The true adventure started when I was 15 years old. Something changed inside me. My column will start changing from now as my feelings changed at the time.
When I was in first grade in junior high school, nothing really changed in my life. My life was almost the same as before. One day, I got 2 envelopes. I didn’t want to get any mail since advertising companies sent me a bunch of letters.. I checked them. They were so different then letters I got before. In one envelope, my name was written by a writing brush. I had no idea what it was. I checked again and I realized I passed the first audition!! The letter was from one of the biggest agents in Japan. I checked another envelope and it was also a reminder that I passed another audition!! Finally I remembered that about half a year ago, I sent them my resumes. I still couldn’t believe that I received them at the same time on the same day because I sent them my resumes on different days. At the time, I had been practicing dance for half a year. Then I got some chances to join auditions…
In this year, June, which was my birthday month, it became a more challenging month than I ever had. I had no idea what to do in the auditions but the day came. It was held in the young part of town in Tokyo. I had never been there. My mom was so worried about me and she came with me. Well, I guess I still had my hometown Chiba’s scent that showed I was from the country side. When I got off the train, the new world appeared in front of me. I was a little nervous but my excitement was much bigger than that, so actually it didn’t matter. We got lost on the street and it probably took 30 minutes to arrive at the audition place. Finally we arrived 15 minutes before the audition started. We went inside from the big entrance. The security was so strict that only I could go to the audition room. My mom waited at the lobby. I used the elevator and met some young guys like me. I thought they were like me. Maybe they came here to have an audition. I still remember the numbered card of the audition room.
I finished the reception and quickly went inside the big room. I thought “Oh my god!!” because there were almost 50 boys inside the room!! In the first audition, they told to us to dance like the teacher did. Show time!
Now I want to talk a little bit about my school life. It was our last year in junior high school. In the baseball club, we did practice matches against other schools a lot. I played in a team sometimes but I had the most embarrassing experience at the time. We were the defense, a batter hit a ball and the ball was flying to me. It was easy to catch the ball but I dropped it!! I dropped it in front of my friends and lowerclassmen.. After that, our baseball manager said to me “Is your glove metal or something??” Everybody laughed at me, and I was so embarrassed.. I don’t know if my glove for regulation baseball caused it though I was still a poor baseball player.
Of course I thought about going to high school like others think. I had no idea which high school to choose and what to do in my future, so I decided to go to public school to find out what to do in my future. When I was thinking about it , the agent called me and said “You can stay” or something. I didn’t know what that meant and if I passed the audition, but at least I could continue dancing in the agency. That gave me an idea “maybe I should choose the closest school from my house” then I decided to go to the closest school. Luckily my older brother was in the high school , so I asked some questions and made sure the school was good. I didn’t mean to copy him, but it was the best choice for me at the time.
Everything happened at the same time! Everything didn’t wait for me, so I did as much as possible. But I couldn’t continue two auditions from other companies, so I ended up just going to one audition. I know it was rude, but I had no idea what to do except for that..
After a few months, I started showing myself on the stage as a back dancer. This time I didn’t have to stand on a soil stage. There were over 100 fans of the group I danced for. I really got nervous at the time and I couldn’t dance well.. My dance life started from this time. I was so poor at dancing, compared to seniors.. I danced on the stage only sometimes. My life was like this for one year.
How was I in school life?? Well, our baseball team went to our prefecture’s tournament , and we lost in the first match. Then we retired. My life was still like a double life but I didn’t tell my friends that I was involved in the entertainment industry at the time because I didn’t do anything really. I chose to take entrance examinations for one public school and one private school. I really wanted to go to the closest public school, so it was nothing to take more entrance examinations. I felt I wasn’t an important member of the baseball club but when I danced on the stage, I felt I was part of something. One day I put my priority on the entertainment industry more than ordinary life.
After going to the first audition, one year had already past. Nothing really changed in my life. I mean I couldn’t get a lot of jobs as a dancer. I felt something was wrong with it. I didn’t want to think it was the same as the baseball team! Other young boys started working in this industry when they were in elementary school, but I didn’t want to use it as an excuse. I seriously thought about my problems. “I can’t go beyond others if I’m doing the exact same thing as others” I noticed that I should be able to practice by myself! I decided not to belong to any club activities but practice dancing 2 hours in my house everyday! If I can adjust how I dance, I can improve myself anytime anywhere! I also thought “If I train like this for 1 year and if nothing happens, maybe I should try something different.” I didn’t listen to music until I was 14 years old.. There was a little distance between me and dancing. Besides I didn’t want to lose against guys who dye their hair!!
When I entered high school, I was really enjoying it because of new friends and the new environment. I had a dance lesson every week or every 2 weeks. Everything went so good except I couldn’t get more jobs.. I was eager to get more jobs, I was so determined. I stopped playing video games. I was concentrating more and more. I knew I was still poor at dancing but at least I realized what parts I should adjust when I was dancing. I failed a lot and succeeded sometimes. I chose to get involved in this industry because I thought it’s such a competitive world and I can be challenged. That was one of the main reasons. Once I thought I wanted to be a sports player. Basically my thought didn’t change at all. I always wanted to see what I can do (even now) and I’m still looking for a place where I belong.
My fight against my weaknesses started. Before winning others, I had to win my weaknesses. I know it sounds a little weird. That was my motto at the time. After half a year, finally something started changing. I had more confidence..
I dived into my dream world and fought the reality there. I almost gave up many times but my effort finally started paying off…
To be continued…
No comments:
Post a Comment