Dance

Dance Party

Join the Tekko family for our annual Dance Party! Enjoy yourself by dancing the night away to the coolest music from Japan and abroad. So grab your glow sticks and party the night away with us.

DJs

TRicKLe

Metamind Artistry Collective / DNA Productions / Diversity Productions

Drum & Bass / Hardcore

Started his journey into DJing in 2016 playing UK Hardcore, his taste for bass quickly grew into more aggressive subgenres such as Gabber, Dutch/Frenchcore, and eventually Psytrance for a small period of time. This until about 2017 when he discovered his deep connection to the drum patterns and body shaking sonics of Drum & Bass.

Although only playing out Drum & Bass for just under five years, TRicKLe quickly found his sound in the thunder. With tunes pulled from record labels ranging from Vision, Neosignal and Symmetry to Hospital, Neksus Sound, and Critical. Expect a set full of engulfing emotions, hard hitting drums, and body squeezing sub frequencies.

SoundCloud.com/trickle_dnb

SoundCloud.com/metamindcollective

Dropset

The Pittsburgh born and bred bodybuilder / personal trainer turned neuro prodigy has been at it for quite some time and the results are starting to stack up considerably in his favor. After having circled around the American usual suspects Divination and Abducted, he’s finally graduated towards Europe, first with releases on Close 2 Death and C4C and then getting onto ProtoCode and Korsakov Music. Dropset has also been featured by UKF, DJ Mag, and RedBull Music. As promising a trajectory as any.

The year is 2016 when he decides to get serious about production, landing him his first release only 2 years after. Under the tutelage of Philth, followed by AKOV and finally even production master Joe Ford, Dropset has developed a recognisable yet unique sound that is both heavy and catchy, both easy on the ears and technically impeccable. The tunes keep getting bigger, the collabs keep getting bigger, the labels keep getting bigger, and even his body keeps getting bigger.

www.facebook.com/dropsetdnb

www.soundcloud.com/dropsetdnb

www.instagram.com/dropsetdnb

DJ Twist

DJ Twist has been a part of Pittsburgh nightlife for the past decade DJing at bars and nightclubs across town, from Oakland to Southside and Lawrenceville. Twist has rocked the party from Garage Door in Oakland to Jimmy D's South Side and brings a mix of Top 40, Party, and Club dance music that keeps you on the floor all night. Having DJed sets at Pods at Magfest and Collosalcon, Twist is returning to the TEKKO since his set in 2018 and can't wait to get the 2022 Dance started off right.

Dance Competition

One of a kind on the US convention circuit, the Tekko Dance Competition gives individuals and groups a chance to show off their skills in front of a crowd. If you love to dance, enjoy performing with your friends, or are driven by your desire to share one of your favorite artists with the world, this competition is for you!

Classic Dance Competition

You must have a valid Tekko badge in order to participate in the dance competition. Eligible badge types include General Admission, Premium, and Rock Star badges. Preregistration for Tekko is recommended as it will save you time (and money) at the door the day of the competition. We will be checking that all of the names of our competitors are in our registration database by the time of the competition rehearsal.

Qualifying Round

Please take a moment to read both documents linked below, as one is focused on your audition, and the other on your requested song to perform at the convention for the competition.

Information regarding all rules/policies regarding the Qualifying Round, performance song selections, eligibility, and responsibilities of performers can be found HERE .

Competing at Tekko

A mandatory 60 minute rehearsal is scheduled for Friday of the convention. (Specific time TBA to entrants.) During this rehearsal, the order of performances will be decided, competitors will learn the location of stage entrances, exits, and changing facilities, and contestants will be able to practice their songs, time permitting. If you or your group fail to attend the rehearsal, you will not be permitted to perform in the actual competition.

Scoring

Entries are judged using a points-based scoring system. Point totals will not be announced at the competition or otherwise made public, but upon request, individuals and groups will have access to their final scores as averaged between the judges.

Additional information regarding scoring specifics can be found here .

Tekko Idol Festival

Idols and idol fans rejoice! The Tekko Idol Festival is your chance to come out and perform for an audience of your fellow Jpop fans. This showcase is for those who love to do song and dance covers of Jpop songs along with those who have their own original Idol music and personas. Whether you be a fan of Perfume, LoveLive!, or Hello!Project groups, this festival is for you.

K-Pop Cover Festival

How much do you love Kpop? Show us your skill and passion at the Kpop Cover Festival! Performers can bring song and dance covers to the stage for all of our Kpop-loving attendees.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the dance competition, please feel free to email [email protected] . We’d love to hear from you!

Eligibility

You must have a valid Tekko 2019 badge to participate. Names of performers will be checked against the database for valid registrations - anyone found not to be registered will not be allowed to perform and/or disallowed for the subsequent year.

You must be 14 years or older to participate, and all minors (17 or younger) must either have signed parental permission to perform or have an adult member in their group to claim responsibility for them if needed.

You may apply to sing, to dance, or to do both for both Festivals. You may also participate in both Festivals and the Dance Competition - applying for any number of these events does not hurt your chances of getting into any of them.

Each festival is tentatively scheduled to be an hour-long event. They may be extended based on need.

Applying for the Festivals

Send in the form necessary for performing. Both the Tekko Idol Festival and the Kpop Cover Festival applications can be found on this page.
The event organizers will choose who will perform, the number of songs they perform, and which songs they perform based on the applications sent in. Performance opportunities are more likely to be given to stronger performers and people who choose more interesting/diverse songs to perform.
Decisions on acceptance will be sent out within a week of the form’s closing (Feb 16th close , email sent by Feb 23rd)
All details of the performance including setlist order etc will be finalized by Feb 31st. Performers will need to send their audio files and other necessary information by that date.
The festivals will happen at Tekko, day and time TBA! Shooting for Saturday for both, time will be dependent on making sure we don’t overlap with any other major events like musical guests, etc.

Audition Guidelines

Auditions must be within the same genre as the event you’re applying for. Tekko Idol Festival applicants must audition with Jpop or Odottemita/Utattemita, and Kpop Cover Festival applicants must audition with Kpop. In the case of those with their own original music/performances, it must be music that you own rights to as the artist or creator.
Videos must be at least 2 minutes long and you must demonstrate skill in the areas you are applying for. Singers must sing, dancers must dance, and those wanting to do both must have two separate videos displaying each skill or one video where you do both at the same time.
You must submit links to the original versions of the things you are covering. Make sure all dances can be clearly seen and singing can be heard in a proper recording.
You do not need to audition with a song you are planning on performing at the Festivals.
Audition videos must have been uploaded within the previous 2 years or they will not be accepted . Audition videos do not have to be new videos made for the purpose of these auditions.
All performers must be present in the audition video. You may send separate videos of any individuals in your group if you do not have a video of everyone together, but you may not exceed 3 videos sent total to achieve this.
Singers may send extra audio files of themselves singing, but there must be at least one video where you can be seen clearly singing to be sure that the voice heard is yours.

Song choice guidelines

You may apply for 3 different types of slots, based on number of song: a slot to perform one song , a slot to perform two songs , or a slot to perform three songs . Whichever you choose, you must provide your preferred songs for that number of performances along with two extra songs that you are willing to substitute into your slot should there be any duplicate songs between applicants or other issues with your choices.
Song choices must not exceed 4:45 in length.
Submitted songs must be within the genre of the event you’re applying for; Kpop for the Kpop Cover Festival, and Jpop/Odottemita/Utattemita for the Tekko Idol Festival. You may choose songs in those categories if they’re done by foreign artists, so long as they’re in the appropriate language. An example of that would be one of SHINee’s singles in a Japanese version for the Idol Festival.
Songs may be combined into medleys and/or cut together as full-length songs, but on one track with transitions in between. If this is your intent, you must note that on your application. If you are doing a medley, keep in mind that the maximum time length for one song slot is 4:45. If you’d like to apply for multiple songs and combine their total time in order to make one longer medley, make a note of that along with a description of what you’d like to do on the application. Include songs chosen for the medley, total length of time used, and how much of each song would go into the medley. These can all be close approximations if you haven’t cut and mixed the music together yet.

Responsibilities of Performers

You must respond to emails that require confirmation or important information from you in a timely fashion . If something is needed from you and you do not respond to an email sent before the deadlines stated in previous correspondences, you may be removed from the performance.
There will be a mandatory short rehearsal sometime the day of the performance. You must attend to be given a verbal rundown of all information and to physically walk through the stage area. If any members are not present, they will not be allowed to perform. You may be excused for other circumstances like being a panelist during that time slot, etc.
You must attend the festival you are performing in on time. If you or a member of your group fail to show up by the specified meet-up time , you will be disqualified from the competition and will not be allowed to perform.
You must present a good attitude as a performer to your fellow performers, the staff, and your audience. These events are not competitions and are purely here to celebrate things we all commonly enjoy.

Other Notes

These festivals will take place in the newly created dance space in the convention center. It is a large open area with a stage at one end and a small backstage-like area for the performers to use if needed. It’ll have a full audio setup, and no particular lighting setup other than being across from floor-to-ceiling windows and having normal ceiling lights above.
You and audience members may bring fan signs to this event, but keep in mind that you may not block anyone’s view with them!
Attire must fit within Tekko’s clothing policy and your dances must be appropriate for a standard audience. We ask that you keep everything suitable for Tekko’s general audience.
Groups must not be larger than 10 performers. The stage won’t be big enough to hold you all if you have any more than that!
You will be given time to introduce yourselves to the audience before performing, to announce each song name in between, and to say something as you leave the stage. This will not be very long, so be prepared to keep it short and simple.
Microphones will be provided - we have wireless microphones for performers if needed.
There will be monitors pointing toward the performers so that anyone singing should be able to hear themselves.
If you need any specific props, you must bring them yourself !
If you are collaborating with any other performers and want to do any songs as a joint performance, you may note that on your application. If there is any performer/group you want to perform back-to-back with, you may also note that!
The Idol Festival is not an event based off of only 2D idols or idol anime. Although they do fit within the genre of idols, “Jpop idols” usually refers to 3D/real people performing as idols and not just Seiyuus performing Anisong numbers. We will be keeping a balance of these things and the representation of different Anisong varieties as much as possible so that the show isn’t too one-note.