We allknow and love Espritby now, right? You see them popping up everywhere at various community-ledFinal Fantasy 14events throughout the year, impressing players with their highly polished Macro Dance routines. Fans will always spot the familiar faces amongst the troupe, but recently, it was time for Esprit to show off what its newer team members were capable of with the Esprit Junior Dancers Showcase.
Junior dancers got to strut their stuff and show off their moves, and for Esprit fans, there were still a few familiar faces from the old guard involved. It was interesting to see what the juniors could do as they were tasked with writing their own numbers. Fortunately, they have plenty of mentors to help them shape their dances.
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“My biggest advice for starting out picking a song is, if you can’t sit and listen to the same song 30 times over and over again and still love it, you might need a new song,” Esprit founder Ahro’zi Zhimsa explains. “A lot of writing is trial and error, which means rewinding and replaying parts of a song until it’s perfect, and that will beverytiring if you start to hate the song. As for pairing actions, I like to do mine in a freeform method. Just throw some emotes on a spare hotbar, click along to the beat, and see what fits and what doesn’t.”
Esprit’s Jesse Locklear also explained that song choice factors in different elements, and this is part of what they teach newbies, “When dancers attend their first lesson, we give them a general idea of how to pick songs. Which songs they pick often depend on the race and gender of their avatar, as everyone in this game has a different ‘feel’ to their emotes that fits different songs. For example, female Viera is reserved and does better with slower, lower-energy songs, while male Au Ra has very snappy and energetic emotes that do well with a song with a defined beat. Of course, we ensure that everyone knows that anyone can do any song, with enough determination.”
Songwriting time varies on the individual, with some eager dancers racing to write their numbers, while others spend weeks or even months perfecting their dream performance. Each routine varies, some are solos, some are group numbers, and the level of effects and costumes used all differ. Each song is shaped by the dancer in question, and if they need more dancers, they simply ask the troupe for volunteers, depending on the class and emotes needed, as they’ll have certain actions in mind for their song.
Ahro’zi tells me there was some anxiety in the troupe about the Junior Dancers Showcase, “It was very overwhelming, as there was a bit of nervousness that folks might not be interested in a novice-only show, but after filling the house so quickly that fear was quickly squashed and turned into happiness. I’m so glad that the community truly enjoys the content we are able to produce.”
The juniors have been taught well, and you could see the same attention to detail that we’ve come to expect from Esprit throughout the event. Routines and costumes were well-matched to each song, with the timings for outfit changes and actions falling into perfect step with the lyrics. One of my favourites from the evening was Churo Xx’s performance of ‘Memories of You’ from Persona 3, as they did repeated costume changes throughout, based on Aigis and her Persona.
Ayanga Uyagir’s performance used Willy Williams’ ‘Ego,’ with black and white costumes to match the original music video, while Mimi Michi’s performance of The Orion Experience’s ‘Star Child’ utilised classical costumes and plenty of sparkly star effects to bring the lyrics to life.
I’m always impressed with how well Esprit pairs emotes and actions with their songs. It’s so easy to forget the tools at their disposal are quite limited. The ‘How come I don’t have a line to read?’ lyrics in Alex Benjamin’s ‘Deniro’ played alongside the dancer pulling out a book and reading it. In ‘Burn’ from Hamilton, the dancer had wings while the song referenced Icarus, and for Valerie Broussard’s ‘Trouble’, the line ‘I’m that knife in your boot, girl.’ had the dancers pulling out implements of their own.
This was Esprit’s first home venue show in their recently purchased Free Company house, and it was decorated to perfection, with a large, ornate stage and seating for the audience. Until now, the troupe has been performing at various venues, including borrowing a medium-sized FC house owned by one of their members, Goro Majima. A dedicated venue means the team can get more creative with their shows and tailor each set to their needs.
“I’m stoked that Esprit has its own place to host shows now, especially one that is fully tailored to our needs with stage techniques that only a large house can provide,” Goro says. “I adore my medium-sized theatre, but there are just certain tricks we’re looking to try that you can’t do with the limited space. I have every intention to further fine-tune the design in the future as new housing tricks are discovered.”
“It’s unbelievably nice to not worry about borrowing someone else’s venue,” Esprit’s Xanthe Almondbright adds. “And since many of us have moved to Maduin we’ve been able to maintain control over the front door, the lighting, and even housing items from backstage without switching characters.”
If you’re interested in learning Macro Dance, Esprit takes on novices all year round. No experience is necessary, though it helps to have a few jobs and emotes unlocked already, and the team prefers that players have beaten the Main Scenario Quest and are on the North American Data Center. Esprit hosts a lesson at least once a month that covers the basics of Macro Dance and provides one-on-one classes on request.
You can stay up to date with Esprit and their Macro Dance shows byfollowing them on Twitterorjoining their Discord.
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