On December 31, 2015, POI LAB took part in the 66th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen, staging Hikawa Kiyoshi's "Otokobana" with visual poi as a 14-member "Poi Ouendan" (poi cheer squad).
Commissioned directly by NHK, POI LAB founder Yuta was in charge of direction, choreography and technical supervision. He invited poi performers from all over Japan, and 14 of them took the stage at NHK Hall. At the time, it was the largest visual poi performance ever staged, and a rare technology-driven performance in the history of Kohaku.
What we did
- Visual poi direction and choreography (Yuta)
- Casting and rehearsals of the performers (Yuta)
- Technical supervision: testing and tuning the equipment, and proposing software bug fixes and graphics improvements to the manufacturer Lighttoys (Yuta)
- Visual poi performance by 14 performers
Back then, there was no established way to run a visual poi performance with this many performers. Yuta built the show while testing and tuning the equipment, working as both director and technical coordinator. It was POI LAB's first large-scale production.
Amazing performers and staff gathered from all over Japan. Thank you again to everyone who went through the intense rehearsal period with us.
