Welcome to Gaia! ::

Say, what do you do on your free time?

I like to write, read, go onto Gaia, chat on IRC, play Tempus, and sleep. Mm, sleep. I never get enough at school time.

I float about online, read, play computer games, watch DVD's and generally try to avoid doing my coursework...

3nodding anime/manga, Yaoi/BoysLove, Jpop/Kpop, drawing, writing, CosPlay, soccer, badminton, Karaoke, and Hiking, writing, cats, sleeping

I play a lot of video games, read, and run my imagination to it's limits. Which is pretty hard.

Wow. I have four imported CDs called Para Para Max Vol. #1-4. They're sugary anime songs that I sometimes listen to, and they kind of sound like the type of songs you'd dance to at DDR or pump.

That is awesome, Ummy. How do you make your choreographing? Is it easy? Fun? I think I'll explode with questions later on.

+1 Ego

That's interesting that the cds you have are Para Para Max, because that's what Geneon is bringing to the US and therefor what I'm helping choreograph. All of the songs from the Japanese version of Max 1 have official choreographies from Japan, but very few of the songs from the other CDs do. So when Geneon decided to bring Yoko over to the US for tours and to license PPMax over here, then went seeking choreographers. My friend Randy was the first official one, because he'd been to almost every Yoko show in the US, so got to know Yoko and Nobu and everyone very well. I won a choreography contest at Otakon, and part of the grand prize was to get to officially choreograph for Para Para Max USMix3. However, they ended up calling on me and Randy to choreograph a few songs for Yoko's Anime Fusion Tour that started this year, so I became official. There is one other guy from Tennessee who has done one choreography for Geneon who may or may not become the third official choreographer.

Unfortunately, lacking a camera and equipment of my own, I haven't been able to film many of my own choreographies. I'm dependent on Randy for filming and he's not really into spontaneous filming just for fun. I do have the videos that Randy and I filmed to teach the dancers for the Anime Fusion tour, including the choreography that Randy and I made, but for the medley all we had was the Karaoke track that Yoko sings to, so in the video the songs don't have words with them. Still, I could share if you were interested.

As for how I create choreography, it's kinda hard to describe. A lot of it comes from having done para para for 4-5 years now, and therefor just kind of "knowing" what movements go with what kind of music and rhythm and beat. Also it helps knowing a bit of Japanese (Randy knows more than I do) because sometimes you can incorporate that into the dance, and since Para Para Max is all remixes of anime songs, you can sometimes incorporate things from the Anime (Randy has a great choreography going for "I Am Sailor Moon" that puts in a LOT of Sailor Moon actions... I hope he finishes it soon.) Matching the anime isn't necessary, but it can make the routine very cool if you can do it.

I spend my free time by reading, writing, playing meh trumpet, listening to music, playing DDR, hanging out with friends, watching things (usually just the sky) out my window, thinking, playing games on my cell phone, playin' DnD, lurking on Gaia, lurking on the AVEN forums, and sleeping.

It's quite great. I stayed up all night on Wednesday/Thursday playing with my brother and his friend. 3nodding