Hip Hop Workshops

西野　武


西田健二

I attend 3 hip hop workshops organized by People’s Association (PA) for these 2 years. Two by Japanese dancers and one by a Korean dancer.

The following is the workshop I attended:

1) 西野　武

The first workshop I attended in 2005 is by 西野さん. Reason for me signing up this workshop was because 西野さん is the choreographer for w-inds song 「キレイだ」 （＾。＾）

The workshop started by showing two videos of w-inds 「キレイだ」and　安室奈美恵　「Say the Word」 (I hope this is the correct song). 西野さん choreographed the dances for these two songs.

西野さん did about half an hour warm up with us and taught us the choreography of his dance. 西野さん is a very patient person. Despite the communication barrier, he tried his best to communicate and teach us. I like his choreography and enjoyed the workshop so much.

At the end of the workshop, 西野さん did a solo dance. Wow, so fantastic!

西野さん was so surprised when Rさん and I know Japanese. We approached him at the end of the workshop and I asked him who dance best in w-inds. He replied 涼平　and 龍一. I asked him further if compare the two of them? He replied龍一! Both Rさん and I looked at each other responded “Yeah!” with a V sign at the same time. It was so funny. 西野さん laughed. Rさん and I did not expect that we will have the same response. I told 西野さん that we attended w-inds concert in Taipei and asked if he will be taking part in w-inds 2006 concerts. Too bad he said no.

西野さん came to Singapore to conduct workshop again in April this year. I could not attend because I was at Japan then. I hope he will come again soon!

2) A workshop by a Korean dancer
I can’t recall his name or the workshop. I remember that he taught us “isolation.” I did not enjoy the workshop though!

3) 西田健二

This is the recent workshop I attended. 西田さん did an hour of warm up with us. Oh gosh, I cannot believe it. His choreography is abit tough and I do not like it as compared to 西野さん choreography. I was rather disappointed that he spent only a short time with us to go through his choreography. I guess it was because he was tired. He has another workshop before us.
　
西田さん was rather responsive in replying to my questions. I can sense that he is quite mischievous. When one of the participants asked whether he can show us his dance skills, the PA staff immediately rejected giving reason that he is too tired. He knew the request from his translator (a quite handsome young man from Japan, looks like mixed blood) and started dancing by only moving a bit of his body and asked what dance we want to see. I popped out the word “ブレキンーグ” (Breaking). He immediately did “breaking.” I think he must be cursing me at heart that I said that. 　

After the workshop I talked to him and asked him what musical he is doing now and whether there is any homepage. He will be doing a musical called Elizabeth next year. This will be the second running for this musical.

I am glad that PA brings in dancers from overseas to conduct workshops. I hope they will continue with this. I will definitely take part in such workshops whenver I can. Looking forward to the next workshop!