Friday, April 26th 2018 Show

What a fabulous show this was tonight! DJ Gunner was in great form, Paul and Jilley greeted our frams with champagne and hors d’oeuvres as they arrived, and Babypea hid backstage buried in IMs and wrangling the subscriber as The Wiz made the announcements. Dancers putting on costumes and makeup, stretching out and warming up, it was an exciting night of dazzling entertainment, a bit of tears, and a lot of WOW!

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Gunner
Disturbed – You’re Mine
Love the lighting on this set. Stranded on a barren alien planet, alone but not lonely.

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Jilley
with Paul, Ant, Hailie, Sammy, Wiz
George Ezra – Paradise
Super fun choreo with formations, a happy dance!

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Storm
with Liri
Music of the Night
Very beautiful and romantic, in spite of the tragic ending.

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Antonio
with Wiz, Melina, Gunner, Baby, Hailie, Paul, Jilley
Circle of Life (District 78 Remix) – Lion King
Fantastic set, great costumes, and awesome choreography, this dance was a dazzler!

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Jo
with Seb and Kyser
Can’t Stop that Tap – Juice Music
Step back in time to a nostalgic visit to Vaudeville, can’t stop the tap… timeless!

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Alexis
with Lina, Sammy, Antonio, Rory, and Web
Katy Perry – Unconditionally (Official Ryan Jirovec Cover Video)
Alexis made us cry with this loving take on unconditional love and a look at stigma with mental illness.

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Babypea
with Web, BB, Jilley, Lina
Whissell – Take Em Down
Time to riot, bitches!!

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Lina
Crowd Dances
Christina Aquilera – Not Myself Tonight
Madonna – Human Nature
Envogue – Free Your Mind
What a fantastic set, excellent songs and superb choreography. Heaps of fun!

Friday, April 20th 2018 Show

With thanks to Paul, Jilley and P for organising busy details, DJ Corri for the rehearsal music, DJ Gunner for the show music, and a heap of imaginative choreographers and dependable dancers, we gathered with our Frams (friends and family) to welcome in another weekend! In The Empire Room at Copperhead Road sim. Thank you to all who participated! Here are a few pics from the show, with thanks to R. Crap Mariner. See all of Crap’s fabulous dance photos at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/isfullofcrap/with/27722150518/

Lina
with Hailie, Alexis, Que and Josephine
Kill of the Night by Gin Wigmore

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Ariel
with Devlin, Wiz, Jilley, Alexis
Virtual Choir- You Will Be Found

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Diawa
with Nara
Good Vibes’. Tove Styrke

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Eva
Lo Fang – One That I Want

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Luna
with Antonio, Elayn and Jilley
Billy Joel , Downeaster Alrxa

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Mikiko
Alannah Myles-Black Velvet

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Elayn
with Genie (Renztoy), DarkRaven Ninetails, Master Gunner, BabyPea
Send in the Clowns

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Jilley
with Paul, Pea and Web
Kelly Rowland – Commander ft. David Guetta

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Web
Crowd Dances
Michael Jackson Mix

The incomparable R. Crap with choreographer Web Alicious

Dancing with our beloved FRAMS!

April, Friday the 13th 2018 Show

Here is a look at the show Friday the thirteenth. It was a bit of bad luck in that the lag sleen seemed to be affecting almost everyone, causing delays in the show. But the dedicated, professional team pushed through it, the show went on, and the spectacular acts were well-worth the wait. So much talent, so much imagination, what an honour to feature these performers on the Elysium stage! It is with great thanks to and gratitude for the many creative souls who work so hard to share their visions with others that I post this peek.

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Antonio
SONG: Blake McGrath – “Chains” Cover

If you can handle all this sexy…. *wipes drool from lips*


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Babypea
with Web, Jilley, Misha, Immy, BB, Gracie
SONG: Lapsley – Painter

A dance created as a gift for Web Sass.


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Wiz
SONG: Ursine Vulpine – Wicked Game

Wiz just loves to make me cry, and this dance was so full of emotion. The simplicity of the costume only highlighted the feeling of the choreography even more.


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Britt
with Web Sass, Jilley, Ginty (ginty bachem) and mrhien Fargis
SONG: Taylor Swift “Look What You Made Me Do”

All these sassy caged beauties, don’t be fooled! They are not as delicate as they appear!


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Misha
with Eva, Immy, Gracie, Si, Antonio and Diamonte
SONG: Christina Aguilera – Show Me How You Burlesque

Very exciting choreo and mover work on this one, fabulous Misha!


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Queenie
SONG: The Never-Ending Story

Absolutely enchanting, a performance full of magic on many levels from set to special effects to costume!


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Jilley
SONG: Under the Skin

This was spell-binding, very trippy, I must see this dance again. Matinee perhaps?


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Eva
Crowd Dances
Final Countdown
Stars Align
Major Tom
Sorry I did not get pictures of these because everyone was not rezzing for me, and I didn’t want to upset anyone by posting pics of floating heads. These dances were a BLAST, quite literally, as Eva provided us all with jet packs and blasted us off into the space of the stage. Up up up we went, dancing in the air with our jet packs, then landing and dancing some more. Thank you Eva for such a fun experience!

A Word About Sliding

Well, a few words actually. Sliding is when your avatar is moving but your feet are not. Nine out of ten dancers surveyed agree, sliding looks bad. The occasional tiny slide can be overlooked, if it is fast and small and subtle. But sliding across a stage irritates most viewers and makes people feel disappointment. Why? I believe it is because sliding is considered by most to be sloppy and lazy. It yanks the viewer out of being caught up in the realism of a virtual performance, as though the dance is glitching. As a rule, it just does not look good. A dance gives a viewer so much more fulfilment when the dancer’s feet move as the dancer moves. It makes your dance look more natural and realistic.

How to avoid sliding? Time your animations and movers so that the movers are moving your avatar when the animations are moving your avatar’s feet. This gives your choreography a more natural appeal. It is time consuming and can be frustrating, but your effort and hard work will pay off with a more polished performance. You may need to change what animation you use when you want to move across the stage. You can even time it so that you stop dancing and instead walk across the stage by using a walking animation… or a run, somersault, or similar form of linear movement.

Tom Cruise made sliding look good because he got a running start and had momentum moving him along. Also, he was in his underwear and well… those thighs! Who is looking at his feet! But on the SL stage, slides often stand out glaringly, and unless being used on purpose for some special emphasis, should be avoided. What are your thoughts on sliding? Feel free to comment if you would like to share them.