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The History of Para˛Mahou
Para˛Mahou, meaning “ParaPara Magic”, was formed by Mi~ke and Gelly in the summer of 2003, a few months after the Bemani-based arcade in Nashville, Dance Beat Arcade, set up a
"ParaPara Paradise: 2nd Mix" machine. The creation of this team was inspired by the United States ParaPara team "Kikimo-dan" (now known as "Ecks-D ParaPara"), whom P˛M learned ParaPara dancing from originally. The team
featured in the “ParaPara Paradise” video series, the “ParaPara Allstars”, were the final inspiration which led to the formation of Para˛Mahou.
Until the summer of 2004, Para˛Mahou only consisted of two members, Mi~ke and Gelly. The two of them first focused on learning the ParaPara dances featured on the arcade machine, before
advancing to the dances featured in the ParaPara Paradise video series. Para˛Mahou's first live performance was during Dance Beat Arcade's Halloween lock-in, which was a special mix of songs
made by the team’s personal mixer, DJ JaG. Performed outside in Nashville’s chilly autumn weather, everyone who had shown up to the lock-in flocked outside to see what true ParaPara
dancing was really like, learning that it was indeed much more than “just a game”.
Eventually, the Nashville anime convention caught wind of ParaPara dancing and Para˛Mahou, and invited Mi~ke and Gelly to host a panel teaching a ParaPara dance. The Middle Tennessee Anime
Convention (dubbed MTAC, for short) in the April of 2004 ended up being an amazing success. The ParaPara dance to the song "Try Me" by Lolita was taught to the panel-goers, and was easily
picked up by everyone. Afterwards, Mi~ke and Gelly performed their second live performance, another special mix of songs put together by DJ JaG. It seemed as if ParaPara was gaining
momentum in Nashville!
It was during this time in which Para˛Mahou finally began to pick up its pace. During the summer of regular ParaPara dancing at Dance Beat Arcade, Mi~ke came across another boy absolutely in
love with the ParaPara game, and was interested in learning more. He was Patches, and soon after, became the third member to join Para˛Mahou. Amazingly, most of Patches' ParaPara skills were
self-taught, and he practiced religiously at home to perfect his moves and learn dances. The summer of 2004 is when the filming of a handful of dances took place at Dance Beat Arcade, featuring
the three-member Para˛Mahou. Also, Mi~ke and Gelly traveled to A-kon 15 in Dallas, Texas, and ended up coming across fellow paralists. One of which was named Rando, and was the leader in
a search for ParaPara dancers to attend Anime Expo 2004 in Anaheim, California, to dance for the J-Pop artist Yoko Ishida's eurobeat concert. Although Gelly couldn't attend due to the cost of the
trip, Mi~ke journeyed to California to perform with Yoko Ishida, alongside five talented ParaPara dancers from across the United States.
With the autumn of 2004 came a bit of a slump. Patches, still being in high school, had to return in August. Mi~ke ended up leaving Nashville for Los Angeles in October of 2004, which left the team
leader-less; however, Gelly was more determined than ever, and soon learned that two of the remaining four-year-old "Dance Dance Revolution Nashville" group were actively working hard to
pursue learning more about ParaPara, along with a friend of theirs. Gelly hastily took matters into her hands, and officially inducted Apollo, Yukari*Kiss, and Midori into Para˛Mahou. The group of
four practiced regularly, and during one practice in particular, called Mi~ke in California. "We have more members in the team now," Gelly explained. "ParaPara is finally getting somewhere~!" It
was also explained that MTAC had invited Para˛Mahou back to host more panels, and talk of a ParaPara tournament was even mentioned.
That was all it took. Mi~ke missed his friends back in Nashville, especially the ParaPara team he had left behind. In January of 2005, Mi~ke packed his bags and headed back home, and
re-established Para˛Mahou, consisting now of 6 members: Mi~ke, Gelly, Patches, Apollo, Yukari*Kiss, and Midori. Instantly upon returning home, Mi~ke and Gelly moved into an apartment
together, and put ParaPara on the forefront. Team meetings were held every Wednesday, and the team immediately went to work on developing the team in preparation for MTAC Go!
During this period, the mixer of the past two Para˛Mahou performances, DJ JaG, asked to join the team, and became the seventh member of Para˛Mahou. Although his ParaPara skills
weren't as fine-tuned as the other members, his hard work and determination to do his best made up for what he lacked. It was also around this time when Midori mentioned that her
high school's drama club hosted talent exhibitions at night every now and then, in order to raise money, and suggested that Para˛Mahou participate. And, amazingly, the team managed to take a
one-month break to mix songs, learn dances, and perfect skills, and performed the "Goes to School" Special Performance for Midori's high school. Unfortunately, Patches was unable to participate
due to those lovely circumstances in life that we've all come to know and hate. However, this performance ended up acting as a great motivation and practice-performance for MTAC, which was
now only one month away.
When the time drew near, it became clear that Apollo wouldn't be able to participate in the MTAC Go Special Performance due to work. However, he continued to attend practices and work hard to
put in his part of the team, consistently putting forth suggestions on choreography and panel-presenting ideas. Also, all of the members of the team massively improved their ParaPara skills in a
surprisingly short amount of time, making sure that this MTAC would be one that would set Para˛Mahou on the map.
Well, MTAC Go arrived.... and ParaPara was apparently the main course on the convention's dinner plates. Friday night, just before the convention's opening ceremonies, Para˛Mahou performed
their first-ever six-member full-scale Special Performance, and a few hours later, the team hosted a panel which explained the history of Super Eurobeat music and ParaPara dancing. Throughout
the rest of the convention, the team hosted several spontaneous dance-lesson panels, as there were unexpected blank spots in the events schedule, and we were asked to deal with the con-goers
who were demanding for more ParaPara. The most popular dance that was taught during the convention was "Deluxe (Eurobeat Mix)", by the J-Euro group, Key-a-Kiss.
In 2005, Para˛Mahou's activity was similar to a roller coaster! DJ JaG ended up leaving the group and moved to the west of the States. Mi~ke, Gelly,
and Yukari*Kiss attended KuniCon Atlanta that summer, and ended up meeting a very talented ParaPara dancer, Myron, who became the first member of Para˛Mahou ~Atlanta~. Soon after this,
two dancers from Minneapolis, Minnesota contacted Mi~ke, and formed Para˛Mahou ~Minneapolis~, whose members are Pink | Lady and TuXie. One week before Anime Weekend Atlanta, a
long-time personal friend of Mi~ke’s, Angil, officially joined the Nashville team. Angil was one of the choreographers and dancers in the first-ever ParaParaStage.com-choreographed ParaPara
routine. Four more paralists were recruited at Anime Weekend Atlanta into P˛M ~Atlanta~: DM Ashura, Nathan, Nagi, and FeOz, however, they have since disbanded.
In September, two more members joined the team, via Middle Tennessee State University’s Anime Club: Pudding and Krystal. Both were new to ParaPara, but their passion and love for the dance
has led to amazing things! The team roster at the end of 2005 consisted of eight members: Mi~ke, Gelly, Yukari*Kiss, Apollo, Midori, Angil, Pudding, and Krystal. Patches left the team due to the priorities of high school and marching band.
Regardless of the slump prior to the fall of 2005, thanks to the ParaPara Boom that was taking place both in America and Japan, motivation returned to the Nashville-based team, and things started up once again. Mi~ke
was selected by Geneon to be a choreographer for ParaPara dances to the songs featured on the “ParaPara MAX US Mix” CD series in January of 2006, and was even featured in Yoko Ishida's ParaPara and Live-in-Concert DVDs, "ParaPara MAX -- The Moves 101" and "Anime-Pop Star Yoko Ishida: Live In Concert".
With this, P˛M was on a roll! MTAC 6th Period's Special Performance is the most elaborate ParaPara performance by Para˛Mahou to-date, and was performed at various conventions across the US over the course of 2006, including A-kon, PersaCon, Anime Weekend Atlanta, and JapanFest. The final performance of the 2006 SP (special performance) was at Ohayocon in January 2007.
The roster of Para˛Mahou was jostled around a bit for the 2007 season; Yukari*Kiss and Midori both declared inactivity of membership due to needing to focus on work, school, and life.
After MTAC Prime, Krystal, Pudding, and Apollo all decided to leave the team for personal reasons. However, the team managed to pick up two new members for the 2008 performance season: Kayla and Penny, who both debuted in the "Para Rangers" special performance at MTAC Infinity in 2008. Kayla unfortunately had to leave the team... because she became a mommy!
In 2009, Para˛Mahou added Sonnenschirm, Chisa, Bunny, Aazera, Myuu and Daidai to their team roster, putting their numbers at a solid nine members for the events at MTAC Ninja. Daidai has since left P˛M to pursue his own team, however. With MTAC Odyssey on the horizon in 2010, the eight members of Para˛Mahou continue onward to spread the energy of ParaPara dancing and eurobeat music. Care to join us for the next ParaPara boom? We'll be there... will you?
Whew, that was a lot. But that's us, and how we ended up where we are today! Be sure to check out our events page to see where we will be heading next!
Special thanks to Kevin Lillard of A Fan's View for photos!
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