Japanese Breakdancers Light Up The Stage

by 11 Comments

Ever wonder what TRON would be like if it were an electro-dubstep musical made by Japanese people? I know I have. But no longer do I have to use my imagination as Japan’s Wrecking Crew Orchestra and Minoru Fujimoto have teamed up to create the next best thing: styled dance numbers with LED light suits. The Wrecking Crew Orchestra is providing the dancers and Minoru Fujimoto is providing the insane lighting effects. Together they make for one fantastic performance.

Sony Xperia Promos

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ydeY0tTtF4']

If I’m not mistaken, the live performance came first and then Sony asked them to be part of a commercial to promote their new Xperia phone. That’s understandable given how cool the act is. I’d never even thought of doing something like this. I’ve never really been too big on dance groups, but this just takes things to a whole other level.

You can do so much more with implementing this technology and it really makes the show all that more interesting to watch. There are different special effects one can emulate, eye tricks, and just tons of colors and patterns sparkling across the stage. It’s really entertaining.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoLFdL3nj1g']

Like I said before, these guys have been featured in a CM (commercial message) for Sony’s new Xperia phone. The above video is the 60 second version the below is 30 seconds.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wTnd6TfEMk']

Pretty cool, huh? I think I like the live performance video more though. Even if the video quality is lower and there aren’t any fancy edits, I think you just really need a couple of minutes to get the full effect. I wish they had more lighted dance numbers I could watch.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y233PDhBkGY']

And here’s another video that shows how the commercial was made. It gives a bit more insight into all of the work and preparation that must be done in order to create these performances. I wonder how many times they had to shoot the CM before they got it just right. Not only does the performance depend on the dancers, but also the light crew and sound technicians making sure everything syncs up correctly.

Wreck In The Floor 2011

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNiN_n0KPbs']

As I mentioned before, Wrecking Crew Orchestra is a pretty popular dance crew from Japan. Here I’ve included two videos from one of their more recent performances available on YouTube.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg6Dpopcmak']

There are quite a few of their dance routines available for watching online, but these two are definitely of higher video quality than most of the others. So how did you like their dancing? I think it’s pretty good, but after watching them perform in those TRON suits, anything else just kinda pales in comparison.

Dr. Popeye’s Crazy Lights

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iWHcAGC_5U']

Minoru Fujimoto is an engineering Ph.D candidate at Kobe University, enjoys dancing on his spare time, and has even won multiple awards for his lighting choreography works. Sounds like a pretty cool guy to me. Just look at him go!

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7ET8hSuNbc']

I’m pretty sure that Minoru Fujimoto is the same guy as Dr. Popeye, but in the credits of some of his videos it has his name listed as the dancer and then Dr. Popeye listed as the lighting choreographer.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J77-euN2OVw']

I really like this last video a lot. I think it’s really cool with the dynamics between the two dancers. All the timing involved with getting the movements to sync up with the lighting effects is pretty impressive. Which video is your favorite?

And for those of you interested, you can check out some of his other videos over on his official YouTube page.

So, have these videos inspired you to rethink your path in life and aspire to become a light up fashion dancer? Which performance did you like best? Let us know in the comments!

Saturday Timewaster is a weekly post that features Japanese videos, music, images, or games that will certainly waste your time (some weeks more than others). We hope you enjoy!

  • ZXNova

    I think I remember seeing something like this on America’s Got Talent. Still mindboggling. It’s just so fun to look at.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000334843269 Jacob Saldana

    iLuminate did this. So cool.

  • Mescale

    I’ve always wanted to do a musical version of Romeo and Juliet only instead of the Capulets and the Montagues, it would be Autobots and Decepticons and there would be robot break dancing involved.

  • http://twitter.com/Ball_Tazer Michael

    I am now officially a fan of these people.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Caroline-Elizabeth-Robinson/681638783 Caroline Elizabeth Robinson

    Do you by any chance know what song they used in the first video? It definitely has that Dubstep feel to it.

  • boxie

     Yes. Just yes.

  • John

    They use a handful of different songs – which one are you referring to? What time during the video is it playing?

  • ಠ_ರೃ

    “Ever wonder what TRON would be like if it were an electro-dubstep musical made by Japanese people?”

    So, Tofugu finally gets around to answering the question everyone’s had since first clicking on this article. Personally, I think they show the importance of changing your batteries before a big performance.

  • John

    If you’re talking about the song right near the end, it’s Flux Pavilion - Lines In Wax (feat. Foreign Beggars)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx2nH2RJEAA 

  • Mescale

    Cool! Usually people get really turned off by the homosexual robot love scene between Optimus Prime and Megatron, but its great to meet someone with an open mind.

  • boxie

     That wasn’t really what I was thinking, but that does make me wonder. I’m sure when I watched Transformers there were female transformers, but how do they differ from male transformers? Wait how did any of the transformers come into being?