What is Para Para?

One way of looking at Para para is waving your arms to the beat of the music and stepping from side to side, but that is a simplistic and incomplete definition. The phonomenon of Para para has become huge in Japan, with several night clubs dedicating itself to it, the most notable being Velfarre in Roppongi.

Eurobeat is the staple dance music for Para para, so you'd be hard-pressed to find any slow music. It is fast and has little bass in it, so no hip-hop for Para para.

Each song has a routine to it, composed of moves and poses typical to Para para. I guess you could liken it to line dancing in that everyone knows the moves and does it in sync, or attempts to, but instead of kicking and stepping you extend your arms and rotate them etc.

Para para uses upper body movements most of the time, so it'll be good for firming up those upper arm muscles :� Any stepping from side to side is mainly to help you count beats, that said, if your legs are tired I guess you could just stand there, but you'd look silly.

Republic of Velfarre is...

a group of volunteers endeavouring to promote and increase people's
awareness of Para Para throughout Sydney and beyond. It is also their vision that the Sydney Para Para scene moves beyond dancing Para Para on the ParaParaParadise game and becomes a lifetstyle scene [and not just a hobby - e.g.like street, funk and other dance movements]

Their name is a tribute to the famous "Velfarre" nightclub in Roppongi Japan, where Para Para is currently experiencing a boom.

Being relatively new to the Para Para scene, Sydney has a lot of catching up to do - This is where RoV comes in. With links to the Para Para scene in Hong Kong, RoV is up to date with the latest happenings.

RoV is basically a means to network amongst other people interested in Para Para
and also learn from each other.

RoV holds weekly meetings open to everyone interested in sharing and learning Para Para routines. And yes, we dance out in public.