Otakon 2021 Wrap Up

Otakon is an anime convention that is held in Washington D.C. that has been running since 1994. Isn’t that crazy?! I first attended in 2012, and have been attending on and off since. This was my first year attending since the location had moved to Washington D.C. from Baltimore and honestly, it was far from the only thing that was different about this time attending the convention. I was pleasantly surprised about how strict they were being with mask mandates, disinfecting rooms, etc! Granted, I did not get a chance to go into the dealer’s hall or artist alley, but I didn’t see a single person unmasked!

When I first started attending conventions in 2009, Otakon was my ‘dream convention’. I just wanted to attend the biggest convention on the East Coast! I never even imagined that I would perform as a part of official programming, much less during Opening Ceremonies all these years later.

Jenni Bon, Tama , Nye and I had the opportunity to promote the Idol Space programming this year at Otakon during Opening Ceremonies. ‘Idol Space’ was new to the convention, as they couldn’t hold the Anibeat Idol Festival due to concerns with pandemic procedures. I was so incredibly nervous that my first performance after a year off stage was going to be to such a big crowd, but I think it went okay! It was a good warm up to prepare for our main performance, where I had a collaboration stage with Jenni Bon and Sona Dira. (Should that big of a stage be considered a warm up? Probably not!)

I sadly didn’t get a chance to wander around the convention much, but the reason was for good! The Idol Space featured so many really amazing performers and I spent all of my free time in there finding new people to follow. It felt so good to watch people perform in person again! Almost better than being able to perform again, honestly!!

I will be uploading my clips from my performances onto my YouTube channel, but if you’d like to watch the entire stage, you can here! A special treat for anyone who reads.~ Special thank you Vagabond Photography for this footage!

From Left To Right: Kirby, Jenni Bon, Sona Dira, Alex Pinku & Mickayla

I had made a comment after the performance at some point that this was the first time I truly felt myself have fun on stage. Now, I always enjoy performing, don’t get me wrong. But up until this point, my brain has always been so focused on ‘oh god, need to look good need to sound good’, that it was hard for me to truly let go and just soak in the moment. This time, I really felt it. I don’t know if it’s because it’s been so long, or because of my comfort level with the songs, but something worked! Not to say there aren’t things I know I need to improve for next time, but I’m really happy with how it came out.

I really feel like this is a new chapter in my performance life. Something feels different now than it did before. I feel like I’ve made it over a major obstacle and this is where I can really start to grow. I’m figuring out what works for me. ♥ I can’t wait!

If you want to see more events that I’ll be at coming up, check out the Events page!