Chapter Text
When Yona is in kindergarten, her father takes her to see The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center, and she falls in love with the beauty and the grace and the precision of the ballerina who portrays the Sugarplum Fairy.
She begins attending classes at the School of American Ballet the next year, her mother and her nanny helping her navigate first grade at regular school with twice-a-week classes at SAB that increase as she gets older.
When she’s eight, she’s chosen to play an angel in that year’s Nutcracker performance, and it’s the biggest moment of her life so far, to be on that stage with those eleven other girls, in front of all of those people.
The next year, they cast her as one of the little dolls and a mouse, and that’s a different feeling altogether, to be under a giant skirt and wearing a giant mouse head for what feels like forever.
When she’s ten, they choose her for Marie, and it’s the most terrifying, thrilling, humbling experience.
The boy who plays the Prince and the Nutcracker, Hak, has also been in several performances, and he has plenty of advice for her and the boy who plays Fritz, Marie’s little brother.
It’s helpful to be in the show with other children who have also been in it before, in multiple roles, so that they can share experiences and thoughts and help each other correct timing just like they do in class.
The 25 shows, split between two groups of children, go so quickly that Yona hardly has time to be nervous about anything except opening night. After that, it all seems so easy.
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Hak is six when his grandfather takes him and his cousins to a School of American Ballet demonstration thing.
He doesn’t even want to go, but his cousins all seem interested, and his grandfather insists that Hak tag along, so he does.
And he enjoys it much more than he thought he would.
He enjoys it so much that he asks Mundok if he can go to SAB. Just for one class a week. Just for a little while.
It turns into three times a week with his cousin Han-dae, and they bore Tae-woo half to death with the new positions they’re learning and steps they’re practicing at home.
When Hak is nine and Han-dae eight, they get cast as soldiers in The Nutcracker, and they’re thrilled.
The next year, Han-dae is picked, but Hak isn’t, and he tries not to let it bother him.
When he’s eleven, they pick him to play Fritz, and he doesn’t have a whole lot of trouble playing the annoying little brother, even though he’s technically an only child and the oldest of his cousins. He’s got two annoying younger cousins, which helps him play the part.
When he’s twelve, they cast him as the Prince, and he’s pretty sure it’s going to be his last show. He’s almost too tall this year, but next year he certainly will be, so he’s determined to make this the best show ever.
The little girl who plays Marie—Yona—has been in two shows, and they might cast her as something again next year, ‘cause she doesn’t seem like she’s gonna grow much between now and then. But playing Marie is a big deal, so Hak helps her remember steps and gives her suggestions on how to make her expressions big enough that the entire audience will understand them.
The boy who plays Fritz this year, Yoon, seems way too serious to play an annoying little brother, but Hak’s impressed with his determination.
The show goes so well that Hak cries after the closing curtain, but he pretends he’s got something in his eye, instead.
Yona and Yoon are smart, though. Yoon hands Hak a tissue and Yona smiles through her own tears and squeezes his hand before they head home for the night.