Schedule
Firstly, although we don’t yet have the exact times, the festival will be held on Sunday probably around afternoon, with a rehearsal just before. Please make sure you’re available on Sunday for at least 3 hours. If you want, you can also take part in a Meet&Greet after the festival to sell your merch or take photos with the spectators!
We operate in the manner of Japanese taibans: each band or performer will have an assigned time slot and will perform their songs in that block. You can apply for a performance of 1 to 4 songs, as you wish, with short MCs (talking to the crowd) if you like. Please note, however, that the 4-song time slots will be limited to a small number of artists. In the interests of a dynamic and original festival, and depending on the number of applications, we may be able to grant you a smaller time slot than that requested.
Accepted performances
You must perform songs of Japanese origin, related to the culture of idols and odorites. For example, since our mission is to spread j-pop culture, a song in Japanese by a k-pop group would not be eligible. If you’re a kaigai idol with original songs, you’re of course welcome to perform them. This is the only exception for performing non-Japanese songs, since original kaigai idol songs are an extension of Japanese idol culture. If you’re not sure whether a song is eligible, don’t hesitate to contact us by private message.
You can perform solo or in a group, in cosplay or not. Our festival favors performances combining singing and dancing, as this is closest to Japanese idol culture, but it’s also possible to apply only dancing or singing (as long as it’s an idol-style performance!). For groups, we’ll have 6 microphones (or more on request) available.
Selection criteria
Acts performing at the festival will be chosen according to the following selection criteria: originality, memorization, synchronization and rhythmic and/or vocal accuracy. Please note, however, that if we run out of performance space, we will base our selection on originality, and this may affect proposals that are too repetitive. If you’re applying for a certain franchise and unfortunately we’ve reached the quota for it, we’ll let you know. If you would like to receive suggestions outside this franchise, or apply for another group/franchise, you can let us know at the same time to increase your chances. Don’t forget that there are many different idol franchises in anime, dynamic dances in odorite culture and so many great songs to discover from the “real” (3D/human) Japanese idols! If you’re interested in getting suggestions of groups to discover in your favorite dance or music style, once again, don’t hesitate to contact us.
We also invite you, when you fill in the form, to tick if you’d be willing to learn, as a bonus, an “ imposed ” song from any of the choices we’d give you. Since the festival’s mission is to educate about the diversity of idol music, we’d like to make sure we have examples of several different styles or companies/franchises. This means that if you apply to perform two songs of your choice, by checking the box, you agree to perform a third song that you choose from our picks. We think this is a fun challenge, and will be very constructive in educating the audience, who may be seeing idol-flavored performances for the first time!