The beat was already flowing through us as we greeted Zayn near the entrance to Dancebattle Classics. The sunny boy walked towards us - completely calm himself - after he had discovered us and hugged one after the other of us. Thereby he radiated such a strong composure that the whole group calmed down a bit. Six of us walked through the crowd to the registration desks.

"Six dancers please." ordered Ty confidently, winking casually at the young woman our age. She blushed and lowered her eyes before asking, slightly flustered, "The group name please?" "YT-KEEZ," Ty replied and hastily she wrote our group name (an acronym of all of our first letters) on a sheet. Then followed the donning of our neon green wristbands. This color marked us as active participants in the event, while normal visitors wore neon orange wristbands. A security man then picked us up from the counter and took us to the group dressing room, where we changed and finished styling for the performance. For the men on our team, there were XL t-shirts in white and loose-fitting sweatpants from Puma. We ladies moved into the choreographies with white tank tops and also in Puma sweatpants. The sports shoes from Puma we had all got ourselves again new and in white, because we didn't want to give a run-down impression with our worn-out shoes. I loosened the scrunchie and let my hair settle freely around my head. Then Yuna drew my perfectly curved eyeliner before I did the same to her and then to Ella. Now we were prepared. We formed a group circle - back when the group didn't know each other as well as they do now, this had always been a little strange at first. In the meantime, however, it was reassuring to have the group close around once again just before going out. "Okay guys, we can do this!", Ella started to cheer us on. "Because what are we?" "We're good!" we chorused. "Who are we?" "YT-Keez!" "What do we want?" "We want victory!" We chimed in and then made our way to the dance floor together.

The closer we got to the dance floor, the more booming the music became. I pressed the mixtape tightly against me - because there was great danger of having it accidentally knocked out of my hand by people dancing around me. In the colorful spotlights that swirled wildly, you could see the mist of the heated crowd rising. Up at the mixer, I recognized the DJ. He was the one I had to see. After letting the members know, I separated from the group and pushed my way through the crowd to him. When I stepped up next to him, he turned to me with a beaming face. "What can I do for you?" he called over the music. I held the CD out to him. "I'm dropping off the mixtape for the YT-KEEZ." Immediately, he pulled out a list from behind him and began to fly over the sheet of paper with his pen, searching. When he found us, he took the CD from me and stuck a numbered sticky note on it. "You are number 94, your performance is around 9pm." I nodded and he quickly added, "I always call the groups when it's their turn. So no need to worry about you guys not noticing when it's your turn or anything." He winked good-humoredly and I beamed all over his face. "Thank you." Then I left him behind and began my quest to find my group again. Along the way, I passed the bar, where I ordered a cup of Coke Zero before continuing on my way.

Right at the dance floor I found Yuna again. She was cheering on another group that was bringing the crowd to the boil with some pretty rad moves. I too had to acknowledge that our group could perhaps still learn a thing or two from them. After a short while, I cheered along with Yuna - carried away by the energy flow of the crowd. Increasingly my feet became more restless and finally I began to dance a few cautious steps along.

The evening progressed and with it our performance came closer and closer. Half an hour before our scheduled performance, I again searched my way through the crowd - this time to find the toilet. From experience, with so many people, one always stood in line for ages at the ladies' room. That's why it would have been unwise to go 10 minutes before the gig. Just when I had arrived directly in front of the door of the ladies' room, Elli came towards me. "Oh, you too?" she giggled. "Absolutely!" I affirmed, whereupon she laughed and gave me a friendly peck in the upper arm. "See you at our starting position in a bit, then." "Yep.", I replied, and then she pushed off through the crowd.

After washing my hands in the dim club light, I took one last scrutinizing look in the mirror. The make-up was still in place and my hair didn't look too wildly out of place. I took another deep breath, then left the restrooms to find my group back at the starting point.

It turned out to be more difficult than expected to make my way through the many people. I stumbled and stumbled now and then, so close were the masses stuck together here. I continuously mumbled apologies and doggedly pushed on. Suddenly there was a violent push from behind and I flew forward, stumbling and wildly rowing my arms for support. Before I knew it, I landed in the open arms of a young Asian man about my age, who looked down at me in surprise. He had elongated features, his black hair covering the back of his neck and falling into his forehead in front, hiding it a bit. Although his stature seemed very lanky, I could feel the muscles he used to keep me from falling to the ground. As his widened eyes regarded me for a brief moment and his eyebrows raised in concern while his lips formed an O, I quickly scrambled to my feet and extricated myself from his arms, cheeks flaming red. "Is everything okay?" he asked, eyeing my body for any signs of pain. "I'm fine, thank you!", I returned a little too snottily - which was caused by the shame I was feeling. "Hey...!" he continued, but I was already rushing away. "I have to go, it's my turn in a minute!" "But..." "Sorry!", I shouted, leaving the poor baffled guy behind me in the crowd.

Still a little heated, I reached my comrades at the starting point. "Thank God!" exclaimed Elli. "I was afraid you'd gotten lost." Scrutinizingly, Yuna eyed me. "Are you okay, Kyla?" I blew out air noisily and nodded vigorously. "Yup, we're good." I could tell by the way Ty turned to me with a worried look that he wanted to ask me something. But at that moment, the DJ called us to the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, I ask for a cheering round of applause for our next contestants: the YT-KEEZ!" Instantly, we all straightened up and squared our shoulders. Now it was full concentration. The crowd parted, allowing us to walk to the area.

Closed and energized, we strode there in unison and took our starting poses. All the spotlights focused on us in the center from all over the room before they went out. The first sounds of Tiësto and Ava Max's hit "The Motto" rang out and with them the spotlights glowed red - focused on us. From the center of the choreo, I burst forward, sending the crowd into a frenzy with the first FlickFlack of the evening. Some male attendees completely lost their temper when I slid into the splits in the middle of the song. The group gave it their all this evening. I felt the blood racing through my veins and my heart beating to the pulse of the rhythm. I found myself in perfect harmony along with my crew. All processes worked smoothly and no slip-up crept in. I could feel the looks of desire as we girls showed off our hip swings and seductively ran our hands down our bodies as we squatted. Women circled as our guys pulled up their shirts for a brief moment, showing off their trained washboard abs. As the song ended and I held the splits while standing, thunderous applause erupted and a wide and proud grin crept onto my face. My gaze slid through the crowd and suddenly got stuck.

Just ahead of us in the front row was a group of seven Asian young men. In their midst, I recognized the boy from earlier. However, he no longer looked perplexed. The look he gave me was impossible for me to interpret. While my brain was still guessing what he was thinking, I held him with my eyes, slowly lowered my leg, and then stood rooted to the spot while the rest of my team began to bow. It wasn't until Ed nudged me that it broke up the stare contest between the stranger and me. I quickly glanced at another point in the audience and bowed before taking another quick look back after all.

The guy jutted his chin out and one eyebrow twitched as he gave me a challenging nod. When I looked at him uncomprehendingly in response, a confident smile slid across his features and he took a few steps forward - his hand with the neon green bracelet raised high in the air. "Kyla, who's that?" murmured Yuna, who now noticed him as well. "Nobody. I'm earlier ..." "Not bad..." the guy interrupted me before I had answered my friend and casually crossed his arms in front of his chest. Dumbfounded, I stared at him and my ears began to buzz for a moment. "...But what about your freestyle?" I felt Yuna tugging at my top uneasily. My defiance was stronger, though, and I took a step toward the guy. "You want to find out?", I asked, now crossing my arms in front of my body as well and lifting my chin. "Kyla, what about you? Let it go, come on.", Yuna tried to calm me down and thus make me go with her. However, I remained standing. "Kyla...", she murmured more insistently now. "Oh oh oh! There seems to be a challenger." the DJ's voice announced itself and startled, I turned to the console. Sure enough, the DJ was grinning down at me. "What is it...are you accepting the challenge?" I glanced back at the stranger, who now tilted his head slightly and looked challengingly up at me through his lashes with a dangerous smile. I nodded to DJ and then turned back to the guy. "J-Hope!" the crowd behind him began to chant. "J-Hope, J-Hope..." and as the first beats dropped I realized that he was the one of the two of us who already had a following." "J-Hooooope!!!!"