G-Splash!

So two Saturdays ago was our G-Splash performance, nicknamed Haru-pa (Spring Performance). The weeks leading up to the performance were INTENSE, more so than they had been. Not only did we begin practicing for 3 hours EVERYDAY, but we also met on weekends for the WHOLE DAY, basically. 11am-8pm, sometimes 9am-5pm...but yeah, all day. I didn't think I was really getting out of it what I put in, so as of now, I'm not really a part of G-Splash.

Anyway, the performance was at a club in Shin-Kiba, called Studio Coast, or more popularly-known as Ageha. (Madonna performed there in 2005! Thanks Natalie for that fun fact!) The doors opened at 1230 and the show started at 1330. The format for the show was 3 smaller shows (just to give us a break in between, since the show was scheduled to end at 830), with guest performances from special groups. G-Splash started the whole show off! And there were two other Sophia dance groups in the first show; otherwise, it was tons of dance clubs from other schools all over and dance teams (privately assembled dance groups?). And surprising, many of our senpai from G-Splash performed with other dance teams. How they had time for all of that is beyond our comprehension...

Natalie and I ended up leaving early...as in around 6pm, because we just couldn't do it anymore. I had a 5-page linguistics paper due the following Monday, plus a test and other things to study for, so my heart really wasn't in staying the whole night. And it was tiring because there were no seats, so you sat on the ground or had to stand. But there were some amazing showcases, truly truly, though for me, the highlight was the Black Starz (which included G-Splash's breaker Shougo) who dressed up in short denim shorts and rollerbladed around the stage. ...Believe me, it was quite the spectacle. Otherwise though, some dances were super creative and really told a story (this one about a railroad crossing gate thing who got to turn into a boy to meet up with this girl who always passed by whom he loved, and he wanted to be with her but she was kind of dating this other guy who didn't treat her well, and in the end the gate tried to separate them but the bad guy ran past the gate to chase after the girl (then it went into slow motion) but a train was coming and was about to run over him but then the gate pushed him aside and sacrificed his own life to save the bad guy, and he 'died' and then the girl was really sad, and then he went back to being a gate again and the girl kissed him on the cheek. How they did that in a relatively short dance, you can only imagine...it's hard to describe in words obviously. But it made me tear up in the end), others really went over-the-top in terms of outfits/colors and props, but most were extremely talented (not all). It was a really cool experience, though my mind was still focused on school.

[I stole a bunch of these pictures from facebook (courtesy Stephanie) because her photographer self brought her fancy camera.]

Jeannette, Natalie, me, D(iana)-Bang, Stephanie
We are Hip-Hop and Lock.

My Ichinensei (First Year) Hip-Hop group! Doing a little 'Goooo Us' cheer during a practice.

All of G-Splash doing a 'Goooo Us' cheer. Masa, the club president, stands in the middle and everyone just tries to touch his head. I got it once!

The sign on the club for "Party People"!

We exchange students and Yujiro (in the upper right corner, the cool Japanese guy who liked to associate with us and had trouble with Japanese...) on the stairs leading down to the club.

Before the show started, everyone was just dancing on the main floor of the club, and of course a circle formed and people would go in the middle and show off. Finally, a G-Splash representative went in! And it was exchange student, Anson, no less!

Inside.

The stage and people. There were a lot of people. This picture probably shows half of them. The rest are behind, in balconies and such.

Watching performances.

G-SPLASH!!

Here are my thoughts.

Though I complained about it a lot, and it caused me a lot of stress (especially around midterm time), I'm glad I did G-Splash(?). I got a lot closer with my UVA and other exchange student friends because we had so much to bond over and spent so much time together. It was my exercise, and was it ever good exercise. I definitely felt myself get fitter over the course of the club.

I got to experience Japanese college club life, which is unique to this country, but I also don't like it too much. It's expensive and time-consuming. I don't like how you can't just participate in them to the extent that you want to, but have to conform to what they want out of you, whereas at UVA, you can be a part of as many clubs as you want to and participate in them however you want, if it means just showing up to special events or occasionally attending meetings or whatever. It also seemed like it would be hard to stretch yourself and be good at multiple things at the same time...as in...here, it seems like it'd be difficult to be a GOOD student AND a GOOD club member AND hold a job, etc. You seem to have to devote yourself to one of these things because they ask so much of you. Or you become some of those people who go to class during the day, do club practice, work through the night, don't get much sleep, and start all over again. Maybe it's just that I'm an exchange student and kept thinking 'well, I'm only here for so long...' that I really just couldn't feel any real emotional attachment to the club. I just kept longing for Mahogany and couldn't understand why a club was causing me so much stress and taking up so much of my time (ESPECIALLY when my part of the dance was only 4 8-counts long).

Another thing that became hard to take, and that was strongly held in G-Splash, is the Senpai-Kouhai (senior/junior) relationship. As first years in the club, though most of us exchange students are actually older than the people in this club, we had to maintain a subordinate position to the president/vice-presidents and those already in G-Splash. We were expected to speak in polite form to all our seniors, and always greet them whenever we saw them, even if they didn't greet us back (which was an often occurrence). When we began having extra practices in classrooms, we had to clear the rooms and put them back, even if we were not the ones who would be using the room. I just began having trouble respecting their system, even though it's a huge part of their culture, because I just don't get it. My hip-hop senpais were really cool, though, I really came to like them, but afterwards I found out that they are like, 18 years old...

I was also frustrated with the lack of communication/information; maybe it was being an exchange student again...but it seemed like Japanese people communicate telepathically or something (though with their technology, I wouldn't put it past them). I usually didn't find out about extra mandatory practices until the night before and I would've already made plans for that day, so that was stressful. We didn't even find out details about our performance until the night before and day of. We always started and ended practice with meetings too, so I just didn't understand why they couldn't ever TELL us anything.

Oh, and one night, Masa called out the names of everyone who had been late to rehearsal and they had to stand up and let us acknowledge that they were late. Then after the group meeting, my first year hip-hoppers had to call a meeting too to talk about feelings and stuff, and then the people had been late just had to all long-windedly apologize to us. I don't care! You're just taking up my time! I didn't feel disrespected by you! What you do is your business! And then, on top of that, they had to text us later and apologize some more. Agh. It's excessive.

When we were getting close to performance day too, we did run-throughs and everyone else would watch our dance. After we performed, we sat down and said "please (do us the favor of critiquing us)" politely, and the head person for each group would take notes and accept critiques from the audience. After anyone said something, the whole group had to say 'Yes' to acknowledge it (and if there was no response, the head person would say "Let's respond together!" or just "Respond.") And then afterwards, we bowed and said thank you to everyone. And when alumni came to watch, we had to just sit through them telling us what they thought and give their advice, and some of them were SO TALKATIVE. Since when Japanese people spoke so much, I had no idea... So instead of practice ending at 8pm, they would let us change and whatnot and we'd meet again outside at 820 and then with all of this, it'd last until past 9pm, meaning I wouldn't get home until past 10pm, and THEN I could eat dinner and do homework/study, and finally go to sleep when I really just couldn't stay up any longer.

Obviously, this all just kept piling up. I was really tired of being so tired everyday, and not being able to eat dinner until 9 hours after I ate lunch, and having to carry clothes and shoes to school with me everyday. So Natalie and I decided after the performance we would quit. And now, it feels so nice to just have TIME, even if I do waste it, it's doing something I want to be doing. Though...they're having trouble understanding that we don't want to do their club anymore...

Hm. I didn't mean for that to be so long. But the truth has to come out.