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Movement Lifestyle graced us with another episode of their adventure in Korea with YG Entertainment. In this episode we see choreographer Shaun Evaristo and Big Bang vocalist Tae Yang continuing to rehearse for his solo comeback. Although you will see some funny moments during the rehearsal, the focus is there for sure. For a dancer/choreographer, this helped me understand more about how difficult it is to put such an amazing performance together and it’s not always about the glitz and glamor people see on television.

Shaun gives us a behind the scenes look on what goes in rehearsal with Tae Yang and also tells us about how he understands what he has to do in order to get things done. He was sent to Korea for a reason, so it’s all fun, but when it comes to business, no games. You also get to see how he understands the artist he works with.

The episode ends with motivation circle with all the dancers, Tae Yang, and Shaun giving positive words to each other. It was funny how Shaun was saying “Okay so I know a lot of you don’t understand English so (looks at Tae Yang) you’re going to translate for me.”After the credits, a preview for the third episode was shown, introducing us to a new guest… G-Dragon!

To watch the video click here:

source: movementlifestyle, kanauru, yg entertainment

Shaun Evaristo, Keone Madrid, and Mari Martin, three choreographers from Movement Lifestyle were given the opportunity to help with choreography for one of Korea’s famous entertainment companies, YG Entertainment. We already know Shaun very well through his work with TaeYang and Big Bang. Now with the help of Keone and Mari, the trio were given the task to work with dances for TaeYang, Se7en, and 2NE1.

Movement Lifestyle, along with the help of Kanauru Productions documented their adventure in Korea and released their first web episode on September 28, 2010. It showed a behind the scenes look of what goes on in the dance studio. The first guest on the show was Big Bang Vocalist TaeYang, learning the choreography for his song ‘Just a Feeling.’ As a special treat for Keone’s birthday, the K-pop star serenaded him with his little rendition of ‘Happy Birthday.’ What a lucky guy! Girls would kill to be in your position.

Kanauru Productions and Movement Lifestyle will be releasing more web episodes of their adventures in Korea and their work with 2ne1 and Se7en. Maybe we get to see some cameos from the other members of YG Family? Who knows. Stay tuned to find out!

For more information on Movement Lifestyle, visit their:

Website

Twitter

Youtube

For more information on Kanauru Productions, visit their:

Website

Twitter

Youtube

Check out ML| Adventures with YG Entertainment:

Part 1:

Part 2:

cr: movementlifestyle, kanauru productions

Fans got really excited when they found out Big Bang’s vocalist TaeYang, real name Dong Young Bae, will be releasing his first full length album “SOLAR” on July 1st. Throughout the week, YG Entertainment has been releasing the track titles from his album, leaving the fans in suspense. Some of the tracks you may already heard, like “Wedding Dress,” “Only Look at Me,” “Where U At,” and “Prayer,” but there are new tracks that are to be heard. There will be two versions of this album: a regular version and a deluxe version.

Well, the full track list is finally complete! Along with an audio preview to the first track, which is called, “SOLAR.” The title track in which TaeYang is to promote will be “I Need a Girl,” featuring Big Bang Leader G-Dragon. The MV is already in the process of filming and it is heard that Sandara Park will be in the video, based on the photos from her me2day . What a great contribution for YG Family, they’re ALWAYS together! Also Shaun Evaristo, whom we interviewed in the beginning of this year, is to be helping YG Entertainment and TaeYang with choreography, so we all know that the dancing is going to be flawless!

I’m excited for this album to come out! Being a TaeYang fan myself, I’m ready to hear and see what he has in store for us. What do you guys think of his track list and audio preview?

Here is the full track list:

source: bigbangupdates, bbupdates2010 @ youtube, allkpop, soompi, omgkpop, ygbigbang,com/taeyang

Rap artist Jay-Z,  Stevie Wonder, Nas, The Smashing Pumpkins, Nickelback, and Taylor Swift, are amongst the 50 acts that are scheduled to perform at Summer Sonic, Japan’s largest summer festival this August 7th and 8th at the Tokyo, Makuhari, and Osaka sites.  All those fans who want to attend can begin purchasing tickets on May 29th.

I had the opportunity to attend Rutgers University’s Korean Student Association’s (KSA) Project Korea III on April 3, 2010. It was a show highlighting Korean culture and appreciating it in a fun yet entertaining way. The students who took part in putting this event together along with the help of sponsors such as allkpop and Dramafever did an amazing job, making this event a huge success. Of course with a creative and hilarious musical and CRAZY Performers’ line up, who wouldn’t?

The show started off with a promotional video of the annual semi formal dance that KSA has which happens around the end of April. The video was a spoof of the FOX television series ‘Glee,’ and being a ‘Glee’ fan myself, I found it really awesome and amusing. What a way to promote! Following that, KSA’s President, James Kim, and Vice President, Soon Ho Choi, were the emcees for the evening, explaining what KSA was about and giving the audience such a warm welcome in both English and Korean. Also there were raffle tickets being sold before the show so the emcees announced some of the winners, receiving a signed Project Korea poster as their prize. The raffles went on throughout the show, announcing winners before each segment.

Following that was the musical KSA planned and worked hard on. The story was based of a typical K-Drama: Common Girl, Rich boy, or a prince in this case, they meet on bad terms, they’re both put in an arranged marriage as a promise their grandfathers made years ago, she’s having a hard time being a princess, the prince’s rival happens to be his cousin who wants to push him off the thrown so he uses the princess to do so by wooing her, and somehow someway throughout all the chaos they still end up together with all the lovey dovey cute playfullness both have. It was a good musical. My personal favorite, was the ‘fight’ between the two princes. Throughout the musical, the actors used K-Pop idol dances to showcase their messages and how they felt, songs such as 2PM’s “Heartbeat”, TaeYang’s “Wedding Dress”, and Brown Eyed Girl’s “Sign” were a few of the songs used to dance too. The fight between Prince Shin and his cousin was a U-Kiss/Bravesound dance battle, using the songs “Man Man Ha Ni” and “Bingeul Bingeul Bingeul”. It was really creative and funny; both sides did a good job.

Once the musical concluded, James came back on stage to thank some of the people of KSA who helped make Project Korea come to life and after that, the audience were graced with a performance line up that left my ears ringing (you’ll see as you keep reading).

The line up began with the acoustic sounds and beautiful voice of Clara Chung. She was Kollaboration LA’s most recent winner. Her performance was amazing and she got the audience involved as well. Plus, the way she recorded her voice as well as a bunch of other instruments making it into one melody on stage, just blew me away.

Following that was Philadephia’s own Decipher. He, along with Soon Ho, performed his version of  Lloyd Banks’ “Beamer, Benz, and Bentley,” it’s called “Hyundai, Daewoo, Kia.” He showed his dance moves on stage, it was smooth and slick , as well as slowed it down for the ladies with a slow track. Korean American TaeYang from Philly maybe?

Right after, we had Johnnyphlo on stage. He did an amazing job as well, getting the audience involved with his song “Keep Your Head Up to the Sky.” Also he had Ailee join him onstage for his song off of his recent album “Basic Strategy,” “Rollercoaster”. That song till this is day is one of my personal favorites. Following that, he gathered all of the other performers in a joint collab on the Wonder Girls R&B version of “Nobody.” Here’s a fun fact! Did you know that Johnnyphlo is also a part of KSA? Well believe it!!!

To end of the show with a bang, yes a bang, we were introduced to Seattle’s BBoy Dance Crew, Art of Movement. For people who know Art of Movement, or for people who follow K-Pop very well, Jay Park, or Jaebeom, is in the group, making his first public appearance since his time with 2PM in Korea. It was really good seeing him with his crew. The crew played some games allowing audience members to win Art of Movement towels. The games were very interesting as they catered to each crew member’s talents, like walking in a hand stand, being the best at rock paper scissors, staring without blinking, and even being the master of dancing to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.” The crew even got to do some freestyle break dancing which got the crowd roaring like crazy. It could really leave your ears ringing. I know mine were XD.

Project Korea III was so much fun. If given the opportunity, I’d go again. Thanks to KSA for putting such an amazing event!

Click here to check out the photos from Project Korea III!

Recently, Aimee Lee Lucas, assistant choreographer and dancer to YG Entertainment’s 2ne1 and Big Bang (you may notice her as the sexy lady dancing with Tae Yang in Big Bang’s ‘Number 1‘ music video), was interviewed by Kanauru Productions. Aimee is also known very well since she works with Shaun Evaristo, whom we at AMIN had the privilege of interviewing in the past.

In the interview, she was asked how working with YG was. Her answer was:

“YG takes care of us. Every time we go, it’s five star treatment… Everywhere they go, they take us along. We’re just like one of the family.”

She was also asked what it was like working Big Bang’s G-Dragon, Tae Yang, and 2ne1. The interview itself was very down to earth with some humor put in between.

Aimee, we wish you luck in all your endeavors and maybe we can even have the pleasure of having an interview with you too!

Check out the interview with Aimee:

Check out the interview with Shaun Evaristo!

credit: kanauru @ youtube, kanauru productions, 2ne1evo, aimee lee lucas @ facebook, Always TaeYang

There was talk among fans that Big Bang’s vocalist Dong YoungBae aka Tae Yang aka SOL (this guy needs to stop having so many names) will be doing a collaboration with Japanese recording artist Thelma Aoyama in December. Teasers for the song have been released during the process, making fans of both artists anticipate even more for the final product. Finally, with the track leaked days before, the MV is finally here!

Aoyama stated in the promotional preview of the MV that she was a big fan of Big Bang and their music, leaving Tae Yang honored and thankful .

The video itself shows the contrast of both singers on a rotating stage where toward the end they are together but with their backs against each other. Sometimes I wished they would’ve turned around for more interaction, but that’s just me. However, according to fans, this MV has to be one of the good videos with a Korean and Japanese artist collaborating together.

The official single for “Fall in Love” will be released on January 27, 2010. Also TaeYang will be releasing his first full album “Real” later this year. Expect some big things from these two artists!

credit: allkpop, CodeMonMonFan @ youtube, seoulbeats, AlwaysTaeYang

I think this an issue that needs to be thoroughly addressed. In 2009, I noticed a trend, which is still continuing today. In a few music videos, alleyways seem to be a popular setting choice. Apparently, dancing in an alleyway automatically makes you a certified “badass.” The setting is dark, usually damp, and all around just dirty. Let’s check out some of the music videos that make it on this list.

The first music video of 2009 that involved a dark, dirty alley was KAT-TUN’s “Rescue.” I must admit, this is one of their better songs. This shows the boys dancing on top of buildings, in alleys, and in tunnels in black and white. The boys proceed to leap over buildings and run through tunnels. They then proceed to all dance in a group to Nakamaru’s beatboxing. It’s a seemingly simple video that does make sense when you realize the message and what drama the song was used for. It was used for Nakamaru’s drama “Rescue,” which is about firefighters saving people from burning buildings and whatever else drama ensues because of it.

RESCUE – KAT-TUN

I may be missing some music videos but I first noticed this trend with Tae Yang’s “Where U At.” It was an awesome video, where Tae Yang would swoon the ladies asking, “I just wanna know, If you feel the same, Where U At?” I know he definitely made me swoon along with many others. With such amazing choreographers/backup dancers, Shaun Evaristo and Lyle Beniga, Tae Yang was definitely able to pull this together. By the way Tae Yang, we’re still waiting for your new album, “Real.”

Where U At – TAEYANG

This trend continued with Brian Joo, who was once a part of the duo Fly to the Sky. He recently released his solo album, “Manifold.” The title track he released is called 내 여자 (My Girl) feat. Supreme Team. Netizens immediatey compared it to Tae Yang’s “Where U At.” Some stated that the alley way was the same exact one used for Tae Yang. Either way, I love this song and I wish Brian the best of luck. Also, in America, it’s Brian’s birthday today. Happy birthday Brian!

내 여자 (My Girl) – Brian Joo

The most recent track released with an alley involved in any way would be 4Minute member, Hyun Ah’s solo track “Change” feat. Poppin Dragon (용준형). This music video has Hyun Ah popping her way through the alley, on the gates, and on the floor, singing about change. She then proceeds to start popping in several other places including a room that has a discoesque floor, in the rain, and what seems to be some sort of purgatory. Being the first female artist to go solo for 2010, we wish you luck Hyun Ah. Now, POP your way through the competition!

Change feat. Poppin Dragon – Hyun Ah

May Pang’s AMIN is proud to present our first video interview with Shaun Evaristo, a young and talented Filipino American choreographer. Originally from San Fransico, Evaristo’s passion for dance has brought him around the world. He has worked with many artists such as Vanessa Hudgens, Se7en, NLT, Omarion and Big Bang. Among his travels, I was able to catch Mr. Evaristo at a workshop in Tokyo, Japan before he headed to South Korea to work with more artists. I was so excited to meet with Mr. Evaristo (if you couldn’t tell) and it was a pleasure interviewing him.

Watch the interview here!

Check out the photos from the interview!

[Show as slideshow]

From watching this season of America’s Best Dance Crew, I have not been satisfied.
Until the 4th episode that is.
The ABDC teams took on the unique style of Bollywood and did a remarkable tribute to the traditional dances of India.

The teams were trained by the famous choreographer, Nakul Dev Mahajan. The different types of dances consisted of Bhangra, Rajasthani, Kathak, Bharatnyam, Giddha and Garba.
The teams did an outstanding job performing all those slightly difficult dance moves but in my eyes, the overall best performance was by Rhythm City.

Rhythm City transformed into Bollywood City, electrified the audience and impressed the judges as they presented their style and the moves of Bharatnyam to the famous song, “Jai Ho” from the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire. The team showed respect for the dance by taking off their shoes while performing as its done the traditional way.

Great Job ABDC!

Take a At Look Sunday’s Performance by ‘Rhythm City’