Dancing with the Wonder Girls: Or how I met my rap idol Yoobin
. .
Ooooh how do I begin this awesome story? I didn't want to mention anything about this unless something fell through and this didn't happen, but Dustin, Mara, and I got the consolation prize of all consolation prizes for our Wonder Girls' Dance Contest entry. We essentially got invited personally by JYP Entertainment to get some tickets for the NYC show, meet the Girls, and ... well dance on stage with them for thousands. It was ridiculous.
Here is my crazy story about meeting another one of my favorite Asian music groups. It's long and ridiculously awesome. And ends with this picture.
And here it begins.
When we heard from JYP Entertainment with this special invite we initially thought that it might be some sort of joke. But it got clearer and clearer that it was the real deal as we talked more with them. They wanted us to work on learning the Nobody dance for the concert cause there might be a chance that we would dance with the Wonder Girls. We didn't see pictures of fans dancing with the Girls at the LA concert so we figured it was some sort of raffle or dance off that would take place when we got there. We practiced the dance as best we could, but we had only been given a few dance notice before our trip and I had a full time job. I ended up learning almost the entire dance fairly well and Dustin knew it alright. Mara ended up not working on it at all, so we kinda expected to show up and then not really do anything with the dance or not win the raffle anyway.
We get to New York City and we spent our first day after arrival going shopping and looking for presents for the Wonder Girls. Dustin and I had decided that we were going to get gifts for our favorite Wonder Girls (Dustin likes Sun Ye and I obviously worship Yoobin) so we looked for things that we thought would work well. I had found some cute Sergeant Frog dolls and i thought that she might like them for her collection. Dustin decided that he wanted to get CDs of American singers for Sun Ye. We were walking through Times Square and I found a Lids store that was huge so I knew that they would have some sort of awesomely ghetto Yankees hat for Yoobin. I figured that if she was gonna try and make it as a rapper in the US she would need a ghetto hat. After looking through the entire store I found the perfect hat. It was a Yankees hat with a paint splatter effect on the front of it and it was just right for what I was going for. I even got it personalized so that it said "Yubin, Bring that funk back!" on the back of the hat. It was fantastic. Dustin went to Virgin Records and bought the singles colelction for Destiny's Child, Beyonce's new CD, and the Pussycat Dolls new CD.
After we went shopping around we headed over to the theater so that we could be there by 4PM, four hours before the concert. We headed inside and immediately saw some of the other people who did Ningin.com contest so we knew we were in the right place. It was really cool cause we actually all recognized each other. Guess all of us had watched all the other videos we could! The rep from JYPE was really nice and greeted us and we all got to know each other. She took us back into the theater and we got to see them setting up the stage and instruments. It was really cool that we were going to sit in on the rehersal and see all the behind the scenes stuff.
The JYPE rep took us to a dark corner of the auditorium and dropped the bombshell: "hope you guys have been practicing the Nobody dance cause what we are doing is we are gonna have you guys go up on stage and then dance the Nobody dance all by yourselves. By the second refrain the Wonder Girls are gonna come up behind you and slowly join you guys dancing on stage. But they are really excited to have you guys here and feel free to thank them and give them hugs when you finish dancing." At which point all of us wig out. Not only are we going to be dancing on stage with the Wonder Girls, we will actually have a chance to hug the idols we love. I kinda started freakin' out a little that I was gonna have a chance to hug Yoobin, provided she was dancing near me. We all started practicing the Nobody dance in the corner and ironing it out between our groups so that we would be slightly more in unison. Most of us knew the dance fairly well, except for Mara, who didn't know it at all. While we were practicing a guy comes up with a camera and says that he is filming for a Wonder Girls documentary (I think it was a Korean one) and starts filming us doing the dance. He starts interviewing each of us and told us that the video was definitely gonna get seen by the Girls so we can give a message to our favorite member. Most of the people didn't really know what to say and I decided to go with something totally over the top. I turned to camera and said, "my favorite member is Yubin. We all entered this as contestants of a dance contest. Now I'm starting my own contest of 'Biggest Yubin fan' with me as the number one contestant. I love you Yubin!" Yeah I'm that ridiculous.
We started just talking to each other and hanging out since most of us knew the dance and Mara didn't seem to want to learn it. While we were just hanging out we heard "Mic check Yubin Mic check" from the stage and I lose my stuff. We all turned toward the stage and saw the Wonder Girls walk out. It was so cool that we were getting to watch the Wonder Girls rehearse for their concert! Me and a few others started sneaking up to the stage so we could get a closer look and maybe get some pictures of them practicing. The guy making the documentary called us over to the side of the stage which he said had the best angle. We hurried over there and watched the Girls putting on their mics and getting all set for their practice. Sun Ye saw us and waved and Ye Eun said hi. Once they finished getting ready they all walked off the stage except for Ye Eun who walked over to us at the edge of the stage and sat down. She was SUPER nice and started talking to us about how nervous she was and let us introduce ourselves. She eventually left to get ready for more practice, but it was really sweet of her to come over and talk to us.
We went out into the lobby for a bit so that the Girls had some time to practice by themselves. The JYPE rep said that we might not get the time to do a practice-run but we ended up being dragged back into the auditorium to try it out on stage. They decided that they were going to show a clip show video of all the entries for the dance contest. It was really cool, but ours wasn't included in it since they only used Nobody videos for it. We all lined up and went out on the stage. Dustin ended up going on stage first and I was second to last. Then JYP came out on stage! He lined us up right where he wanted us and thanked us for coming and doing this. He was just about the coolest guy i've ever met. He told us that he wanted us to introduce ourselves and where we were from (which was all over the place, since one guy came from IRELAND for this) and then turn around so we have our backs facing the audience for the first step in Nobody. He mixed together a special version of Nobody with a double refrain right at the beginning so we would only have to do the first section of the dance and then two refrains.
I think we were all really nervous, but then we got to do a practice run. We all did the dance to the music and I think I was doing really well. And then I got to the end of the first refrain and I did the arm spread and hit the person on my right. I turned to say that i was sorry and... it was totally Ye Eun! She just smiled and we finished doing the dance. I stood around and Ye Eun said hi again (so nice!) and listened while JYP made adjustments to the lights and whatnot. Then I turned to my other side (that didn't have Ye Eun) and realized that I had been sanwiched between two Wonder Girls cause So Hee was standing next to me too. I was so surprised that I just looked at her. She just apathetically stared back at me and then quirked the side of her mouth into a half smile and raised her hand in an almost wave. It was hilarious just how apathetic So Hee was in real life.
We got to watch the rest of the rehearsal for JYP and were waiting around for the meet and greet with the Wonder Girls. Eventually we were told that we were going to do that after the show at that our rep would call us. We continue hanging out as people start entering the auditorum and finding their seats. Dustin and I were seated away from all the other dancers since we bought our tickets the day then went on sale and everyone else just used the free tickets that JYP gave us. We ended up being unbelievably close to the stage and second row center. And those seats were worth every penny we paid for them. We could see every detail of the concert and it was one of the best lives I have seen in my life.
The Wonder Girls put on quite the show. They did it up like a for real concert, not like the show that they did in Queens last summer. They did all the songs I wanted to hear (except for You're Out) like Goodbye, Ii babo, and Bad Boy. And they did them with props and costume changes and everything. It was fantastic. I was so proud of them. They have gotten so much better at singing continuously and dancing. They were obviously ready for this tour. In the middle they even had a video about them breaking up in the future and then traveling back in time to get back together for 'one night only.' *cue english cover version* It was great! It was also our que to get ready for dancing on stage in front of thousands. Dustin and I ran backstage to join the others for our moment of stardom (re: terror). Everyone was already back there and we were trying to go over the dance a few more times before we did it on stage. JYP walked by us again and gave us all high fives to psych us up and we could hear the tango version of Nobody finish (I'm still really upset that I missed the tango nobody...) They started playing the clips of the video contest and then we walked out on stage.
I kinda don't remember a lot after that point cause it was a little freaky doing that dance in front of everyone. I think I did a pretty good job though. Mara didn't know the dance at all and basically froze on stage, but when the Wonder Girls came out Ye Eun tried to walk her through it on stage and was really sweet about it. Dustin was unfortunately right next to Mara and was continuously a few beats behind since he kept looking at her and she wasn't doing it right. When we all finished I could see some of the Wonder Girls' pink dresses in my peripheral vision and I was hoping that it was Yubin. I turned to say thanks and it was... So Hee. She said thanks in her totally apathetic way and gave me a half hearted hug (it was fantastic). I was also blindsided by a hug and good job from Sun Mi which was pretty cool too. And then we were rushed off stage. It was so much more fun than I ever could have imagined! It was so cool that we got an awesome opportunity like this!
We watched the rest of the concert and were waiting around for the meet and greet when a security gaurd came up to us. He told us that we had leave for the next show to come in. We said that we were going to meet up with the music group and he wanted a name to check that against. We gave him our JYPE rep's name and he basically said that he wasn't gonna take the time to actually check up on that and kicked us out. Wow way to go. We walked around waiting for the call to come back for the meet and greet session and after half and hour we headed back on our own. Our rep was there and was.... well... terribly embarassed that she forgot to call us for the meet and greet. It was a little disappointing that we missed out on it cause apparently they all got to hang out in the dressing room with them and get pictures and everything. To try and make up for it she offered us extra passes to the MTV live on Tuesday.
So on Tuesday we headed over to the MTV studios. We walked through Times Square to get there and they were playing giant videos of the Wonder Girls on one of the TVs in the Square. It definitely got us excited for the whole thing. We started lining up down the building with a whole ton of people who were trying to to get inside to see the Girls. They started lining people up according to invite and those who were just hoping to get inside. I think some of the other people in line were kinda wierded out when we said that we didn't have confirmation since we on the JYP guest list. We ended up getting interviewed two more times for what I think might have been the Wonder Girls' camera and one for MTV. So now there are three videos floating around out there, waiting to be watched by Yubin, in which I declare my love for her. How hilarious.
We went into the studio finally and they took basically everything away from us. Our cameras, our phones, and for me most of my clothes since they wouldn't allow zippers. The studio was the same one they did TRL inside and it was small, overlooking Times Square. We were standing in the second row in front of the stage so we were literally gonna be about 3 feet away from the Wonder Girls when they would be performing. It was awesome that we had the chance to attend this (Thanks to JYPE!) cause there couldn't have been more than 100 people in the studio for this live event.
2PM went first and did a good job. Those boys are always so full of energy. MTV played the wrong back track when they were going to start 10 out of 10 and ended up playing Tell Me instead. Half of the boys stood up and automatically started doing the Tell Me dance. It was hilarious. They ended up having to do the performance twice and none of the screaming fangirls minded. They interviewed really well since most of them speak fluent English and JYP even answered a few questions with them. After that came the Wonder girls...
The MTV producer came out and told us to get out our cameras since they were actually gonna let us film the WG Nobody performance so that they could be uploaded to the MTV site as a promotion. This disppointed all of us cause MTV had already confiscated all our stuff. They gave us a chance to grab our camera, but I didn't want to leave my awesome spot. Mara grabbed hers, but she didn't have a memory card so she couldn't save any videos. She got a few photos though. I don't have them now, but I'll probably upload them when I get them.
The Wonder Girls were so cool to watch up close like that. As they walked in for their performance they would shake hands with their fans. Ye Eun totally recognized me and waved. The Nobody performance was awesome and they had mic stands and everything for it. They ended up having to shoot it twice as well (which they had to do with basically everything) and the Wonder Girls were so adorable in the downtime. They obviously didn't know what to do in the mostly English speaking environment. They would stand kinda awkwardly while the fans in the audience called out for the attention of their favorites. Sun Mi seemed to perpetually practicing thier own dance moves. It was like she was daydreaming all the time, fidgeting with her microphone like it was something that would bite her. So Hee looked so bored with being on TV. Ye Eun and Sun Ye would talk to the fans. Yoobin mostly stood on her own and tried to take in what was happening. Their performances were pretty excellent. You could tell that they were more nervous being in the small MTV studio than they were on stage. It was still a great live though and a totally different experience from a concert show. They encouraged the audience to sing and dance along so I would do all the dance segments I knew. Ye Eun saw me doing them and would smile at me whenever she looked my way.
After they finished the live performances they did interviews. They ended up redoing the first one since the teleprompter blanked out and the MTV lady flipped out. It was probably a good idea since Yoobin had a really hard time answering the questions because she was so nervous. The second time through Ye Eun and Sun Ye answered and did a really good job. It was a nice end to the whole stage show. They moved all of the Wonder Girls and 2PM down in front of the stage and stacked everyone behind and around them. They did a fast Q&A session with them and JYP and then let them walk around and high five people.
During this the JYPE rep snuck up to me and told me to meet her at the edge of the stage and bring Mara and Dustin. I figured that this was because she was bringing us aside for the meet and greet after the show. So we headed to the edge of the stage and saw a few of the other dancers who had also come to the MTV filming. I thought that it was just because they were going to be at the meet and greet too. And then we all heard and MTV cameraman ask if us six were the six dancers. All of us start freakin' out since we hadn't been told that we were doing the dance on TV at all. Mara proceeded to insist that she couldn't go on television in front of tens of millions doing a dance that she never learned in the first place. Dustin started to say that he couldn't do it cause he hated cameras and all the rest of us were a little too shocked to do much of anything. We were ushered on stage and lined up for our dance. We asked if it would be the same specially edited version that we worked off of at the concert. JYP said that it was the same one so we all got into position. MTV started the song without giving us any warning and we all started about 4 beats behind. We sort of got back on track but then it ended up being the full version of the song so we messed up cause we expected the second chorus. I tried to do the dance as well as I could with the normal second verse, but it probably didn't come out so well. The Wonder Girls still came out on stage and danced with us. I was next to Ye Eun and she smiled and was lovely as always. Sun Ye attempted to help Mara. We got to walk around the stage and this time round I got to hug each of the Wonder Girls once. Yes, I finally got to hug Yoobin. We were actually all about to leave the stage and she turned to hug me. It was really nice of her.
After that they cleared out the studio as fast as they could. We stayed back with the AllKPop contest winners so we could have our meet and greet. We were told that we would have a separate one, but we ended up getting lumped into the same greet session. Oh well. It was really fast. They lined up the Wonder Girls and had all of us just walk down the line shaking hands. They didn't even have time to take pictures with people really. I said thanks to everyone, especially Ye Eun since she was the sweetest. And last in line was Yubin. I stopped in front of her and said that it was really awesome meeting her. I handed her my present bag (which had gotten terribly crushed by MTV when they confiscated it) and she looked really surprised. She thanked me several times and I asked for a picture with her. Yessss. Goal achieved!
Overall the experience was fantastic. This is the third on my favorite groups from Asia that I've been lucky enough to meet. This was a totally different experience since I got to go backstage. I can't believe how lucky I was! Thanks JYP (although you probably aren't reading this)
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
nono_forever) wrote,
