ParaPara Dance on YouTube
July 18, 2006 on 2:19 pm | In Media, Music | | Email This PostHas everyone hear heard of “Para Para”? Here is a video on YouTube featuring a popular parapara dance instructional video.
Parapara was a type of… “dance”… popular in Japan about one year before I went to study Japanese at Nanzan University in Nagoya so many years ago. Around the time I arrived in Nagoya, my Japanese friends were telling me it was going out of style.
Parapara was mainly done in clubs, by mostly girls, but guys also join in sometimes. The more skillful parapara dancers would climb up on a small stage in front of the club (or a big stage, depends on the club!) and do their parapara dance to the music. These parapara girls would have big hair (extensions), tall boots, and short skirts.
The motions for each parapara song are predetermined, and must be memorized. If you miss a step, you’re not cool. You can purchase tapes and DVD’s in stores to learn the moves for each song, and need to stay updated as new songs are released. Occasionally I would see girls and guys outside in front of department store windows at night, using them as mirrors to practice their steps.
Again, Parapara is pretty much dead now in Japan, my unprofessional guess would put it at about the same level as break dancing in the states. Some people do it, and are pretty hardcore about it, but it is not at all mainstream.
Break dancing is cooler. A bit more… how do you say… Originality between dancers.
- Harvey
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Going off on a tangent, but since you mentioned breakdancing, I had to link this
Comment by ryan — July 20, 2006 #
man that is old school. I remember when that was the thing to do. I was still living in Japan so it must have been about 6 years ago or even more….haha wow. I still like the music. Its like techno/euro beat is what its called…
Comment by RisingSunOfNihon — July 22, 2006 #
Wow you were in Japan during the parapara craze? That must have been interesting!
As I mentioned when I arrived it was just going out.
Occasionally I’ll see a really wacky car roll by with lights going off like it’s a rolling disco, and kids inside doing parapara like there’s no tomrorow but that’s…. okay so literally I only saw that ONCE, this year, in Osaka.
Comment by harvey — July 22, 2006 #
Hi Harvey! This comment has nothing to do with parapara but I’m a fan and didn’t know how to contact you. Anyways, do you have any info regarding the tattoo in the “Tattoo in the Onsen” entry on 1/14/05? Do you know the meaning behind it? I would like something similar. Thanks!
Comment by christine — July 22, 2006 #
Christine! This post right?
http://www.japannewbie.com/2005/01/14/tattoo-in-the-onsen/
The guy in the pic is my friend, (explains why I could get a picture of him naked…) I’ll ask him about the tattoo and get back to you if I can get any info! Cool that you’re interested!
Would you be getting a tattoo on our back also?
Comment by harvey — July 22, 2006 #
Hey Christine, I asked my friend, he said that it actually doesn’t have any meaning that he knows of. It was just a tattoo parlor recommended to him by a friend, and one of the patterns they had available. Nothing more!
Comment by harvey — July 23, 2006 #
Thanks for asking your friend about the tattoo. I’m looking for a similar design. Actually, I found your blog when I googgle’d “Japanese tattoos” and have been enjoying reading about your adventures ever since. Keep up the good work!
Comment by christine — July 23, 2006 #
Well I was there during the parapara boom but I didn’t realize it. I remember seeing it but I just thought it was more stupid shit on tv, like all the other stupid shit. I didn’t realize it was a big fad! How could I miss this revolutionary boom?! Guess I should have went to more clubs.
Comment by mdchachi — July 23, 2006 #
Hey Christine, thanks for the kind words!
I guess mdchachi was too busy studying to keep up with all the fads…
I’m a little behind these days myself. I don’t even have a Nintendo DS!
Comment by harvey — July 23, 2006 #
[...] Taken from JapanNewbie “Parapara was mainly done in clubs, by mostly girls, but guys also join in sometimes. The more skillful parapara dancers would climb up on a small stage in front of the club (or a big stage, depends on the club!) and do their parapara dance to the music. These parapara girls would have big hair (extensions), tall boots, and short skirts.”Go here for the full article [...]
Pingback by Tri-Factor » ParaPara — July 27, 2006 #
hihii! i acutally think parapara is comming back! but its different now tho. ((techpara)) music isint as hi pitched and thers more arms and less legs. its cool but i dont think it beats the original. whatevs o_0
Comment by GAL — August 12, 2006 #
Believe it or not, there really are a lot of people who still want to learn parapara all over the world because it was such a huge fad at one time. I know a little of parapara, enough to complete several dances, and I teach any of my friends who want to know too. I dont think parapara will ever die. It just keeps getting revamped, something that hasn’t happened with breakdancing, or at least it hasn’t been easily noticed.
Comment by Sarah — May 26, 2007 #