I want to dance, you sing in your hit from 2017. Do you really want to dance now during StarDance training?
Once I decide and go for it, I won’t give up.
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That doesn’t sound very exciting.
I don’t know if I’m a brilliant dancer. Besides professional dancers, I don’t feel the best. I’m used to the things I do to do well to work, but in addition to the professionals who are multiple national champions in dance, side by side, I simply look like wood. And it’s not easy to come to terms with it.
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So I would like to dance so that the difference is not so great. I know that we are not expected to perform. But I really don’t want to look like wood.
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What makes you the most problem?
Today I found out that jive is Latin. I thought it belonged to the classics. And he enjoyed it. It’s energetic, the music is faster and it charges me. Like quickstep, which isn’t Latin, but I like it at speed and pace.
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And then there are the Latin American dances, which are a lot about “twisting.” They do a lot of pelvic movements, which is a bit of a problem for me. My hip hurts, even though I’m young. It’s unnatural and I find it a little unlucky.
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Even though I feel like I’m making those moves one hundred and fifty percent, that I’m almost exaggerating, looking at the video we’re shooting for control and feedback, it occurs to me that I don’t dance at all next to my dance partner Lenka. That I just walk.
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“I don’t think we’re slack, we’re pretty intense. We train fully whenever possible, “says Mirai.
Photo: Milan Malíček, Právo
In my eyes, I drove the full ceiling, went full dance, drove the movements sharply, and then I watch the video and see how it really was. Unfortunately, the difference in how one sees things in one’s own head and what the reality is is often quite large.
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Did you go to someone more experienced for advice before participating in a dance competition?
I did not consult with anyone about participating in StarDance, but at one concert I met Matěj Ruppert, who told me something about it, and also with Kovy.
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We exchanged a few words and they both told me it was nice and that I should go for it. But nothing more.
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I didn’t think I was a dancer, and I didn’t lose any illusions
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I never saw the whole show! It may have flashed a few times at home and I watched two dances, but nothing more. Not that I want to be interesting, but I’m actually afraid to let it go so that it doesn’t stress me out. I’d rather be surprised and somehow get through it. But the live broadcast for me will be a Spanish village. I’m not at all kissed about it.
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Did you think of yourself as a dancer or did you lose your illusions?
I didn’t think I was a dancer, and I didn’t lose any illusions. Maybe it deepened my skepticism that dancing wasn’t easy at all. Including standard, Latin and any other dances. I’m just not a dancer. But just wait a minute!
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Are you strict with yourself?
I’m not. After my father, I tend to take things a little critically and rather brag about looking for mistakes. But if I was strict with myself after training, he took two hundred push-ups and five fathers, that’s not it. I have had enough after training.
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I don’t think we’re slapping it, we’re pretty intense. We train fully whenever possible. I still combine trainings with concerts.
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In 2014, he brought the Mirai group to life together with the drummer Šimon Bílý.
Photo: Veronika Gulášová
So are you still pursuing your band?
God forbid, the band has played very intensively in the last two months. Combining concerts with training sessions at the time, it was quite a hangout. It was difficult. After the concert, the boys from the band slept in České Budějovice or Olomouc, for example, and I got in the car and drove to Prague at night so that I could go to practice in the morning.
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When I compare D1 at night and during the day, it’s a difference. If I can give something in an hour at night, it takes at least two during the day, and Prague is stuck. One loses another hour just on arrival. In places, these night rides were dangerous. Once I almost fell asleep and another time I ran out of gas in my car. But fortunately, Ewa Farna’s band followed me a few miles.
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Wait, it looks like an incident. How was it then?
I met the band at the gas station. They are friends. I knew the light showed me to refuel, but when I met them, I talked to them instead.
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I bought an energy bar and drove on without refueling. Fifteen kilometers later, I ran out of diesel and the car no longer drove. So I immediately called to see if they were still behind me and could bring me some oil in the canister. Which happened and I was saved by Ewa Farná’s band.
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You have your experience with commuting. The Frýdek-Místek-Prague route is your route or not?
Yes it is. I’m getting ready for it today. I usually take the train to Ostrava. It’s more comfortable, I relax and sometimes I sleep. It’s not like four hours behind the wheel. They pick me up in Ostrava and go to Frýdek. I’m organizing my festival there right now. I want to work it out and enjoy it, and then a few more concerts await me there. Otherwise, I’m fully dedicated to StarDance.
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Are you a North Moravian patriot?
I don’t know if I really like the North Moravian, but Frýdek-Místek region and I like to return to it. I have friends, activities and family there.
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He is usually sold out at his concerts.
Photo: Veronika Gulášová
So you’re not thinking about moving to Prague?
I’m a little moved. I live half and half life. Due to my duties and work, I also live in Prague, where I have an apartment. And for the reasons I talked about, I’m still in Frýdek. I’m in Prague more than half now, mainly because of StarDance. This is an extreme situation. One has to train every day and it is not possible to drive here and there.
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Your girlfriend is said to come to Frýdek from Prague to cook for you from time to time, is that true?
When it stops, it boils.
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And do you go to Japan?
There I was going to the Olympics through the Czech Olympic Committee. I was supposed to go there as a reporter to inform the Czech public together with half-Japanese Naomi Adachi on social networks about what is happening in Japan.
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I was looking forward to Japan and thought that God probably wanted it. I got a stop sign in the context of the covid
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They prevented access for foreigners, the Olympics were to be available only to the Japanese. However, they also banned the Japanese, so the Olympics were completely without spectators. Even though I had a ticket and a paid hotel and everything was ready, the trip fell for me. I have Japanese roots and I had an agreement with my then-grandmother that we would meet in Tokyo.
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So I had a lot of motivation to really leave. I was looking forward to it and thought that God probably wanted it when the idea of the Czech Olympic Committee came about. However, in the context of covid, I got a stop sign. I was sorry. How much trouble and money it had to cost the Japanese! Who knows if we will ever see the Japanese Olympics again. It is sad.
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Thanks to his musical ideas, he has awards from the Czech Nightingale poll and the Anděl Award in his collection.
Photo: Veronika Gulášová
So this didn’t work out, but other times you got there, didn’t you?
I went to Japan quite regularly before the covid. Even now, I’m going there again, despite all sorts of things. There is still a strict regime.
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A three-day government quarantine in a room three times two meters, where you can’t open a window and where a guy in a spacesuit comes to do a PCR test three times a day. Then you will proceed to a fortnight’s normal quarantine.
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I feel like a foreigner in Japan, but with an inner nostalgic overlap
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A lot of the measures were due to the Olympics, now it will probably loosen up a bit. However, it will take a while to experience normal Japan. Not everyone can go there long enough for the quarantine not to destroy them. It is a waste of time. With a fortnight’s quarantine, you must go there for at least two months.
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How do you feel in Japan?
I feel like a stranger there, but with an inner nostalgic overlap. I don’t feel like a typical tourist and I don’t even feel at home there. Deep down, I feel that I have family and roots there. Every time I fly to Japan and stand at the airport, I experience something more than when I go on holiday to Sri Lanka, for example.
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He’s doing something inside me, I like it there. And I’m also looking forward to the family and a few people I’m in contact with. Japan resonates in me, even though I am not Japanese and I do not have the attributes of a Japanese in me.
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So the Samurai Code doesn’t tell you anything?
No, neither bushido nor samurai code and any discipline tell me much. I was probably spoiled by the Czech nation and the years spent here. I’m just Czech.
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Do you follow any Japanese customs? Drinking tea for example?
The tea ceremony is not exactly my strong point. But I like Japanese cuisine and Japanese food. I think Japan is number one in the world.
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He shares his life relatively openly on his instagram profile. Tens of thousands of fans are watching him.
Photo: Instagram miraimusic
Everyone remembers sushi, what’s next?
Yes, but the variety and variety of Japanese dining options are incredible. When I’m there for a month and eating something else for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I won’t try even half of what the country has to offer.
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For example?
Everything is possible. Long-drawn bacon, all kinds of noodles, ramen, udon, Japanese pizza or OkomiJaki pancake. There are many possibilities. Try them sometime.
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You go to concerts. Is the audience different than before?
The first concerts after the deadlines had a charge of return for everyone. It has happened in the past, it was nostalgic and it felt like we were living, we were back, and it was strong.
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Then it came back. In recent months, people go to an incredible amount, every concert is sold out. I don’t know if it’s because the band is doing well or if it’s compensation for a time when people couldn’t afford culture. But it’s great and I wish it was like that forever.
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What do you have in front of you?
You know my dance plans. Don’t disappoint the fans and not embarrass my region. And as for the musical plans, we want to release a record on November 11th, and the announcement of the big concert, which we are planning for next year in the largest hall in Prague, should follow.
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And here, I guess, you sell out.
God willing, yes.
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