These girls are climbing sky-high in their careers, and they haven’t even graduated yet!
A high school dance club from Osaka may never have expected to become celebrities when their fabulous ’80s-inspired “bubbly dance,” which won second place at a local competition, became world-famous two years ago. Since then the Tomioka High Dance Club filmed a promotional video featuring a dance to the song “This is Me” before the release of the musical The Greatest Showman, and now they’ve achieved their second major break: starring in a TV commercial!
The commercial, which was directed by former member and famous choreographer Akane, replicates a classic 90’s commercial known as the “Takefuji Dance“. This new version was choreographed by former members of the group in the style of the original commercials, with the girls wearing characteristically tight suits and dancing to the same, lively song that starts with a rousing “Let’s Go!”
The Takefuji Dance was originally an ad that aired late at night in Japan, with many different versions appearing between 1991 and 2003. Each commercial featured a group of ladies dancing in leotards or skin-tight jumpsuits to the same song, and they were a hit for many viewers throughout the 12 years they aired, even though they never really had much to do with what they were advertising: consumer credit company Takefuji.
▼ A compilation of the ads in their original ’90s glory
The Tomioka High Dance Club does appropriate homage to the nostalgic commercial. They choreographed a similar dance and even made efforts to create a similar setting for the video, though it’s significantly edgier than the originals. Since Takefuji has long been bought by other companies, the revival of the commercial is to advertise So-net, an Internet service provider in Japan and Taiwan run by Sony, who is hoping to re-brand the dance as the “So-net Dance”.
So-net is running a campaign on Instagram and Twitter, called the “#So-netDance End of Heisei Dance Challenge”, whereby amateurs can record their own “So-net Dance” and possibly win cash prizes or collaborations with akane. Interested dancers can record and post their dances with the hashtag #ソネットダンス.
The end of the video, by the way, shows two women, who watched the dance on their tablet, looking at each other as if they’ve just hatched a major plan, so perhaps we can expect sequels to the So-net Dance! Hopefully they’ll feature the Tomioka High Dance Club again, because we can’t wait to see what they come out with next!
Source, images: YouTube/Akane Kikaku
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[ Read in Japanese ]