Needs more SweetS
One of SNSD's supposed big appeal points is in how they well they sync up in their 9-person formations. "Military precision" is the phrase often employed. The style of sync SNSD usually has is based in rigidity. They snap into poses together at the same angles, position after position after position. Perfume also specializes in this.
But there are other dance styles that are more based in flow, where the moves aren't about the ending positions but the movements themselves, and these are much harder to sync. When SNSD does sync up for these styles, like in ITNW or Rhythm Nation, it's a breath-taking sight. When they aren't, it looks very messy, like early Bad Girl performances, their MAMA performance, or most SKE48 performances. In the case of the latter, further inspection reveals that they are doing the moves with each other, but because they each put their own spin on the positions, like limb angles and such, it looks out of sync.
But there are some cases where the performers can be putting their own spin on the same steps and yet still seeming in perfect sync. I like to call this "loose sync," as usually the music for these performances don't have the emphasis on the beat and feel looser as well. It's much harder to achieve loose sync because it's dependent on the chemistry between performers. Any decent dancers can achieve regular sync given enough rehearsal time in front of a mirror. But dancing differently and still feeling matched? That takes EVEN MORE rehearsal time, an innate understanding of how one's body moves to the music, and usually perfectionist tendencies from the parties involved.
I apologize for the overwhelming amount of Fred. Gene tends to dance solo or with his partners instead of besides them.
To be added: Ballin' the Jack
Why do I bring this up? Because I'm slightly obsessed with the loose sync SweetS possessed, especially here:
SweetS have already shown that they can take on SNSD in the regular sync despartment as well, but one of the things that always has me in awe of them is how relaxed they seemed to make the choreography look. They never seemed like they were trying to match each other's poses, and yet they move in one cohesive unit. Getting bouncing to look light is already hard, but they manage to time their bouncing to be exactly together. The lunges and spins into various split-second formations are at the same rate of acceleration, and although they appear to be letting their arms move freely, it doesn't appear flaily and even they seem matched with the bouncing although they're in different positions.(My favorite moment being Mai at around 4:06 as the camera sweeps around) That is the true measure of loose sync. Just look at how Aya and Haruna match up their freaking head tilts in the second pre-chorus,(2:33) for pete's sake. <3 It looks so casual and unplanned. And that ending, shisus.
I could go on and on about this dance shot. First, the choreography never repeats itself, not even for the chorus. At most it has a level of move repeats on par with Replay. And the camera movements and angles make some of their sudden turns and shifts look like moonwalk-style sliding, making my mind asplode.(like Miori at 2:16)
Live version that also better shows off the kickass footwork break at the end of the interlude:
SweetS - Mienai Tsubasa HOT WAVE 2005 by mika_nana
In comparison to most of Kpop, which employs athletic R&B styles of dancing where showing how much effort they're putting into the dancing is an appeal point, SweetS goes the way of BoA instead, and makes their choreography look damn easy, and I can tell you that that is even harder than making it look hard. The difference being that BoA has had training a much wider variety of dance styles, whereas SweetS only have what they had learned before Avex and all of the locking in their current dances.
To be added: concert version of Mienai Tsubasa, showing a level of sync in lightfooted bouncing that SNSD could only dream of. And I mean even just Dance Line. They're just too used to rigid power-based dancing although at least Sooyoung would be well suited for this dance. For now, here's a link to the concert. And you might as well just watch the entire damn concert, because it is amazing.
It's not just Mienai Tsubasa, either:
This dance is INCREDIBLY loose, and look at them in perfect sync compared to even the best performance of Bad Girl. This is on par with Rhythm Nation, what with all of the locking.
Live version, dancing EVEN LOOSER because they're pacing themselves for the rest of the concert:
Oh yeah, and you wanna see REAL sync?
To be added: Once Upon a Time
But there are other dance styles that are more based in flow, where the moves aren't about the ending positions but the movements themselves, and these are much harder to sync. When SNSD does sync up for these styles, like in ITNW or Rhythm Nation, it's a breath-taking sight. When they aren't, it looks very messy, like early Bad Girl performances, their MAMA performance, or most SKE48 performances. In the case of the latter, further inspection reveals that they are doing the moves with each other, but because they each put their own spin on the positions, like limb angles and such, it looks out of sync.
But there are some cases where the performers can be putting their own spin on the same steps and yet still seeming in perfect sync. I like to call this "loose sync," as usually the music for these performances don't have the emphasis on the beat and feel looser as well. It's much harder to achieve loose sync because it's dependent on the chemistry between performers. Any decent dancers can achieve regular sync given enough rehearsal time in front of a mirror. But dancing differently and still feeling matched? That takes EVEN MORE rehearsal time, an innate understanding of how one's body moves to the music, and usually perfectionist tendencies from the parties involved.
Click to viewI apologize for the overwhelming amount of Fred. Gene tends to dance solo or with his partners instead of besides them.
To be added: Ballin' the Jack
Why do I bring this up? Because I'm slightly obsessed with the loose sync SweetS possessed, especially here:
SweetS have already shown that they can take on SNSD in the regular sync despartment as well, but one of the things that always has me in awe of them is how relaxed they seemed to make the choreography look. They never seemed like they were trying to match each other's poses, and yet they move in one cohesive unit. Getting bouncing to look light is already hard, but they manage to time their bouncing to be exactly together. The lunges and spins into various split-second formations are at the same rate of acceleration, and although they appear to be letting their arms move freely, it doesn't appear flaily and even they seem matched with the bouncing although they're in different positions.(My favorite moment being Mai at around 4:06 as the camera sweeps around) That is the true measure of loose sync. Just look at how Aya and Haruna match up their freaking head tilts in the second pre-chorus,(2:33) for pete's sake. <3 It looks so casual and unplanned. And that ending, shisus.
I could go on and on about this dance shot. First, the choreography never repeats itself, not even for the chorus. At most it has a level of move repeats on par with Replay. And the camera movements and angles make some of their sudden turns and shifts look like moonwalk-style sliding, making my mind asplode.(like Miori at 2:16)
Live version that also better shows off the kickass footwork break at the end of the interlude:
SweetS - Mienai Tsubasa HOT WAVE 2005 by mika_nana
In comparison to most of Kpop, which employs athletic R&B styles of dancing where showing how much effort they're putting into the dancing is an appeal point, SweetS goes the way of BoA instead, and makes their choreography look damn easy, and I can tell you that that is even harder than making it look hard. The difference being that BoA has had training a much wider variety of dance styles, whereas SweetS only have what they had learned before Avex and all of the locking in their current dances.
To be added: concert version of Mienai Tsubasa, showing a level of sync in lightfooted bouncing that SNSD could only dream of. And I mean even just Dance Line. They're just too used to rigid power-based dancing although at least Sooyoung would be well suited for this dance. For now, here's a link to the concert. And you might as well just watch the entire damn concert, because it is amazing.
It's not just Mienai Tsubasa, either:
This dance is INCREDIBLY loose, and look at them in perfect sync compared to even the best performance of Bad Girl. This is on par with Rhythm Nation, what with all of the locking.
Live version, dancing EVEN LOOSER because they're pacing themselves for the rest of the concert:
Oh yeah, and you wanna see REAL sync?
To be added: Once Upon a Time