Paralists in the Portland area?

[Kristy]

Heyyy!

I'm moving to the Portland area and I was wondering if there's anyone else that's into gyaru fashion/culture and para para?  I'm not really that into the fashion (I read the magazines and kinda keep up, but I don't often dress that way.  Just elements of the style sneak in.)  I am, however, very into para para/techpara.

Just wonderin' if I'd be the only person flailing in the halls or outside at K-con. *LOL*

[DancingTofu]

Ever played the game ParaParaParadise (1997, Konami/Bemani)?  That's the closest I come.  I prefer flailing my arms to the Phat Techno beats of DanceManiaX though.

[Kristy]

Yeah.  Actually, I used to have the home version but I don't have a Japanese PS2 anymore.  Laaaaame.  But I'm still really into the dance style.

Ha ha.  I was intimidated by DanceManiaX.  I wasn't sure what to do. I mean, I get the concept, but I was bad at not looking like a doofus. *LOL*

[DancingTofu]

That's the difference between PPP and DMX; I look like a retarded gay epileptic when I play and I'm pretty good at DMX.  With PPP, you can at least sort of dance when you play.

I'm going to be working on getting PPP available at Kcon again.  We won't have room for an arcade-style cabinet this year, but it will hopefully be available for checkout.  I might even see if I can attach the controller to a board that can slide under a table when not in use, so it doesn't need to be set up every time.

[melchizedek]

Hmm, never heard of said game, sounds fun

like ddr?

[DancingTofu]

Yeah.  You wave your arms to interrupt infrared beams.  When you do so, it triggers the sensor and you have another retarded looking video game that's a hit at parties.

[Kristy]

Well, actually, yes, that is how you play it.  But there's set routines to the songs.  Para Para is a solo club dance style. The game is based on that dance style.  So, in the home version there's videos of the routines you can follow. In the second version of the arcade game, there's an animated character you can follow.

They didn't really bother to include the dancers in the first versions of the game because if you did para para at all, they'd be dances that you know.

That game is ooooold though.  Most people who do para para don't play it anymore except for nostalgia's sake.  There's thousands of para para routines set to eurobeat, trance music, and hyper techno.  There's DVD series for it (Para Para Paradise, Gazen Para Para, Happy Paradise, Chozen Para Para, Para Para Panic, We Love Techpara. . . it goes on and on) to learn the dances from.  Obviously, people in Japan have the luxury of being taught the dances at clubs.

The dance style is done in unison, except for some elements of freestyle in a few songs.  Para Para was HUGE in the late 90's and early 2000s, but now just enjoys a modest popularity.  It comes into the spotlight every couple of years and then dies off again.

The dance style is pretty heavily tied into the ganguro culture of the late 90's/early 2000s and its cousin gyaru culture.

In Missouri, where I'm moving from, I ran a para para performance team and we went to cons and hosted panels and did some performances of popular songs.  It's a LOT of fun.  And there's definitely more to it than the video game.

[DancingTofu]

There's a Para Para Module set up for StepMania.  I don't know that it would have the dancers in the background, but it could be worth checking out.

Thank you for the little blurb there; I never really had the initiative to learn much about Para Para, so I found it quite interesting and well-summarised.

[Kristy]

Yeah, I've seen that.  It's a shame that I got rid of my controllers when they finally got compatibility for them in Stepmania.  Darn it.

And, yeah, para para is really a niche sort of thing.  I mean, until we got established at the circuit of cons we used to do in the midwest, even congoers were kinda like, "*snerk* Nerds." *LOL*

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v4194541AFanwqfT  Anyway, here's an example of para para nowadays.  This is one of my team's performances.  Not our best, definitely, but it's the only one I have on video. *LOL* It's from Naka-kon.

Maybe next year I'll do a panel on it at K-con.  Wish I would've known that I was moving sooner.  Ha ha.  I would've signed up.  Oh well~!