’t making as much progress as she would have liked. dawon thought that she was doing okay, though she knew that she’d have to be better than just okay—she’d have to be perfect, lest she risks jeopardizing just about everything that she’d worked for (in other words, she was ‘overthinking it’). she caught up with seolhyun one day after practice, hoping that she wouldn’t be too busy. “hey, seolhyun? i, uh, well... i feel really nervous right now, about all of this, and... i don’t know, i guess i was wondering if you might have time to help me with the choreo a little? not if you’re busy, of course! it can wait, i was just... yeah!”

[rovalent]

Just before the conclusion of the Luxe girls’ last vocal lesson on Wednesday, So Jisub enters into the room with a charismatic stride and offers up a short apology to the instructor for the unforeseen interruption. He then takes his place at the head of the room and greets the girls politely before immediately speaking of his reason for being here.

“Before I let you go on your way today, I wanted to inform you that I’ve received the final version of your debut song from our head producer and it has turned out very nicely. A lot better than I’d expected, actually,” he adds on jokingly, and Jisub gives the group an amused smile. “What this means for you all now is that I will be setting you on your next task to learn the choreography without delay. Yoo Jaekyung has requested that you begin practices with her starting this week and I have agreed to that schedule.”

“One last thing,” Jisub says and he glances at Jihyun and Dawon in particular. “You will be performing the song for me and your coaches at the end of this month. I would like to see where each of you is struggling and, later, each of you will be given individual critiques so that you will understand what needs to be fixed before your debut stage. We are almost there, ladies, so do not let your hard work lessen until then.”

For February’s evaluation, the members of Luxe will be learning the choreography for “I Feel Good” as seen in this video. You will be given the finalized version of the debut song to rehearse with so, when it is your muse’s part in the song, assume that you will be in the center for that portion of the choreography, if necessary. Dance rehearsals with Yoo Jaekyung will take the place of regular dance lessons on your training schedule and will begin starting this week. At the end of the month, on February 28th, the girls will perform the song in studio, privately, in front of a panel of So Jisub and assorted vocal and dance coaches. You will be singing live along with the recorded track as well as dancing for this performance. You do not need to dress up especially for this unless you would like to as a group.

The finalized version of the song has been distributed as such:

Nam Dawon: 0:01 - 0:09 (Solji), 1:39 - 1:54 (Solji), 2:06 - 2:08 (Solji), 2:59 - 3:03 (adlibs)

Jo Eunae: 0:10 - 0:38 (Hyojin), 0:54 - 1:09 (Hyojin), 1:55 - 2:05 (Hyojin), 2:24 - 2:38 (Hyojin), 3:10 - 3:25 (Hyojin)

Lee Jihyun: 0:39 - 0:54 (Solji), 2:24 - 2:38 (adlibs:Solji), 3:02 - 3:09 (Solji), 3:10 - 3:23 (adlibs)

Yang Jiwon: 1:10 - 1:23 (Hani), 1:27 - 1:28 (Hyerin), 1:33 - 1:34 (harmony:Hyerin), 1:35 - 1:38 (Hyerin), 2:55 - 3:01 (Hani)

Kim Seolhyun: 1:25 - 1:26 (Junghwa), 1:29 - 1:30 (Junghwa), 1:33 - 1:34 (harmony:Junghwa), 2:39 - 2:41 (Junghwa), 2:43 - 2:45 (Junghwa), 2:46 - 2:48 (harmony:Junghwa)

Jegal Seoyoung: 2:09 - 2:16 (Hani), 2:17 - 2:23 (Hyerin), 2:41 - 2:42 (Hyerin), 2:45 - 2:46 (Hyerin), 2:46 - 2:48 (harmony:Hyerin)

All: 1:23 - 1:24 (“na na”)

Write one four post thread or one 300+ words solo about your time spent learning the choreography either on your own or with your group members for +3 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE AS YOU WISH and +2 DEBUT POINTS.

Write one 300+ words solo about performing the debut song for the panel for +3 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE AS YOU WISH, +1WK RELEVANT ACHIEVEMENT and +2 DEBUT POINTS.

The tag for this evaluation will be #luxe:febeval and posts should be up by midnight EST at the end of February 28th. Luxe members are told not to share the information given to anyone outside of Royal or else they’ll risk losing their place on the debut team.

LUXE FEBRUARY EVALUATION (for the Mar 7 verification form)

PREPARATION

PROOF OF ACTIVITY: [ x ]

+3 ___ POINTS +2 DEBUT POINTS NEW DEBUT POINTS TOTAL:

PERFORMING THE SONG

PROOF OF ACTIVITY: [ x ] +3 ___ POINTS +1WK RELEVANT ACHIEVEMENT (NUMBER OF TIMES TAKEN + CURRENT LEVEL) +2 DEBUT POINTS NEW DEBUT POINTS TOTAL:

[rkcheri]

     L U X E      ⋰    2월 evaluation  ✦  hey everybody, i feel good 👌

emotions grow wild. a crossfire of this and that defines moods and motions that sway her, she’s a little dizzy from it all and not, at the same time. it’s a whirlwind of emotions to be standing before a panel awaiting the seal of approval from royal. the final hurdle before the beginning. another range of emotions fill her: nerves, she guess but it’s different than the usual that crawl upon the nape of her neck. they vary from the butterflies in her stomach to the sudden nausea that does little to help the dizziness.

was this how it felt to really be nervous before a performance?

it’s foreign, an entity that she finds rare in her years of performing beneath the allegiance that was royal. perhaps now that it was all real, it was a little too much -- could that be it? she shakes it from her core, feels it grow at the pit of her stomach. it registers as anxiety and she has little time to fix it. not when the time for practice has diminished and the music had begun to play.

she forgets to breathe when she hears dawon’s voice above the music. it’s arrangement goes by fast and the moves are fluid against bones that are like a sponge to the choreography. trying to consume every last bit without breaking the cycle. a fluidity she isn’t born with but tries to master with each step she takes. the heels were new -- the height and the fact that at any second she could go from standing on solid ground to flying across the floor in front of the panel of judges. 

if she could only keep her balance, it would be okay.

it couldn’t go too badly, could it? they were almost there. she couldn’t let something like her lack of natural dance ability ruin this moment. if she could keep her tone on point, the dance moves were all that could mess things up. the mic is held tight, loosened as the song goes on; the nerves that had rattled her still alive within her but she makes due, strives to overcome them. she -- no, they had come this far, it was no time for cold feet.

and there was no way, as the future leader of luxe, would she allow herself to let that happen. if anything she was going to continue, press on with her most confident smile, her voice the very embodiment of it because wasn’t that what the song was about -- confidence, and lead by example.

she had to make sure she deserved that title, right?

[rkxayah]

*hit the stage

@seolhyunrk

it’s as exciting as eunae expected it to be. while recording the song was a wonderful experience, she’s happy to finally see it take form with the choreography, because while this song is an entity by itself, she thinks it becomes even better when you can also see it with your eyes. it’s one of her strengths too, in this group. she’s the main rapper but also the lead dancer, which means that royal recognized her skill. while it’s flattering, it also puts pressure on her to perform at the best of her abilities and help her members as much as she can. seolhyun and her need to work as a duo on this one, each one playing on their strengths to be able to elevate the group when it comes to dancing. the vocalists have their parts more than covered; eunae can’t even criticize anyone because all of them are almost twice as good as her when it comes to technique. she’s worked a lot on her stability though and she’s slowly getting there, but she will never be a great singer.

they spent hours and hours already working on this choreography. with yoo jaekyung, individually, in smaller groups, with all the members, at royal, at their dorm, even in the shower. she breathes, sleeps and eats to dance only these days, though they also have to up their live performance game since they’ll be showing the staff what they can do, and sooner than they think. tonight, it’s only seolhyun and her in the practice room, with two pairs of wedged sneakers sitting by, ready to be tried on. it’ll be the first time eunae does the choreography with heels and she wonders how it’ll feel. she’s gotten used to it after doing it a few times, but she still finds it a million times more comfortable in simple sneakers. “ok, try them on first, i wanna see how tall it’ll get you.”

[rksona]

★ — luxe february eval, 2018 ;

🎼  i feel good — dance session !

upon entering the room, dawon was welcomed by the all too familiar sensation of a quickening heartbeat as nervousness began to set in. while she still felt confident in herself and her team, it seemed that it would be impossible to get rid of her anxiety entirely—it was simply who she was—in fact, she’d even go so far as to say that it was simply human. it was obvious that the girls were so close to debuting, and there was no doubt in dawon’s mind that they all wanted to work their asses off to ensure that they’d give a performance worth remembering. she wanted to prove to so jisub (and to herself) that she wasn’t the same forgettable, terrified girl that she’d been all those months ago—that she had grown.

I’m feelin it and I feel good

she wants to start the song off strong, still trusting in her vocals more than any other aspect of her performance. once she had finished her high note, she’s unable to resist the joy she feels from getting to start the song, and the excited grin that forms on her lips does well to show it. she genuinely wants to be here, performing alongside the girls who had worked so hard to reach this point. is it weird to feel that we already make a good team?

now I feel good 기분 좋아 오늘은 다시 오지 않아 baby 나와 지금 기분 좋아 지금이 아니면 안돼 I feel good good good tonight

hours of practice had seen to it that dawon was rather familiar with the choreography, which was in no small part due to the instruction of yoo jaekyung and the help of seolhyun. if only the dawon of two years ago could see me now, she thought, feeling slightly amused at the thought. never in a million years would she have seen herself where she is now, though, somehow (whether it be the result of hard work or luck or a weird combination of the two), she had made it.

다시 한번 더 I feel good

despite her nervousness, she can’t help but feel a sense of pride as she thinks of how far she’s come, though that isn’t to say that she feels comfortable with her current status. dawon knows that she still has a very long way to go as a performer, and that, despite the fact that she had viewed it as a finish line for so long, debut in itself was only the beginning of her dreams as an idol. even after taking that step, there was so much more to be done—so much more to accomplish.

once they had finished, a hint of a smile remained glued to dawon’s features, despite her best efforts to return to a neutral expression. letting out a deep breath, she brushed the hair out of her face, allowing herself to enjoy the moment for what it was (while trying not to think of whether or not they’d be judged too harshly).

who would’ve thought? i do feel good.