City Dance workshop SF. 26 января 2013 г.

[larrylaurent]

UPD Собрала весь рассказ. В выходные постараюсь перевести наиболее интересные места))

Поскольку в связи с контрактом съемка во время МК запрещена, будем довольствоваться рассказами очевидцев.

My thoughts on the City Dance workshop SF by lt-motionry

Часть 1

It’s my last morning in San Francisco and I thought I’d better write down as much as I can about the workshop for you all while I can remember.

First things first…HUGE appreciation to Sandy Lee and Marina for everything. The dance studio was charming and spacious and it almost seemed like a reunion because of some of the long-time fans and supporters near and dear to the fandom who showed up. But there were also plenty of new fans, including lots of cute little baby LT fans awwww . Sandy made us all feel welcome like we were family, and I was so happy to see Larry and Lau comfortable in a familar environment supported by people they love and trust (big shout to Clayton and Judy, too).

Secondly…I noticed some people saying things had changed a lot. I would have to disagree. The only thing that changed is the fact that we can’t take pics and video anymore during the workshop. But before it started they explained why to everyone. And they still allowed fans to take pics with Larry and Lau during the meet and greet after the workshop. It’s really important for the sake of LT’s business contracts that nothing is posted showing them performing and/or making them look like they’re advertising somebody else’s product. So I hope fans will continue to respect their wishes, so we won’t lose the privilege of taking pics altogether.

Nothing changed to me except that their English is very, very good now (Lau said they’ve been writing out the words to songs in English and focusing on learning what each word means). Other than that Larry and Laurent themselves were exactly the same. They were funny and sweet and kind to everybody. We all got to go up to them and kiss and hug them and ask them questions. They hung out for a long time after the workshop ended. Larry was adorable and easy to talk to. And, like always, Lau didn’t seem like he ever wanted to leave . Before the workshop started I was talking to the parents of two teenage girls. They drove from out of town to bring their daughters, but the dad was a little skeptical. He was protective of his baby girls and he insisted on coming along to find who these two “dancing guys” were lol. I told him I thought the twins had a positive energy that was great for young people and how much they had motivated me and many other fans. By the end of the workshop I think the parents were in love with Larry and Lau. The whole family took pics with them and the dad even took one with them by himself. That’s the beautiful effect Les Twins have on people…and I’ll never get tired of seeing it.

Larry and Lau split their classes on different sides of the room as usual (I don’t know the name of the song they used for the choreo, but I’ll try to find out). I was watching on Lau’s side and it was an incredible experience. When I attended workshops before I was overly excited about meeting them for the first time and couldn’t focus on the dancing. But this time I was calmer and able to truly appreciate what great teachers they are and the intricacies of the choreography. At one point Laurent was showing one of the male dancers how to extend his arm into a movement. It’s kind of hard to explain, but the way he took the time to gently grab the guy’s arm and patiently show him how to do it was impressive to me. He also taught them how simply doing a deep breath during a move changes the whole shape of it. He said that’s how he does his “ugly” moves…he abandons himself into the dance and breathes through it. I know I have a tendency to go deep on things but I felt like that was a metaphor for life. If you relax into the joy of life you can flow through it regardless of the circumstances going on around you.

Then of course there were the antics lol. About halfway through the session Lau turned into a girl…literally. He stayed in character for a least a good 5-10 minutes teaching his class in the high-pitched voice and full mannerisms (because he said they were acting like were scared to talk to him so maybe they’d feel more comfortable with her). I couldn’t hear everything Larry was saying, but even from way over on our side of the room I could see he was doing the MOST lmao. He was stomping around telling his class not to change his choreography. Then when they did the Teen Spirit warmup he turned the music off but kept singing the words all loud and ratchety (I swear he sounded just like the song looolll). And then at the end when Lau’s class was getting ready to do their final performance against Larry’s class, Larry tried to distract them by doing ballet jumps and turns all around them (he was quite graceful).

Часть 2

Let me backtrack. I also wanted to thank Larry and Lau and their students for allowing people like me to watch. I’m not a good dancer at all, but watching the students at all different levels of ability putting their hearts into it encouraged me so much. The twins were patient instructors and you could tell they put a lot of effort into scaling down their choreo so that everyone could learn it. I hope maybe in the future I can try to participate if I get in the back of the group…way waaaay in the back lol.

After class was over, Larry and Lau gathered everyone around them and each gave a little speech (Lau complained that Larry’s speech was too long haha. That tickled me bcuz Larry used to seem like the quiet twin, but now the tables have turned uh-oh!! I adored getting to see more of his personality). Then everybody made a cypher circle and some of the dancers freestyled. Then Larry and Lau did the professional photos with the fans. After that most people left, but I’m glad I stayed because they started battling one another, just the two of them. At first they were just vibing, like Lau would do a subtle movement with his arm or hand and then Larry would do some leg move at exactly the same time like there was an invisible string between them (they were standing about 6ft apart and sometimes they weren’t even looking at each other while they were doing it). I’ve seen them do that before on videos, but watching it in person in such an intimate setting was magical.

Then they changed the song and it got intense. Larry was going IN. He was hitting every single beat and the whole time he was staring Lau straight in the eye and smirking like “yeah I’m killing you”. Lau was standing perfectly still glaring back like he was just waiting for his turn to crush Lar Bear. It was kind of scary. Even though a few of us were watching it was like they were only seeing each other, as if they were alone in the room. Earlier when Lau’s class was acting all shy he said if they didn’t stop he was gonna start acting like he did when he and Larry danced alone in their room. On the sidelines we were like “yeahhhh we wanna see it”, but Lau was like “no, you don’t. trust me.”…now I know what he meant…frightening crazy energy!

Fav Moments:

*I saw Lau in the hall right before he went in to start the workshop. I was standing with some other people, but he recognized me on his own and looked happy to see me. Then he came over and hugged me and we talked for a little bit. I was shocked. It meant the whole entire world to me that he did that and I’ll never forget it.

**A little baby girl in a tutu got excited while Lau was teaching and started toddling out onto the floor to join the class. Her mother went to stop her, but Lau was like “nooooo don’t stop her, let her come”. It was precious

***I told Larry that we all love his singing voice and wouldn’t mind if he dropped a single or two. He was really amused and had the nerve to try to act bashful about it. He asked me where I had heard him sing before. I was like, c’mon Larry everybody and their mama has heard you singing on videos and during workshops. He laughed and said he only sings for fun though.

****After Larry and Lau battled eachother, Larry went upstairs to pack up his stuff but Lau stayed. There were only about 10-15 of us left in the studio. He started playing random songs and dancing by himself at first. We all stood back watching and grooving along too, but then Saibra (please forgive me if i didn’t spell her name right) jumped out there and stared dancing with him. We were cheering her on while she and Lau had a little mini play battle. It was so much fun. Somebody said we should just stay all night and party at the studio and I think Lau would’ve done it. He wouldn’t stop dancing when Larry called him, so Larry had to come back and physically turn off the music himself so they could go to dinner lol. I guess Lau would rather dance than eat (and ya’ll know that’s saying a lot considering how much they love to eat).

*****Me and Nina gave them necklaces for a gift. I don’t think Lau had one like it, but Larry was wearing one that was almost exactly the same. Nina told him she’d take it back and get him something different, but Larry wanted to keep it. He said…and I quote…”I’ll be 2 Chainz”. Then he looked down and remembered he was already wearing 3 necklaces and said “Oh I mean, I’ll be 4 Chainz”. And he said it in the 2 Chainz voice. oh yesss he did. *insert corny laugh here*. LOLLLLL Laaaaarry. I love his new chatty self so much smh

*****Larry mimicking and making fun of my southern accent. He was only kidding, but I think I must sound so weird to them when I talk…tres embarrassing LOL).

[I think I have a few more memories in me. Hope i’m not boring ya’ll. I’m trying to remember eveything since I’m not sure if and when we might get official video. Part 3 coming soon…]

Часть 3

Nina wanted me to tell you guys her funny story about Larry trying to kiss her. [Note: Any of you who met her know how shy Nina is]. During the meet and greet she wanted to give Larry her gift so I called him over for her. He comes and she hands him the gift bag, but he has to go take fan pics with Lau. He asks Nina to hold it until he comes back because he wants to have time to open it with her. Then he gives her the bag back and leans in to kiss her.

She’s so caught off guard that she kind of ducked lol. He goes in for a second attempt and she completely freezes. I thought he would just give up, but instead he put one of his hands on each side of her face and said “Look at me. It’s okay. This is all I’m trying to do.” Then he kissed her very gently on the forehead. It was so sweet!!! *heart eyes*.

when Larry pecks me on the forehead, too. Now Nina and I are both stunned into silence thinking about how we might never wash our faces again. Then Lar Bear turns and swaggers off like “yeh my work is done here” LOL

Another thing I wanted to point out is that all the kids who came to the workshop were awesome. The two little boys on the top left in this pic were in Larry’s class:

I was sitting next to the one in the long sleeves’ mom. She told me they were best friends and they take a hip hop dance class together that they both love. At one point Larry had rotated his class around to face us so the boys were on the front row right beside him. When I tell you those little guys were getting it, I mean they were GETTING it. They were matching Larry step for step. We started cheering for them on the sidelines and the mom was absolutely beaming with pride.

The little girl on the bottom right was in Lau’s class. She was so tiny and petite I think her head barely went higher than his waist, but she had all the moves down. He brought her to the front to dance beside him and even though he towered over her they were moving in complete sync. It was amazing to watch. It was also really touching to see the parents totally supporting their kids in what they love to do. I haven’t been blessed with children yet, but one day I hope to be a great parent like that.

Часть 4. Последняя

A few more Fav Moments:

*I think Lau might start having to carry his own bags soon because Larry is busting out! Larry was talking to some fans and Lau called him from across the room to come take photos. I knew Larry heard him because everybody could hear Lau, but Larry straight up ignored him. Finally Lau came running over and stood right behind Larry and called his name again. Larry slowly turned around and was like oh hai, did you need me for something? Lau said something snarky like no, i was just calling you to hear the sound of my voice lol. Then he told Larry to come take pics. Larry looked at Lau like he had just asked him to come to the Moon. He said he’d come when he finished talking to his fans. Lau looked confused like “what?”. He clearly expected Larry to stop and do what he said immediately, but Larry was having none of that. Lau sighed and walked off. Larry had this smug expression like he was so proud of himself for not doing what his “big brother” told him to do. Of course I don’t know this for sure, but I feel like Larry is enjoying talking to fans more now because he’s more comfortable with his English.

**When we were walking to the studio we stopped by the corner store and I bought a box of Skittles for Lau. I stuck them in the bottom of the gift bag but when I gave him the necklace I forgot the candy was down there. Later Lau was packing up his stuff and he picked up the bag and the next thing I know I hear all this crumpling paper noise as he digs in it. He pulls out the Skittles but he’s holding them down real low and glancing around from left to right all sneaky like in case they’re not his he’s gonna run off with them anyway. I said “Lau do you like Skittles?”. His looked startled and his eyes got all big like a little kid as he nodded slowly. I said, “Good. They’re yours. I brought them for you.” Then he starts grinning, holds the Skittles box up in the air with one hand like the Statue of Liberty, and starts doing a “i got some candy” dance. It was Lau-dorable. I just wanted to run out and buy a whole Skittles factory.

***I finally got up the nerve to show Lau one of the poems I wrote about him (this one). I was scared he might think it was corny, so I tried to rush him to sign it and stick it back in my folder, but he wanted to read it.

I told him what I was trying to express by calling him a beast in the shadows…that when I see him dance I feel like he’s combining everything inside himself—the light and dark, the good and bad. He did this face right here:

Then he said yes but he wanted me to know that he’s not all bad though. He said he’s 95% good and maybe only 5% percent bad but that the 5% is very powerful. I was thinking more like a 65/35 split haha, but seriously I felt in my heart that I knew what he meant. It’s like we all have a little beast inside of us that has the potential to be negative, but if you channel it into some positive expression like dance or art or writing or anything you love really, then it becomes a powerful force that actually makes you greater. I told him I think that part of him makes him more beautiful and he kinda blushed a little bit. awwww Lau Lau.

****Ok this is something I didn’t know about Lau’s beads. He was preparing to start teaching when he got this strange look on his face. He stopped and waved his wrist at Marina signaling that he wanted his bead bracelet (which is actually a long necklace he wraps around his arm). She brought it and when he put it on he seemed very relieved. Then he held the beads to his nose and took in 3 or 4 deep breaths smelling them. I always thought he just liked to wear them because they make that clicking sound when he dances. But now I think maybe he needs them…like he almost can’t dance without them? And why was he smelling them? Do they have chakra in them? Is it Larry’s chakra? So many questions. I’m mad at myself for forgetting to ask Lau. Maybe one of you guys can please ask him for us at the LA workshop next weekend.

And that’s about it ya’ll. It was great seeing Briana and Dati again and meeting Brit who’s even cuter than her pics . Also thank you to Kalina for offering me and Nina a ride after the workshop. We were safe walking the one block to the train and only two stops back to our hotel, but we really appreciate her being kind enough to ask especially since it was beginning to get dark out )).