Koda Kumi's dancing has been HIGHLY slept on!
 

With the recent news of Kuu getting pregnant and soon to be married, I started watching slot of her past PVs and noticed she has excellent energy and style when dancing. I brought this subject up because everytime I hear about great Jpop dancers she either doesn't get mentioned or ranked low. It's true that she has suggestive dance moves (OK...understatement her dancing ranges from raunchy to simulated sex) but with choreography from PVs like Hot Stuff, Lollipop,BE MY BABY, Under,& Get Up&Move she ranks up with BoA and actually gives Namie a run for her money IMO!

All the cool kids love koda.

i don't think people pay much attention to the fact she's actually a pretty good dancer because she distracts people from it with her raunchiness. they write her off as just an untalented attention ***** when they see what she does.

she IS a really good dancer. and sometimes fantastic choreo..just that yea, it just unnoticed. And sometimes i m missing that choreo and dancing from her..it's gotten simple

She's a pretty good dancer, however not BoA level, that's a clear overstatement. She may be better than Namie though since Namie actually isn't THAT great a dancer.

Kumi may be technically not the best dancer but her energy and passion makes her better than most proffessionals. I've just finished watching Namie's Live Style tour 2011 and was disappointed in her lack of enthusiasm, while Kumi never disappoints, it was funny to watch her Cutie Honey dance in flat shoes, but I'm happy Kuu is being carefull in her state and does not dance in high hills anymore.

This. Kuu is definitely a better dancer than Namie. They can both do the moves, but Namie has no energy or ~passion~ in her dancing. Kuu totally owns the stage.

U've watched through Namie's Live Style 2011 and still said that Namie was lack of enthusiasm in her performance?? I mean, seriously?? :thud

I was very dissapointed with Namie's dancing when I watched her 3 latest concerts. In my opinion Koda is way!!!!!! better! If you like her raunchiness or not is another topic.

Watching LIVE STYLE right now...Namie is better, Namie simply does far harder choreo. If you like her dancing or not is another thing.
Koda is a quite good dancer though, but Namie is better.

I prefer kuu because she's got that something, that flavor which I like. She makes it seem sassier and easier when she's dancing, like she's really having fun.

Namie does all the right moves, but that's about it to me :shrug

Namie USED to have that fire when she danced but now it's like she just blends in with the backup dancers :/

Doing harder choreography doesn't make you a better dancer, it just means you do harder choreography. :)

Koda Kumi is so overrated on this site >.<

Namie is a better dancer but she should be..she's basically just a dancer that happens to be given songs to promote.

^okay truehappiness part 2.




I think the end conclusion will be, boa has the best technique, koda has the best style, and namie has the most endurance.

In any case, I really don't think it's all that clear who's the best :shrug They can all master choreography if they have to. Haven't they proven that? Maybe not.

It comes down to personal preferences, obviously.

I prefer a sassy and sexy dancer who knows how to work it than a cold dancer like namie :P That's all.

I don't even know much about BoA, so I couldn't talk about her at all.

omg this post, so much shade lmao

:D

Their dancing styles are SO different, so I don't think you can compare them. It all comes down to personal preferences. Have to say that I don't like it how BoA has to resort to lipsyncing when doing her great routines, but yeah she's a great dancer.
And to people who think that Namie is still a robot are most likely still living in 2007, and haven't seen her latest 2 tours.

With that said, Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada are the best dancers, obviously.

This!!! I prefer some cold-blood dance moves from Namie to the 'touching urself & someone else' style of Kuu. And this is only personal taste, not to mention that Namie & Kuu image has never been the same tho.~

blah blah blahh gonna try to discredit Kuu by saying she's raunchy blah blah blah I prefer old ladies

Namie and Kuu are good dancers and BoA may be but I haven't seen BoA in like 3 yrs lol

imo namie's choreographies are usually harder than kuu's, but she is like "perfect" in some way, she doesn't makes me feel anything if it wasn't for her back up dancers.
kuu can make me feel more even if she's alone on the stage and the choreo is way easy (under pv, for example)
anyway I love both styles, I've enjoyed Live Style Tour as much as Dejavu's one (though namie set list was waaaaaaaaay better, and that also helps!)

I love Namie and Koda both, I definitely prefer Namie for technicality, and Koda for how passionate she its when it comes to dancing.

I never like much Namie's dancing, I just like Namie :)

but Kuu dancing, voice, charisma, sexiness, talent is everything for me. she's a super sex machine :D

To me Namie is dancing like a robot in a good & in a bad way. I haven't seen many of her lives, but from what I've seen she's a real pro. 11 out of 10. At the same time I don't feel any passion in her dances. She's just there, doing all these amazing dance moves, without making any mistake.

While with Kumi you can feel her wild energy & passion, like it is coming through the screen and you wanna start dancing too, though her choreography might be simpler.

So in the end it's just like SURREAL__RAINBOW said It comes down to personal preferences. Let's not start another KUMI vs. NAMIE war, we don't need that.

IMO BoA is the best dancer but Namie and Kuu have a lot more to offer than dancing so they're better than her.

I think all 3 are super good at singing and dancing but
namie does it flawlessly I don't hear any struggle when she sings and dances at the same time.
What I like about Kumi's dancing is when she does it sexy without being all sl**ty like ecstasy and vip.

The best dancer is Ayumi Hamasaki.

I agree with all of krauterol's post in regards to solo stage presence except that I actually find the Under dance rather difficult. For example, the transition from the high kick to the splits is no easy feat.
Don't get me wrong, I love Namie but you have to call it as it is. When Namie does a choreography like Koda's 'Under' I'll stop calling her a dancing robot and start calling her a great dancer.
Edit: I thought this was the Koda thread lol

gotta agree with this.

yep
namie dance habit is tend to be cold-blood look..
It's her style..
N it makes her look fierce..
N namie does it better imo
while kuu chan is still moving lil bit awkwardly..

:roflmao

Well, of course she has great performances too, but most of the time she has that poker face and even though her dancing is good she seems mechanical. I loved her Best Fiction Tour, she had many enthusiastic performances there. In the previous tour is was half of the songs but in Live Style she went back to 'been there, done that', I've tried to watch any other tour before Best Fiction but it was again this kind of mechanical performance to me.

But I'm not a Namie fan, I've tried her music and I liked many pieces a lot, I appreciate her voice and her perfect choreography but it's hard not to compare her with Kuu who is exploding all the time. Namie seems to force herself to remember to change her expression or to smile (which doesn't make her worse artist), Kuu is overflowing with emotions and enthusiasm all the time and therefore her dancing is more enjoyable to watch to me. It's just my opinion.

^ I thought Best Fiction was her most robotic tour out of her last 3 BY FAR. It also featured the worst dancing and singing overall of those.

Are u j/k? If not I guess u must have watched Live Style 2006 & be abale to say that BEST FICTION she had more enthusiastic performances there lol Seriously, u can ask 10 ppl who have watch Live Style and BEST FICITON Tour, Live Style 2011 is definitely her most enthusiastic & unrobotic tour up2date! :thud Watch Live Style 2011 again pls :thud
http://i676.photobucket.com/albums/v...h27m10s157.jpghttp://i676.photobucket.com/albums/v...h23m04s240.jpghttp://i676.photobucket.com/albums/v...h23m18s128.jpg
http://i676.photobucket.com/albums/v...h22m14s235.jpghttp://i676.photobucket.com/albums/v...h20m05s242.jpg
http://i676.photobucket.com/albums/v...1h45m21s53.jpg
http://i676.photobucket.com/albums/v...h45m28s139.jpg
I always want to see girls with powerful & cool look rather than someone who always touch herself, just my own taste of perfect girl

Eww Namie sweats too much :-s

Never watched Live Style 2006, but before Best Fiction I'd tried to watch Play tour 2007 but failed miserably, back then I forced myself to watch her PVs to understand why poeple like her so much, back then I didn't like any of her songs or PVs, Best Fiction tour was so called last chance before giving up and I was surprised I found pretty much every song totally amazing at first hearing. I remember rewatching it about 3-4 times the same day again.

After that I tried to rewatch Play Tour 2007 and some PVs (eg WILD which was my fav during concert) but still didn't like it. Until last years tour (past > future? forgot the name before) I was only enjoying her Best Fiction live, now I also like most of Past Future live songs and I really enjoy half of the Checkmate collab album, so I was anticipating the Live Style tour but after first watch I found it worse than BF (my personal opinion, no one has to agree), the sound was perfect, the intro videos were great but her performance didn't move my heart.

Sorry if saying that makes Namie fans angry, since we talk about Kuu here I wanted to describe the joy of watching Kuu (and I'm not talking about Kuu touching herself) comparing to technically better artist that despite her advantage is less enjoyable to me. As for the pictures, well, you know we can as well post some caps with Namie's poker face during dancing, it's not going anywhere (I wasn't denying she has some moving performances anyway). I'm sure I will watch Live Style 2011 again someday but for now I got it as mp3 on my player, it's great concert to listen to on a bus before work. But if I'm feeling down and need to cheer up I still chose to watch Kuu's concert ;p

BoA has such passion and precision in her dancing. Here's a video of her practicing one of her American songs. I don't think Koda Kumi could pull off those moves so easily.

haha no fans are angry here dun worry, i just captured those pict just to let u see that u couldn't find them in BEST FICTION TOUR & that Live Style 2011 has so much more energy :D Hope u'll watch it again, i agree that the 6 opening songs were quite COLD, but after that the show blew her previous tours away.

P/s: PLAY tour was horrible IMO, dun watch that one =-=

middle finger in screen cap heheeheheheh

I agree that BoA is the best among N & K, but we do not have much BoA now, and much BoA dancing too. I felt like her era was over...hmm...Milestone's good, but no dance rrrocking tracks. and I still remember my DOUBLE & make a secret & others fandom back in the day, ehh :(

and BoA is different because her dancing is like a professional dancer, idk how to explain properly...

Because BoA was actually trained in dancing. Kuu wasn't, dunno about Namie.

it's all back on their
own personalities kuuchan is an easy to get along and jovial typcal woman while namie is a shy woman..may be that make the deadlook face for her
another exp
ayu is a full of confidence woman and her perform always be all out

I really admire how patient SKYia has been with Rocky Raven.

The difference between kuu and namie is......... FACIAL EXPRESSION

Well, I think Namie is pretty darn good. :) I would say that she is the undisputed best for being able to dance and sing at the same time. BoA is a fantastic dancer, but not the best when it comes to dancing/singing at the same time.

I agree with the original poster of the thread though, Koda is pretty underrated in the dance category.

In recent years, Namie's choreography has been relatively toned down, but is still far above most other people. I thought it hit a low point in 2007, but her past 2 tours have been getting back up towards her previous level(which I am so happy about because she isn't getting any younger). But I recommend you watch her TV performances and/or concerts between 01-05. Her choreography then was like at an non-human level. Seriously, she and her choreographer must have been masochists.

Just watched the under video, and that high kick to the splits is something that Namie did actually a really long time ago when she was in the Super Monkey's. But actually, speaking from my own dance training, I don't find that move particularly difficult; it looks difficult more than it actually is. Actually old super monkey's performances on TV were really filled with dancer's dance moves kind of routines. double, triple turns, hitch kicks, fan kicks, leaps etc.

^ I remember watching a video clip of Amuro dancing during a concert of way back when and the choreography was very similar to Beyonce's Ring the Alarm one during the VMAs. She definitely is great at dancing.

I'm a teacher, patience is in my blood ;)

Thats very interesting. I just watched Dancing junk (?) and I think I see the high kicks you're referring to. I am no dancer by any means but could it be that Namie is just so good that she makes everything look easy? Kodas kick still looks harder somehow. Either way when I got into Namie in 2002/3 and until now, I haven't watched any full concerts cause they always bored me but I will try to sit through the So Crazy tour to see some so crazy dancing lol

It clearly shows!

Can someone link to videos with good examples of Namie dancing? Seriously, out of all the videos I've seen, I've never seen her do anything that has even slightly impressed me, and seeing you guys praise her so much is making me feel like I must just be watching all the wrong videos or something. :shrug

whatever video wont impress u when u arnt into her imo..

^ I like Namie's music a lot, I just haven't been impressed by her dancing.

AI and goto maki are easily some of the best (and most underratted) dancers in j-pop. http://youtu.be/ptm8zBdawY0?t=1m38s moves in this vid aren't flashy but the way she's able to stomp around with such precision wearing HEELS is great. i would post an example for AI but her concerts got deleted from youtube again -__-

as for kumi her dancing tends to get overshadowed by her extravagant stage and concert outfits. if we were having this convo in 05/06 it would be a different story lol

^ Maki Goto as well is severely underrated. I would actually pick her over Kumi for dance (don't kill me, haha).

Yeah, the Dancing Junk TV performances are a good example. Although the move she does there, is a bit different than Koda's. Namie does a fan kick that transitions into the splits, which imo is actually much more difficult to execute well.

If you have trouble getting through that concert (because I'll admit that her concerts tend to at least start out on the slow side) and you just want to see some dancing, then start with the Body Feels Exit section of the show, she does about 4 songs in a row or so of very high pace dancing.

I think it's because for some odd reason a lot of Namie's best dancing stuff is actually kind of hard to find these days on the net. Youtube etc., has a severe lack of early 00's stuff from Namie. (maybe because Avex cracks down on videos so much?) I did find a few though:

Please Smile Again's tv performances had excellent choreography that unfortunately never was used outside of a handful of tv lives. One of her most underrated songs live ever I think. Unfortunately I would say this video is the worst of the bunch from those tv performances, but it's the only one I could find online!

http://pann.nate.com/video/213776944

The Say the Word performance in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...=-hbbsUFdieA#!

The aforementioned Dancing Junk performance. Really lots of great technical dance moves in here, definitely a dancer's dance routine and the fact that she is singing live throughout is pretty impressive I think:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdm...om=embediframe

Funky Town & Want me, Want me: In particular the Want me, Want Me, performance; the omg Namie actually has hips and a pelvis performance, haha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFpJs...eature=related
So these are just a couple of examples. There are a lot more examples, but I just can't seem to find most of them online! For instance, most people don't know, but Never End's original tv performances were actually done with really beautiful choreography, but now all I can seem to find are the later performances of that song where she just stands and sings.

^^ooo *_* thanks <3

I love Namie's dancing, but I think her style will always be a deterrent for a lot of people.

The only thing I would like to see from her, every now and then, is something amazing.

Like kuu will do little things, like when she did the pole dancing, or the aerial silks, or the small splits in the last tour...just little things like that, and it just pops out how althetic she can be, or things she can do.

And Namie seems like she could do pretty amazing things, and it would be nice to see every now and then.

But then I guess, her dancing and singing non stop for a whole show is pretty amazing in itself :laugh

^ haha. Yeah, I see what you are saying and I agree that it would be nice. But as you mentioned, her "trick" seems to be singing and dancing non-stop for two hours. I always think she should do an endorsement for a battery company or something. :)

^ Thanks for reminding me of how much i love Please Smile Again =D http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3f...people?fbc=139
The pole dancing in So Crazy Tour was nice too

BoA bad at singing and dancing at the same time?






I chose recent performances for purpose. (lol I have nothing from this year) Here you have the classic examples:

^ I don't think anyone said she was BAD at dancing and singing at the same time. I'm a fan and have seen her live even. BoA is clearly a fantastic dancer, but I wouldn't say she was the absolute best for doing both at the same time; clearly better than the majority though. I love BoA's dancing and I love BoA's singing, but it is pretty rare when you see her best live singing and her best dancing happen in the same performance; that is why I would still give Namie the edge ultimately and probably even Koda as well when it comes down to doing both.

I think Elva Hsiao is not a bad dancer. Well, certainly the best Chinese/Taiwanese dancer I've seen. Jolin Tsai does not do it for me. LoL. Don't know how she is live or in concerts though. I just watch her music videos. Haha.

Kuu's dancing isn't spectacular but compared to 80% of pop divas east and west, it is really good

BoA sounds okay doing both,but I hate her voice in general so I is biased,barely watch her lives, and Namie looks soulless when doing anything so biased as well so her dances come off mechanic and boring

I like how Kuu goes with the flow and performs rather than dances and Maki Goto is also really good, better than Kuu

Namie is too mechanical. As in she know's her routine and that's all she's gonna do.

As in, if all her dancers slipped on the floor around her she'd just carry on. I could see Kumi checking their all OK, helping a few up, smiling at the audience then getting back in step.

Obviously worst case scenario, but could see this is how such an event (Rare, why'd all the dancers fall LOL) would play out.

I just have a question about the thread title. "Highly slept... on?" Am I missing something here?

Kuu's dancing's OK in my book. She brings an energy to her shows that I actually don't feel from many other singers, and truth be told I really don't care about dancing all that much. I just wait for it to pass, it reminds me of elevator music only... in movement form. That makes no sense, I know. I'm just uninterested in it. Though I do like Namie's poker face. It's almost scary o_o Like she's coming right at you with this blank face and she can dance you to death.

Now that everyone's mentioned it, I do notice that Kuu's dancing skills have gone unnoticed due to her overtly sexual image. People tend to focus on that since it's more prevalent. She's always been a pretty decent dancer imo.

But I have to agree with the Namie brigade/stans on one point. After watching some of her older lives, I've come to the realization that Namie Amuro was actually a pretty damn good dancer between 95'-03. Her older performances actually held my attention unlike her current ones. I don't know what the hell happened since then, maybe age is a factor, but she doesn't give me that satisfaction in regard to stage presence nowadays. Her dancing skills/choreography have become bland.

I don't care what her stans say otherwise or how much they try to convince me by linking videos, Namie is not as good as she used to be in my eyes. Point. Blank. Period.

My whole problem, like many have said, with Naime's dancing is the passion in it. She has great moves, better than a lot of Japanese singers, very "American", and executes them well, but I feel like her heart is not really there. She's doing it because she has to, because she's a paid singer. And you can shove all the videos and pics you want in my face, I don't care, I have my opinion.

Kuu on the other hand has so much passion and sass it burns through the screen. Are the moves hard? No, not terribly so. They are, however, unique. She does a lot of stuff interesting stuff that you wouldn't think would make great dance moves and not at all what you would see in America, or even Japan. She is also obviously very fit, as she can jump, kick and split, so that can add an element of "hardness" to her dancing. But, you know she's doing it because she loves it.

BoA I can't really comment on because I don't follow her that well. Her dancing seems to be more street hip hop than Namie, who seems to be dance school hip hop, and Kuu, who mixes it up.

Her choreographer changed starting from the Can't Sleep, Can't Eat, I'm Sick single. :yes And you could definitely see the difference. I think the last year or so though has been getting better again in the choreography department.

Guys... Nobuo Uematsu is the best dancer.

that guy isn't the best anything >_<

I think she got her choreography down as a way to get rid of playback, kept training to improve her ability to do both at the same time, and once she got satisfied with it, the dancing could step up again

Nami Tamaki is amazing : )

You mean the best singer. He joined the choir to sing Jenova at distant worlds lol

I literally lol'ed at this. :P He's one of my favorite Japanese music composers of all time. :yes

I wanna see your favorite diva dance in 8inch high heels, do splits, backflips, etc. then we will talk ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by noisy_harmony (Post 2794369) Because BoA was actually trained in dancing. Kuu wasn't, dunno about Namie.

Actually, Kuu took dance lessons all the time before she debuted when she was younger, and has continued to dance ever since. She's taught by her professional dancers who always appear on stage with her, and they do her choreography, too. :) I think Kuu has a little advantage because she is quite close with her dancers, which is why she keeps the same ones for years, and they are the ones that teach her and create her dances with her. They know Kuu, so they work together to make really unique dances that you know have 'Koda Kumi' written all over them. The sorta dances you recognize her for, and not just the sexy ones. XD

"Love Shine: Kuu on the other hand has so much passion and sass it burns through the screen. Are the moves hard? No, not terribly so. They are, however, unique. She does a lot of stuff interesting stuff that you wouldn't think would make great dance moves and not at all what you would see in America, or even Japan. She is also obviously very fit, as she can jump, kick and split, so that can add an element of "hardness" to her dancing. But, you know she's doing it because she loves it."

This. Kuu is my favourite dancer, because of her passion and pure energy, It's just like, pure ecstasy when you watch her dance sometimes. :D You can tell when she dances she loves it, and that passion and love forms into some incredible dances, whether they be quite simple but unique, or just body popping extreme! Kuu has such an array of dances that just make you want to get up & move! It's another big reason why I love her. :heart Considering how great she is, I am surprised how little she is known for dancing. I mean, how can you MISS IT when you watch her? SHE IS ON FIAH!

I really like Namie too, but I have to agree with what a lot of people have said, Namie tends to be more I would say, skilful and technical at dancing. Namie is an incredibly good dancer in skill, she can move effortlessly, which is not an easy feat...But I have never seen the same passion as I do with Kuu. But I think that's because Namie's style is very much the cold, cool and calculated look. She is MEANT to move effortlessly and skilfully, it's what makes her cool and look cool, everyone wishes they can dance effortlessly like she can, without losing a breath or even moving an eyebrow, I always wonder how she does it. Her and Kuu technically have two completely different styles of dancing because this, Their image and styles are very different. One is cool, skilful and calculated, the other is explosive, energetic and sexy. (Not saying Name is sexy, she tends to do a lot of sexy songs, but in terms of dancing and image, she has always been a 'cool# image to me, than sexy.)

As for BoA, so one can deny she is one of the best. Her dancing is flawless, she even out-dances her back-up dancers! I find BoA's a good mix of Kuu and Namie. She has the same cool and skilful moves and Namie, but much more enegetic, like Kuu's moves. BoA is another that always keeps me watching with unique moves that have energy, but also pure skill.

So I would say...

Kuu - The best for energy and performance! She is the #1 performer for me when she dances for her passion.

Namie - The best for effortlessness and skill. Namie makes dancing too cool for school.

And BoA - The best for moves and swagger! She has the moves and the skill, as well as the energy, BoA is the #1 for hip-hop.

I am quite passionate about dancing myself, and it's why I appreciate all three of these amazing dancers. They all bring different styles of dancing to the stage, that I can enjoy and find unique for each one of them. :D

THEY are the best of Asia. :)

I'm probably just going to repeat what's been said but here it goes anyway.
I'm a huge Namie fan, I think she has amazing dancing skills but yeah she does look 98% of the time, well... bored. I've had many theories over the years ranging from she's just not into it as much anymore to that's just her style to that's what looks professional to her.
I'm also a huge Kuu fan so no bias either way however like a few have said her personality shines through, she looks like she cares, like she wants to be there, like she wants you to share in what she's doing and it that makes it fun to watch. Im not saying shes not a good dancer cos shes great, just different to Namie's style I guess.

BoA is on a whole different level of dancei have yet to see another performer in the asian pop entertainment world able to compete with her.as for namie and koda they both have different styles but for me theyre equal.if you want sassy..namie..sexy..koda

Dance is nothing without emotions , kumi wins!

YES! BoA has swagger. That's a great way of putting it.

I love BoA and Kuu's dancing so much!!! Namie, omg, it's so true that she looks bored all of the time, but Kuu is sooooooooooooo into it and has so much emotion going on! :)

My mom watched Kuu preforming at a-nation last year, and she was just super impressed by Kuu's stage presence, confidence and even loved the dancing. She said it had energy. She said North Americans don't put on a show the way she does. And this was just a-nation!

About the Kuu vs Namie dance thing:
I prefer Namie.She's so sexy and subtle *O* while Kuu is way more gross and crazy (in the good way :)).I love both Kuu <3 and Namie but I think Namie is better as a dancer.Just my opinion.

This
Every time I see her dance, this this this.
Like with the JUICY or Shake It music videos, I'm not paying any attention to her dancing at all.

I will agree to this. I LOVE the dancing in a lot of her PVs like Candy, Shake it, etc.

Her dance routines during It's all Love (Fantasia breakdown w/ Misono) and Bling, Bling, Bling's (remix MAMA 2011/A-nation) breakdown were amazing. I'm not gonna lie, I wish At the Weekend had had better choreography because I felt like there was so much potential, but there's only so much Kuu can do in her 10,000 inch heels.

I cannot wait for the post-baby ESCALATE dance, though. I expect epicness.

As for Namie, I think she's a total pro. I believe that she can do insanely complex dance routines if they are given to her. I will say that a lot of the time they simplify her dance routines on purpose during lives because they know she needs to keep her energy up throughout her performances.

Namie's UNUSUAL breakdown was nothing short of flawless during Live Style 2011 (it reminded me of the old days) and it just showed that even at 34, she has amazing moves.

Kuu is ****ing amazing.

Despite that I've already posted in this thread, I'm just noticing this post. I'm pretty sure the person you were replying to, Rocky Raven, was saying they prefer Kuu to Naime.

Also, does anyone think that Namie's harder dance moves come from the fact that she has more time to practice them? I mean, Kuu also produces her own albums and writes the majority of her lyrics.

I'm not that familiar with Namie but she leraned her dancing from scratch, she entered Okinawa Actors School with 12 years and debuted with Super Monkeys (an idol band) with 14 years, right?
Kuu just started getting dance lessons with her debut in 2000 as far as I know.
Of course Namie is technically far ahead and is able to hit harder choreographies. She's the better dancer.

I like to see performances from both, though I personally prefer Kuu's passion.

Performance isn't all about dancing .

And Kuu is better performer than namie and more entertainig imo

*sorry for interrupting* Not sure it's OK to ask here... but do you guies have HQ screen caps from Lay Down PV?

Esp looking for pics focusing on Kuu's nails, please ^^

Kumi is WAY better than namie concerning sing & dance in same time ! yeah more entertaining ^^

The most dead Namie can look at some of her lives, IMO her has a lot more stage presence than Koda, what makes her a far more interesting performer IMO. Koda always looks kinda amateurish to me because of her presence, like a karaoke performer.

But yeah, Koda actually is a good dancer...

Both injected their own personality into their live performance/dancing. One is lively, energetic, loud, another one is shy, serious, cool.

BoA is simply the best dancer compared to them. But she lacks the personality part though...

Ku has it all on stage. Her personality shows. She has that "wow" factor.

Namie... she is like a zombie just going through the moves. You can't feel her energy. You can't feel her personality. She just seem so ... far away. Idk, she is just boring... and slithery. Lol.

Boring artists can't sold out 7 dome shows in 1 day time... :yes :yes :yes

To you she's boring, to hundreds thousand others, she's not... :rolleyes

Namie isn't boring on stage at all, but yes Ku has the most powerful and interestung lives. She's the queen of live.

Namie does it more like the American singers dance and sing. Not show that much personality or such an extraordinary show.

But no one can deny the power Namie shows during all that dancing and singing, I love it, too!!!

I agree... BoA can dance circles around both... but there's not much personality there.

I'm also surprised so many people bought the "Queen of Live" thing... She is not considered such not even by people in Japan... I guess it's a fandom thing...

it IS a fandom thing. But who cares lol Koda owns live. She's a wonderful performer and entertainer.

As for Namie, I think people just don't understand her external image. It's just harder to relate to her. Sometimes her image comes off as cold, and for some people, boring.

I can understand that. Not everyone who watches her lives has to be such a crazy fan and in love with her. Not everyone wants her image either.

Koda is an open book. It's not difficult at all. But she also does extreme and quirky things that can be hard to take.

I think Namie also has more stage presence than Kuu because she has a stronger...physical idea of what she is, what her concerts should be like, and it plays to her image.

But, I still tend to prefer Koda concerts for their creativity and theatrics.

Kuu has been the Queen of Live since 2008 for me. Her lives never fail to blow me away because they're so different every time, her vocals are just plain gorgeous and she has a theme in every concert. This girl is awesome (and I don't understand in what way they're similar to Ayu's. I find Kuu's concerts completely different in every way lol) with her cool stunts she does (like what she did with POP DIVA on Dejavu Tour and Can We Go Back on UNIVERSE TOUR). Kuu is the Queen. :heart

But I'm not saying Namie is bad either. I really adore her complicated dance moves; when I watched Live Style 2006 for the first time I had no idea what to wait but I was totally mind blown. It was so awesome. :) I haven't watched Live Style 2011 yet (haven't had any time) but she definitely isn't a bad performer either though she doesn't always keep my interest up for too long, but I don't care because her dancing looks awesome. ^.^

I don't know about BoA because I have only seen few TV performances and not any full concerts but she dances quite well, too.

About Namie... Some people refer to her robotic (imo) dance moves as being "cool" or something. However, I know that Namie also has no part in making her own music. So, overall I just have this image of her being this robotic pop idol. She just does what she's told to do. I know that it has nothing to do with her actual skill as a dancer, but that's why I can't get into her as a dancer, or even as a singer. Plus, I'm not crazy about most of her songs :P

But, honestly this is all so subjective. You can see the people with the Namie avatars claiming that she's the best and trying to "prove" it, and then people with Kuu avis saying that Kuu is better for whatever reason. And then you have the anti-Kuus putting her down. Its pretty much Namie lovers/anti-Kuus VS Kuu lovers/anti-Namies and easy to predict what people are gonna say :laugh

All that Namie stuff: PREACH!
I like her, but I see her as an entertainer and performer. She is no artist to me. She also always looks dead and miserable yet people love it *subjective again*. I'll get WILD any day, though.

With Koda, well, she'll always by my Shame of Kyoto :heart. I'd love me some Koda music on any day. Although I hate +90% of her music, I cannot live without Yume no Uta.

I guess I love them both, but I was never a fan of their dancing. If I want killer moves, I'll watch Boa.......