She hit the live button with her phone propped against a cup, and the stream opened to her usual warm chaos. She waved at the chat, then remembered the date. “Oh, right. Happy April Fools.
”
She broke into a grin, then switched into French for the Francophones watching, wishing them a happy Poisson d’Avril and pretending to stick a paper fish on someone’s back. She snorted at her own joke, delighted with herself. “Happy April Fools, Auntie Anne. ”
She glanced at her phone, noticing the Instagram post she’d made earlier.
She hesitated before asking, almost apologetically, if people could like it if they enjoyed the content. She mentioned the Reddit page too, saying it had been blowing up lately, and thanked everyone for the support. Then she got down to business. She was going to practice her solo dances, and she had one in particular on her mind—the State Side routine.
She pulled up the music, and the first familiar notes filled the room. She tried to follow along, but she was moving slow, testing her arms, her body not quite cooperating yet. She watched a tutorial on screen and gasped. “Oh, this is so cute.
She’s so cute. I love Alyssa Liu. ”
She tried the moves again, but something caught in her left arm. She attempted a transition and nearly toppled over, laughing and screaming at the same time.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so stiff. ”
The tutorial was harder than she remembered, too many twists and arm changes for her to keep up. She watched another version—a slowed reverb edit—and lost it completely when a particular move came up. “This one’s so hard.
I’m going to have to switch it to the other arm. Too hard. ”
She gave up on that one for the moment, but she kept the energy going. Teaching Minchu the moves was always funny, she told the chat, and she started singing the lyrics under her breath.
“Skin tight, kissing my Swedish boy at night. ”
She switched to the Alyssa Liu tutorial version, which she said was easier. She watched on screen for a moment, then froze. “Oh, she looks like Alyssa Liu but she isn’t.
”
She laughed at herself, then faced the camera again. She figured she’d re-practice her solo dances from the start. She pulled up a song called Spaghetti, which she loved but admitted had caused her to hurt her arm last time. She tried it at half speed anyway, self-deprecating about how rough it looked.
“Boots, that’s my ego boost. Do the swim. ”
She moved through the steps, trying to find the rhythm, then checked with the chat for speed requests. She pulled up Money by Lisa and tried it, but it felt better slowed down.
She let it play, testing the footwork. “Okay, that one’s okay. ”
She moved on, shuffling through her list of songs she’d been meaning to practice. She played another one, hummed along, and paused.
“Oh wait, I might have to do it slowed. ”
She attempted it, cursed softly at a tricky transition, and tried again. She cleared her throat and caught her breath. “Eat it up.
Eat it, eat it up. ”
She gave it one full, energetic attempt and screamed at the end, happy with the effort. “That one’s good, because that one’s money. ”
She moved to the next song, and her whole face lit up.
“Oh, this one’s Bumble Bee. This is one of my favorite dances. ”
She swayed through the beginning, but the energy was starting to drain. She admitted she was getting sleepy, that she had maybe one more song in her.
She asked the chat for requests. One suggestion was speeded up. Another mentioned New Jeans. She considered Hype Boy, then brought up Le Sserafim.
She loved that one, though she admitted it was kind of old already. She scrolled past another she said wasn’t even out yet, one with a lot of turning. She asked for more requests. Someone said cardio.
She laughed and coughed. “No, bro, it’s the asthma. ”
Someone else suggested speed. She joked about it, then settled on one more.
“Oh my gosh. Sweet little bumblebee, I know what you want from me. ”
She started the move, then stopped, laughing. “This one’s What Is Love?
It’s actually kind of embarrassing, but maybe I’ll do it next time. It’s a Lisa one. Not even K-pop. ”
She scrolled again, found a song called Jump, and decided to try it slowed down first.
She gave it a real attempt, then let the song finish. She was satisfied. “That one’s actually good. I’m happy with that.
”
She sat down heavily, gasping for breath, and flopped against the back of her chair. “I’m alive. Thank you. Thank you for following.
”
She said she was going to fall asleep. But then she pulled up one last track, something she couldn’t remember and couldn’t quite name, and it hit her fresh. She started dancing again, moving through it with a loose, genuine joy. “Oh, this one’s so good.
I don’t know what my name is. ”
She kept moving, lost in it, laughing at herself, and the stream ended on that note, with her still dancing, still smiling, still chasing the next song.
