Please Note: Dance Dance Monsteru is by Groove Twins (not Go Go Girls).

Here’s another little video that I had laying around. It took me forever to edit it since I’m lazy. I hope you all enjoy and please feel free to subscribe to my youtube channel.

Happy Holidays everyone! We’re all so busy with life at the moment, but we’ll be back into the swing of things very shortly. There’s a few projects that are being planned right now. So keep your eyes open in 2012 for some new videos and lessons. For now I’ll leave you with a photo that I screen capped last night during a Google + hangout with Dom, Jim, Tony and myself.

After a couple months haitus our site and blog are back.Special thanks to Maggie everything is set and stable now.

It’s been six months since the last blog entry, there’s so much that we need to fill you all in on. For now I’ll leave you with this fabulous new video from ZYX. It’s a Disco NRG original choreography to Every Heart Wanna Fly/Irene from SEB 218.

As you’ve probably heard, me, Max and Jasmine were invited by Bancho to dance on the newest Starfire DVD  that comes out at this month’s Starfire.   It’s a really big honor and I’m really thankful to Bancho and to Max and Jasmine.  That makes DVD number 2 for me after King of Techno, but Starfire is definitely a bigger deal than KoT.

The filming was yesterday afternoon, a few weeks later than originally planned because things got delayed after the earthquake.  They used the same studio as the B-1 cosplay dvd.  The Starfire staff is obviously very used to filming because they set everything up right away as if they were professionals.   The techno boys went first with Dragon and they only took a couple of takes.  We were supposed to go fourth, but since the other teams weren’t ready yet they had us go next after Dragon.   Our song was New Horizon, and I’d heard that Ryohei is very strict about getting every move just the way he wants it, but he was pretty gentle on us.  He did change some details of the furi on the spot though.  In that respect it was good that I hadn’t practiced as much as I should have.  Max had practiced a lot so the old furi was stuck in his head and he had a lot of NGs.  It took us 7 takes but I didn’t have a single NG.  But our last take was probably my worst take so I’m not super happy with the final result.  For the first few takes I was super focused, but after a couple of NGs I started to relax and I let my guard down too much.  Plus for some reason on that final take I started to get paranoid that I was stepping backwards, and I was worrying about that and not focusing on my arm movements as much as I could have.  It always feels like I’m dancing big but when I see the video it’s always different from what I felt in my head.  But it’s done and we’re a part of Starfire history now yay!

There was a big earthquake during the filming.  It was a shindo 5 in Ibaraki so about a 3 in Tokyo.  The people dancing didn’t even notice so it was ok, but it’s just a reminder that even though a lot of things are back to normal we’re still dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake.

We didn’t stay to see everything, but Rh, Ke-tan and Negiko did Tell Me Why and they had more NGs than we did so that’s good.  The worst was Hellworld.  They had two random girls I’d never seen before dance Hellworld, and it looked like they had just started dancing parapara last month because it was not good at all.  They did about 6 takes, and then got sent back to practice with Ryuuichi for another hour.  I wonder if they were ever able to get a final take.  They had the Lakshimi girls do Dragon and My Load.  I didn’t see Dragon but they did a Juliana’s take on My Load.  Harumi and Satomi did Sex Killer.  Satomi is such an amazing dancer<3  Harumi’s kid was there running around and he is a handful.

Anyway I’m excited to see the final product in a couple of weeks.  Disco NRG’s name will be in the credits next to my name so look forward to that★

Heather

Last night was the Starfire 11th anniversary event at Pasela in Ginza.  It was one of the best Starfires I’ve been to yet.  People from all over Japan and people from other events who usually don’t come to Starfire came out for the anniversary and it’s nice to see people supporting Starfire.  I got my 11th anniversary cell phone strap 

I think the bartenders at Starfire have been taking notes from the bartenders at SEF because their drinks have gotten super strong.   So I was very happy all night hehe.

The lessons were:
Sex Skiller / Go Go Girls
My Lord / Techno Mob

Sex Skiller is definitely a Ryohei routine.  All 3 members of T-rrex were there for the anniversary. 

My Lord from Hyper Techno Mission felt like a cop out by Ryuuichi.  It was meh.

I think it’s funny that they choregraph these routines the day before the event.  They have a whole month to prepare.

Then it was time for the prize raffle.  Each of the members gave out a prize, and I won the Inocchi prize! I finally won something.   It was Samourai perfume, the same thing I won at SEF Rena and Suzujun’s wedding .  It’s good perfume. 

Matsuno-san from avex gave out bags of avex goods.  Last was Bancho.  And ironically the person who won Bancho’s prize was Satomi, who he loves to pick on.  It was a really good prize too – Starfire t-shirt and every Starfire dvd.  Bancho had wanted it to go to a young person who didn’t have the dvds, so Satomi was nice and gave them out to people. 

Next they gave out something called the Starfire Mastercard – a card that lets you enter Starfire for only 1000 yen each month for a year (normally it’s 2000 -3000 yen).  But they made you earn it in a “Guess that Tune” type game.  The DJ played the intro to a song, and if you could name the song and the artist and dance the routine, you won the Mastercard.  It’s a fun idea!  The DJs weren’t making it easy and kept using deceptively similar songs.  Ryuuichi was judging the techno songs and he was being super picky about the furi.  But it was taking too long that way so they gave it to the guy who danced “Get Up” even though he made a mistake in the sabi.  It was a really weird nerdy guy and he looked so serious when he was dancing.  Nobu and Nori were yelling “you’re Ryuuichi!” while he was dancing haha.  Then he fell on his knees when Ryuuichi gave him the mastercard.  weird guy.

The winner of the eurobeat mastercard was Jasmine, with Go Speed Racer Go.   The gaijin were representing last night. 

Then each member of Starfire gave a message on stage.  Ryuuichi’s was: “I’m looking for a pupil so I can focus on being a movie star.”  He’s done with parapara I guess.  I guess Nobu isn’t a good enough pupil.  Ryuuichi is pretty irreplaceable. 

They also celebrated Ke-tan and T-rrex Ryohei’s engagement.  They each got their own bottle of champagne to down.  They’re a heavy drinking couple  ^^;

Then we drank and danced until the event ended at 6am.  After Starfire finished we went to Denny’s down the street, which is the only restaurant open at that hour in that neighborhood so everyone goes there afterwards.  It’s fun because you can have eggs and bacon with Ryuuichi and Bancho sitting at the table next to you.   Not many people were there this time so it wasn’t that great.  But having food and water after a night of drinking is a great idea.  That’s probably why I was only a little hangovery this morning.   

It’s too bad that Starfire only happens once a month because it’s such a great event.  I’ll have to check out the all you can drink special at B-1 Dynamite this Wednesday.

Hi, Heather again. 

I’m going to try and make reports on all the major events I go to each month 

Last Sunday was SEF Delux and it was the 4th anniversary special.  I think it was Alex who made a comment recently about how SEF lives in the present and I think that’s very true.  SEF itself has been around for ages, but they’re only celebrating the 4 years since SEF Gold became SEF Delux.  On the other hand, Starfire also has an anniversary this month, their 11th anniversary.  Starfire has changed venues countless times but it’s always continued as Starfire.  They keep a lot of connection to their past, ie always mentioning Twinstar. I think it’s good that they remember where they’ve come from.  But I guess SEF does things a little differently.

SEF had a prize raffle as part of the anniversary celebration.  I’ve never won anything in any of these raffles(;_;)  They gave out two bags of avex goods(avex logo hand towels etc), two bottles of champagne, free entry to SEF for a year(I wanted this!) and a trip for two to a hot springs resort in Hakone(this would be nice too but I don’t have anyone to go with  ;_;) But that was the only special thing they did for the anniversary event. 

Starfire is doing a raffle at their anniversary event as well and I love the Starfire raffles because the dancers bring personal items from home to give away haha.  But I heard that Starfire might be giving out a one year pass that lets you get into Starfire for 1000 yen.  That would be nice.  Starfire always goes all out for their anniversary – performances, special guests, etc.  I’m looking forward to it.

There was a good turnout for SEF this month.  Recently SEF has been turning into a gyaru circle hangout place because Uga invites all his gal circle friends.  9LoveJ used to be the place to see drunk teenage gyarus but no one goes to 9LoveJ anymore. 

The lessons this month were:
WHEELPOWER AND GO! / DEJO & BON
Ecstasy / EROTIC

SEF is so serious when they teach the lessons.  Uga was a little bit late getting on stage when it was time for the euro lesson and Yano chewed him out on stage… >_<  And they’re so meticulous when they go through the song with the count.  Starfire lesson time is more like watching a stand up comedy routine. 

After the lesson they had tequila matsuri time, which is when they give out free tequila shots to everyone.  I never make it through SEF sober what with the tequila matsuri and the evil bartender who makes my drinks 90% tequila and 10% orange. >_<

Next month SEF is on the last Sunday of the month which means the big 3 events are all back to back in one big parapara weekend. Sounds tiring, especially on the liver!

I don’t know if these reports make sense to people who have not experienced paraibe in Japan but I hope they are somewhat informative and interesting. ^^ 

coming up next:  Starfire 11th anniversary report!

DNS vol. 4
Air date: 2/17/11

Tonight’s special was BEST OF 2010 and DIMA.

There’s been a lot of controversy lately over the shift SEB has been taking in lowering its BPMs.
This time I wanted to see how well those songs deal in a setting alongside parapara-style tracks.
A few don’t work very well, but the majority of the tracks seem to fit right in when adjusted.
Almost as if they were meant to be faster.
Maybe my ears are fatigued by high-speed BPMs now!

To help push Dima’s digital release campaign, one of tonight’s sets included his most popular from the last few years.
The label is currently publishing unreleased, previously released, and original versions of tracks, all in extended format on popular download services such as iTunes and Juno Download.

1. David Dima – Yoko (Extended Version)
2. Max Zero – Loved In Tokyo (Extended Version)
3. Dream Fighter – Stormbringer (Extended Version)
4. Big Warez – King Of Samurai (Extended Version)
5. Aleky – Labyrinth of Love (Extended Version)
6. Judy Crystal – Tell Me Why (Extended Version)
7. Stephy – Speed Demon (Original Version)

This is definitely worth it for Yoko and Tell Me Why (if you weren’t around during music-master.tv) alone.
If you missed out on the stream but still want to hear Judy Crystal’s last known (I think?) track, Dima Music has samples, artist updates, and more on their FB page.

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