(Dress Rehearsal) Weekly Log

[miraclelivemod]

It's early November at Harugaizumi International School. Last week, the whole school put on a cultural festival, with the School Idol Club having a performance in the gym. You got a pretty decent turnout, but that's no reason to rest on your laurels; practice and school both continue this week! Have fun, check out the setting, and keep your ears open. You never know what opportunities will pop up for you!



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Comments

[saltedcarmel]

Did you have suggestions? 'cause I was thinking that you know the bit [Carmel hums part of the song.] our dance moves are a little lackluster so we should maybe change it up. It felt different doing it on the stage, in front of all those people.

[She was in the middle of stretching her legs when Ryoko came in, but she's now leaning forward, propped up in her elbows in an obscene show of how flexible she is. Look, sometimes you've got (1) asset as a school idol and you're gonna keep milking it for all it's worth.]

[nmc0204]

I definitely think it's worth considering. Even if we have them polished to perfection, if our performances aren't interesting to watch then it's all just wasted time and effort. I think we need to start making our choreography more complex if we're going to make any headway at all.

[ She makes it sound so easy...... ]

[saltedcarmel]

It doesn't actually need to be complex, just visually interesting. I've been researching some of the top school idol groups and it's more about looking flashy than technical complexity.

[She sits up, bringing her legs back in from the split she's been sitting in, and then stands up.]

If it's too complex our singing suffers, you know?

[nmc0204]

I suppose that's not a surprise. What's that old saying... 'work smarter, not harder'. If we're winding ourselves on stage before we even open our mouths, we won't be getting far.

Is there anything you think we could try?

[saltedcarmel]

I've noticed that hand movements are really popular and they're and easy way to distract people.

[She starts moving her arms to some imaginary beat that's not quite their actual song, but it illustrates her point. Notably, all her legs movements are relatively simple.]

I would say maybe vogueing [said in English] but I don't think everyone is sharp enough to make it look really good.

[Absently, as she's talking, she starts to move her arms and do some basic as hell vogueing.]

[nmc0204]

[ Ryoko's hand goes to her chin and her eyes narrow a bit as she takes it in. The vogueing might be a little too complicated for everyone to do, but... ]

Who do you think might be able to pull it off? If we could get a handful of people in the center doing it with everyone else doing something a bit simpler while the attention isn't on them, I think that might give us the edge we need.

[saltedcarmel]

Hmmmm... You, me, and Nanako-kun, maybe? I'd say Miko, but I'm not sure if she'll focus on it, you know?

[The girl has........ ADHD brain. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!! Also, yeah. She refers to everyone by last name except for Miko. It's American solidarity.]

[nmc0204]

[ Ryoko dips her head in a nod. ]

Then I'd like to learn. Even if we can't use it right away, it'll be useful to have it as part of our skillsets.

[saltedcarmel]

Sure! The basics are kind of like... you know Egyptian hieroglyphs? It's meant to look like that.

[She demonstrates a little again, but more slowly so it's easier to see what she's doing.]

You want fluid but precise movement.

[nmc0204]

Of all the places to go for inspiration for an idol group...

[ But it's not a complaint. Ryoko follows along with her movements as best she can – she's got the movements themselves down, but her motion isn't quite snappy and precise enough. Given enough practice, though, she'll probably get it. ]

This would work best with something that has quite a heavy beat, don't you think?

[saltedcarmel]

A lot of the pro idols do it! So you don't need a super heavy beat, but something with energy. Like this.

[She starts humming one of their more energetic songs, and does some voguing to it, and it's probably not anything like choreography that they'd do as a group, but it looks good when she does it. It's all that dance training jumping out.]

For us, though, it's useful when you're doing a solo. Like, if you're center, you can do this while the rest of us move around and save some breath.

[nmc0204]

I see... I wouldn't have thought to try something like this before, but it's surprisingly useful...

[ She hums to herself in thought before continuing. ]

Should we pick out one of our songs and see if we can work something like this into the choreography?