Dance Square 2015.05 Travis Japan Anigumi Crosstalk
So I know this is from a while ago but I came across it and when I started to read it, it was suuuper interesting. I love hearing about Playzone, because Playzone'10 is how I became Ryuya's fan in the first place 6 years ago! (my life hasn't progressed lololol //ORZ) So if you want to hear about Ryuya's choreographing skills and the start of anigumi's friendship, then read on ♡♡♡
Dance Square 2015.05
Scan credit as always to Yoshiko-mama ♡
Shimekake Ryuya X Kawashima Noeru X Nakada Hiroki X Morita Myuto
Ryuya: The first time we were assembled together was the time for lessons for Playzone’10
Hiroki: Until that time, although we knew of each other, it wasn’t like we were close or anything.
Noeru: Nakachin (Nakada) and I joined at the same time, but Myuto was our senpai and Shime was our kohai. Since it was like that, even though we did stage plays together before, our dressing rooms were different so we didn’t really talk to each other.
Myuto: We appeared in the same stage play? I don’t remember that at all (laugh).
Hiroki: We did, back when Myuto was super tiny (laugh). But the time when we became good friends was the lessons in 2010. It was a great learning experience because the foreign dancers showed us various things we’d never done before.
Ryuya: At that time, we didn’t know that the lessons were for Playzone right.
Myuto: Right right, it was before (Imai) Tsubasa-kun’s Playzone had begun, so we participated while thinking “What is this for?”
Hiroki: The practices were so hard that some juniors would run away and hide in the lockers (laugh). It lasted for 2~3 months, and during that time the number of people would steadily decrease.
Myuto: There were kids who would stop coming too.
Ryuya: So, in the end the four of us were selected. We were really happy when we found out we would appear in Playzone.
Noeru: Playzone’10 was the first time we could challenge a lot of things, right. And it was also the time that we met Travis (Payne) and Stacy (Walker).
Ryuya: It felt super hard to dance Travis’ choreography for the first time.
Hiroki: Until then, I had thought that dance is just doing the movements, but then I met Travis and the others, and I realized that it’s actually really close to acting.
Myuto: “Emotions” were put into it, right.
Noeru: In those days I was just recklessly dancing, so when I remember those times now, that was probably when I started thinking I need to try a lot harder in dancing.
Playzone ended, but we made various steps towards adulthood
Ryuya: And, the time when we received the group name Travis Japan was 2 years after that right.
Hiroki: Travis’ name became a part of our group’s name, but I can’t help feeling we’re unworthy of it.
Myuto: I think of it as being the Japanese representatives. We’ve got to do it in order to not lose to Travis America (laugh). But what’s more, the name was given to us plus 5 people we didn’t know, so it was like “Who the heck are these guys?” (laugh).
Noeru: At that time, the only member of otoutogumi that I knew of was Aran. But since we did Playzone together each year, the feelings of being a group budded naturally right.
Myuto: That’s true, and also because we all had the feeling of not wanting to lose to the senpai groups.
Hiroki: Since we’re the youngest group, at the beginning we mostly just danced at the sides or the back. Back then we strongly wanted to be looked at in regards to our dancing, and not age.
Myuto: I think carrying that fighting spirit is what allowed us to grow. I think the thing that grew the most was… My height I guess, after all.
Noeru: That’s only you (laugh). Because there’s one guy here that definitely hasn’t grown.
Ryuya: Ah, me? I haven’t grown (laugh). But I have matured! First of all, I understood what kind thing of a thing a group is. For example, since there are members who aren’t sick or hurt, they can do their best to cover for others who are, and other things like that.
Noeru: Certainly. If there is someone who is lacking we can support them; it’s because we’re a group that we can experience that. Personally too, everyone compensated for me at the time when my physical condition wasn’t good.
Ryuya: It really hit me that we were a group when we gathered together for dance stuff for Playzone. The first time we did a song by ourselves was “Arashi” from last year; I think during that as well, our group awareness was really strong.
Hiroki: That’s true, as well as cautioning each other with things like “Isn’t that part different?”
Myuto: And, after that, as Travis Japan we were allowed to dance to the song “It’s BAD.” Until then we just did basic stuff, but that was our first time to challenge an adult-like song.
Hiroki: Although there was pressure, it was another song that allowed us to grow, right.
Myuto: As soon as I think we’re growing, Playzone is ending… (laugh).
Ryuya: But, to say that it’s lonely that it’s ending isn’t quite right…
Noeru: Yeah, certainly. I guess “lonely” isn’t really what it feels like.
Myuto: But, there are times when I think, “I want to dance!” However, if it restarted, I would probably just feel “how intense” and complain again (laugh).
Hiroki: Every year it felt like that cycle right (laugh).
Noeru: When Playzone practice would begin, even though I would gain muscle, my body would steadily get thinner (laugh).
Hiroki: Being able to participate in Playzone left a huge memory in our lives. But our lives are still continuing from here on out!
It’s important to treasure the feeling of not wanting to lose while still collaborating as the 3 groups
Ryuya: And, the next thing that we appeared in was “Johnny’s Ginza.”
Hiroki: Yeaaah, we did our best right~.
Myuto: Who know that it would be decided to add a Tokyo Dome show to the schedule!
Hiroki: Yeah, and moreover, even a tour!
Noeru: ...The reader’s bewilderment is surely building up right now (laugh). Certainly this talk will be released after the performance actually happens, it’s still a month before it begins (laugh)! (This interview was taken at the end of April). First of all, let’s just go with talking about when Kurie was decided.
Hiroki: For me, of course I was happy, but I was also frustrated.
Noeru: Yeah that’s true. Although the additional shows were decided, the first time we heard of it, there was talk of doing “Together with MAD and MADE, a sum total of 10 people with 1 performance.”
Myuto: But now I think doing it with 10 people is a good thing. Until now we haven’t really worked together with MADE, but now there’s so much we’ve learned from them.
Hiroki: (Akiyama) Taiga-kun is super talented, right. His choreography and organization for the song that all 10 of us dance together is especially cool!
Ryuya: Kanjani8’s “Masterpiece” right. Although Taiga-kun came up with the core of the choreography, (MAD’s Matsumoto) Kouta-kun is the one who chose the song. Kouta-kun said he wanted to do it no matter what.
Myuto: So that’s how it was. That’s why Kouta-kun made the choreography for the hook part of the song.
Noeru: And Shime choreographed the interlude part, so it really was the collective power of all 3 groups in that song.
Hiroki: But because all 10 people were involved, there were too many opinions that couldn’t be gathered right. Eventually at the end we’d just take a majority vote (laugh).
Myuto: In regards to our roles… For me, I tried to be as harmonious as possible (laugh).
Hiroki: As expected, I was in charge of the comedy (laugh). Noeru was occupied with school so he has missed a lot of practices, but there’s also a Noeru produced part right.
Noeru: Yeah, I’m still mulling that over. Until now I did a short overseas study abroad trip and I got to see various things, so I’m thinking it’d be good if I could cultivate that to share it in the show. I’m in the middle of trying to challenge creating a part that shows that the image of Johnny’s walking some royal road is different from reality.
Ryuya: I did choreography, but it was only for the two songs that the 4 of us danced to that I made everything for; the rest we all made together.
Noeru: You don’t have to be so modest, Shime, because you seriously worked hard for that.
Ryuya: As far as doing it for 10 people, after all it was hard. If it’s just us 4, then I already know each of our strong points, so an image will appear immediately.
Hiroki: The other day on “Shounen Club” when we danced to “One in a Million,” Shime did the choreography for it.
Noeru: He properly highlighted each of our good qualities, and it made me think “We can rely on him” once again.
Ryuya: At that time, I showed the choreographer-san what I first came up with, and they told me “If you don’t push forward what you actually want to do, then you can’t make the most of everyone’s idiosyncrasies,” so I remade it with that in mind. Since I learned a lot from that, this time too I wanted to make something that showed off everyone’s individuality. Myuto can seriously do anything, Noeru makes the performance become dynamic, Hiroki can make difficult choreography look easy when he dances to it…
Hiroki: When Shime dances, it looks kinda heavy right. Like his center of gravity is lowered or something.
Myuto: Yeah, the way he dances makes it seem like his body weighs around 80 kilograms (laugh).
Noeru: Kurie is a performance where you can enjoy individuality of us four!
Ryuya: That’s right, there are parts that show off each of our specialties.
Hiroki: Shime is also challenging some MC parts too, right. If he manages it properly today too then it’ll definitely be alright (laugh)! Of course this performance is created by the collective power of all 10 of us, but we still don’t intend to lose to MAD and MADE.
Myuto: Yeah. Since we don’t want to lose to older groups, the “Travis Japan Soul” that we’ve been cultivating since before will break out this time too!
A Part of Your Body that You Like:
Noeru: I like my abdominal muscles, but… I guess I’ll go with my left hand, since it’s going to be photographed (laugh). This might be because I took piano lessons when I was little, but my left hand is definitely bigger than my right. I’ve injured my right hand a couple times, so there’s a finger that probably hasn’t grown properly, but because of that I’m always thinking that I want to display my useful left hand in a pretty way. On stage too, I dance with an awareness of showing even my 3 centimeter fingertips.
Myuto: Collarbone. One time a doctor praised it (laugh). When I got an x-ray, the doctor said “I can tell your mom properly makes you nutritious food because of your collarbone.” Although it’s not actually like that in reality (laugh), but I sort of like the line of my collarbone. If we’re talking about a part that can be seen while dancing then it’s my hands. I’m precise right down to my fingertips, so until the very end I’m careful to not relax.
Hiroki: I don’t really know what it’s called, but this area of my wrist that sticks out (laugh). Rather than saying I like it, it’s just that ever since I was little I’ve always wondered about this part, so I often look at it. When I was in Kindergarten I thought mine was the only one that stuck out like that, but even when I found out that wasn’t the case, I still thought about it like “Why is this part like that?” I feel like if it wasn’t there, the wrist would probably be more pretty right… Isn’t it sort of dinosaur-like (laugh)?
Ryuya: My forearm. The reason is because my veins pop out… It’s often said that it’s attractive when your veins pop out, but it’s not like I’m trying to particularly appeal that aspect of my arms (laugh)! It’s just, even if I’m not really doing anything they stick out, and people often tell me that it looks good. Personally… It’s just normal, they’re not bad I guess. It’s that sort of degree (laugh).
(So can I just say that I'm taking modern dance at my university right now, and Ryuya is like the epitomy of modern dance, it's incredible. Like the heavy-ness and lower center of gravity. He's seriously my inspiration in that class ahaha)
★It's okay to share this translation with other fans, but please only share a link to my journal. Do not repost without a link or credit to me. I am not a native speaker so there may be mistakes, and corrections are welcome. Thanks, & comments are appreciated~ ^^★
Dance Square 2015.05
Scan credit as always to Yoshiko-mama ♡
Shimekake Ryuya X Kawashima Noeru X Nakada Hiroki X Morita Myuto
Ryuya: The first time we were assembled together was the time for lessons for Playzone’10
Hiroki: Until that time, although we knew of each other, it wasn’t like we were close or anything.
Noeru: Nakachin (Nakada) and I joined at the same time, but Myuto was our senpai and Shime was our kohai. Since it was like that, even though we did stage plays together before, our dressing rooms were different so we didn’t really talk to each other.
Myuto: We appeared in the same stage play? I don’t remember that at all (laugh).
Hiroki: We did, back when Myuto was super tiny (laugh). But the time when we became good friends was the lessons in 2010. It was a great learning experience because the foreign dancers showed us various things we’d never done before.
Ryuya: At that time, we didn’t know that the lessons were for Playzone right.
Myuto: Right right, it was before (Imai) Tsubasa-kun’s Playzone had begun, so we participated while thinking “What is this for?”
Hiroki: The practices were so hard that some juniors would run away and hide in the lockers (laugh). It lasted for 2~3 months, and during that time the number of people would steadily decrease.
Myuto: There were kids who would stop coming too.
Ryuya: So, in the end the four of us were selected. We were really happy when we found out we would appear in Playzone.
Noeru: Playzone’10 was the first time we could challenge a lot of things, right. And it was also the time that we met Travis (Payne) and Stacy (Walker).
Ryuya: It felt super hard to dance Travis’ choreography for the first time.
Hiroki: Until then, I had thought that dance is just doing the movements, but then I met Travis and the others, and I realized that it’s actually really close to acting.
Myuto: “Emotions” were put into it, right.
Noeru: In those days I was just recklessly dancing, so when I remember those times now, that was probably when I started thinking I need to try a lot harder in dancing.
Playzone ended, but we made various steps towards adulthood
Ryuya: And, the time when we received the group name Travis Japan was 2 years after that right.
Hiroki: Travis’ name became a part of our group’s name, but I can’t help feeling we’re unworthy of it.
Myuto: I think of it as being the Japanese representatives. We’ve got to do it in order to not lose to Travis America (laugh). But what’s more, the name was given to us plus 5 people we didn’t know, so it was like “Who the heck are these guys?” (laugh).
Noeru: At that time, the only member of otoutogumi that I knew of was Aran. But since we did Playzone together each year, the feelings of being a group budded naturally right.
Myuto: That’s true, and also because we all had the feeling of not wanting to lose to the senpai groups.
Hiroki: Since we’re the youngest group, at the beginning we mostly just danced at the sides or the back. Back then we strongly wanted to be looked at in regards to our dancing, and not age.
Myuto: I think carrying that fighting spirit is what allowed us to grow. I think the thing that grew the most was… My height I guess, after all.
Noeru: That’s only you (laugh). Because there’s one guy here that definitely hasn’t grown.
Ryuya: Ah, me? I haven’t grown (laugh). But I have matured! First of all, I understood what kind thing of a thing a group is. For example, since there are members who aren’t sick or hurt, they can do their best to cover for others who are, and other things like that.
Noeru: Certainly. If there is someone who is lacking we can support them; it’s because we’re a group that we can experience that. Personally too, everyone compensated for me at the time when my physical condition wasn’t good.
Ryuya: It really hit me that we were a group when we gathered together for dance stuff for Playzone. The first time we did a song by ourselves was “Arashi” from last year; I think during that as well, our group awareness was really strong.
Hiroki: That’s true, as well as cautioning each other with things like “Isn’t that part different?”
Myuto: And, after that, as Travis Japan we were allowed to dance to the song “It’s BAD.” Until then we just did basic stuff, but that was our first time to challenge an adult-like song.
Hiroki: Although there was pressure, it was another song that allowed us to grow, right.
Myuto: As soon as I think we’re growing, Playzone is ending… (laugh).
Ryuya: But, to say that it’s lonely that it’s ending isn’t quite right…
Noeru: Yeah, certainly. I guess “lonely” isn’t really what it feels like.
Myuto: But, there are times when I think, “I want to dance!” However, if it restarted, I would probably just feel “how intense” and complain again (laugh).
Hiroki: Every year it felt like that cycle right (laugh).
Noeru: When Playzone practice would begin, even though I would gain muscle, my body would steadily get thinner (laugh).
Hiroki: Being able to participate in Playzone left a huge memory in our lives. But our lives are still continuing from here on out!
It’s important to treasure the feeling of not wanting to lose while still collaborating as the 3 groups
Ryuya: And, the next thing that we appeared in was “Johnny’s Ginza.”
Hiroki: Yeaaah, we did our best right~.
Myuto: Who know that it would be decided to add a Tokyo Dome show to the schedule!
Hiroki: Yeah, and moreover, even a tour!
Noeru: ...The reader’s bewilderment is surely building up right now (laugh). Certainly this talk will be released after the performance actually happens, it’s still a month before it begins (laugh)! (This interview was taken at the end of April). First of all, let’s just go with talking about when Kurie was decided.
Hiroki: For me, of course I was happy, but I was also frustrated.
Noeru: Yeah that’s true. Although the additional shows were decided, the first time we heard of it, there was talk of doing “Together with MAD and MADE, a sum total of 10 people with 1 performance.”
Myuto: But now I think doing it with 10 people is a good thing. Until now we haven’t really worked together with MADE, but now there’s so much we’ve learned from them.
Hiroki: (Akiyama) Taiga-kun is super talented, right. His choreography and organization for the song that all 10 of us dance together is especially cool!
Ryuya: Kanjani8’s “Masterpiece” right. Although Taiga-kun came up with the core of the choreography, (MAD’s Matsumoto) Kouta-kun is the one who chose the song. Kouta-kun said he wanted to do it no matter what.
Myuto: So that’s how it was. That’s why Kouta-kun made the choreography for the hook part of the song.
Noeru: And Shime choreographed the interlude part, so it really was the collective power of all 3 groups in that song.
Hiroki: But because all 10 people were involved, there were too many opinions that couldn’t be gathered right. Eventually at the end we’d just take a majority vote (laugh).
Myuto: In regards to our roles… For me, I tried to be as harmonious as possible (laugh).
Hiroki: As expected, I was in charge of the comedy (laugh). Noeru was occupied with school so he has missed a lot of practices, but there’s also a Noeru produced part right.
Noeru: Yeah, I’m still mulling that over. Until now I did a short overseas study abroad trip and I got to see various things, so I’m thinking it’d be good if I could cultivate that to share it in the show. I’m in the middle of trying to challenge creating a part that shows that the image of Johnny’s walking some royal road is different from reality.
Ryuya: I did choreography, but it was only for the two songs that the 4 of us danced to that I made everything for; the rest we all made together.
Noeru: You don’t have to be so modest, Shime, because you seriously worked hard for that.
Ryuya: As far as doing it for 10 people, after all it was hard. If it’s just us 4, then I already know each of our strong points, so an image will appear immediately.
Hiroki: The other day on “Shounen Club” when we danced to “One in a Million,” Shime did the choreography for it.
Noeru: He properly highlighted each of our good qualities, and it made me think “We can rely on him” once again.
Ryuya: At that time, I showed the choreographer-san what I first came up with, and they told me “If you don’t push forward what you actually want to do, then you can’t make the most of everyone’s idiosyncrasies,” so I remade it with that in mind. Since I learned a lot from that, this time too I wanted to make something that showed off everyone’s individuality. Myuto can seriously do anything, Noeru makes the performance become dynamic, Hiroki can make difficult choreography look easy when he dances to it…
Hiroki: When Shime dances, it looks kinda heavy right. Like his center of gravity is lowered or something.
Myuto: Yeah, the way he dances makes it seem like his body weighs around 80 kilograms (laugh).
Noeru: Kurie is a performance where you can enjoy individuality of us four!
Ryuya: That’s right, there are parts that show off each of our specialties.
Hiroki: Shime is also challenging some MC parts too, right. If he manages it properly today too then it’ll definitely be alright (laugh)! Of course this performance is created by the collective power of all 10 of us, but we still don’t intend to lose to MAD and MADE.
Myuto: Yeah. Since we don’t want to lose to older groups, the “Travis Japan Soul” that we’ve been cultivating since before will break out this time too!
A Part of Your Body that You Like:
Noeru: I like my abdominal muscles, but… I guess I’ll go with my left hand, since it’s going to be photographed (laugh). This might be because I took piano lessons when I was little, but my left hand is definitely bigger than my right. I’ve injured my right hand a couple times, so there’s a finger that probably hasn’t grown properly, but because of that I’m always thinking that I want to display my useful left hand in a pretty way. On stage too, I dance with an awareness of showing even my 3 centimeter fingertips.
Myuto: Collarbone. One time a doctor praised it (laugh). When I got an x-ray, the doctor said “I can tell your mom properly makes you nutritious food because of your collarbone.” Although it’s not actually like that in reality (laugh), but I sort of like the line of my collarbone. If we’re talking about a part that can be seen while dancing then it’s my hands. I’m precise right down to my fingertips, so until the very end I’m careful to not relax.
Hiroki: I don’t really know what it’s called, but this area of my wrist that sticks out (laugh). Rather than saying I like it, it’s just that ever since I was little I’ve always wondered about this part, so I often look at it. When I was in Kindergarten I thought mine was the only one that stuck out like that, but even when I found out that wasn’t the case, I still thought about it like “Why is this part like that?” I feel like if it wasn’t there, the wrist would probably be more pretty right… Isn’t it sort of dinosaur-like (laugh)?
Ryuya: My forearm. The reason is because my veins pop out… It’s often said that it’s attractive when your veins pop out, but it’s not like I’m trying to particularly appeal that aspect of my arms (laugh)! It’s just, even if I’m not really doing anything they stick out, and people often tell me that it looks good. Personally… It’s just normal, they’re not bad I guess. It’s that sort of degree (laugh).
(So can I just say that I'm taking modern dance at my university right now, and Ryuya is like the epitomy of modern dance, it's incredible. Like the heavy-ness and lower center of gravity. He's seriously my inspiration in that class ahaha)
★It's okay to share this translation with other fans, but please only share a link to my journal. Do not repost without a link or credit to me. I am not a native speaker so there may be mistakes, and corrections are welcome. Thanks, & comments are appreciated~ ^^★