Traaditioooon, Tradition

I was invited to see one of the women in the Heartful English Club perform in a festival of traditional Japanese dances and songs. The festival lasted all day long; from 9:30am until about 3:30pm. In the span of about six hours they had 66 performances! I was floored at how many dances they were able to pack in there.

Of course the costumes were beautiful kimonos using some gorgeous fabrics. I hope to be able to save up some money and buy myself a kimono while I am here - but that is just a dream at this point. It is amazing to me how graceful they can be in their kimonos - it just seems that they are floating across the stage as they walk. It is so fluid and their movements with fans are so graceful.

There were four solo dances in a row, each depicting one season. The kimonos for each were made of incredible fabrics with intricate scenes woven into each. They began with autumn and the woman came out in rich oranges and golds with a touch of yellow and red. She had autumn leaves tucked into her hair that she later removed and used as part of her dance.

Next was winter and her kimono was bright white with silver shiny thread used to make bare tree branches near the bottom and snow flakes near the top. She used a silver fan with a design in black. Her dance looked as though she were skating on ice. Her geta (the wooden sandals they wear) were platformed; I have no clue how she was able to walk on them!

Then came spring. The kimono was a tender pink and had small white blossoms and flowers on it as though they were falling from a cherry tree. There was nothing shiny, just subtle and beautifully soft and delicate. The music for this dance was exciting and sounded a little like the music from Bambi! haha Clearly it was Japanese music, but it elicited the same feelings of excitement and giddiness that the spring music in Bambi does.

Lastly came summer and the kimono was very green and her fan was decorated like a butterfly. Her dance was the fastest, but in some incredible way she still looked like she was gliding or floating like the others. The music was upbeat and a little jazzy as far as traditional Japanese music goes.

Hiromi, the woman in my class, was in two of the dances during the day, but I was only able to see the first one, which she told me was better anyway! She was one of three dancers in her performance and she played the male role in the dance...haha. Her wig was really cool and was tall on her head and then had a really long ponytail coming out of the top. She was dressed in an old male-style kimono. Hiromi used to be a competitive ballroom dancer with her husband, so of course she was really great at moving on stage. As the male character, she had to do many deep lunges and hold her position for long stretches of time. It was powerful and strong.

The auditorium where the dances were taking place was completely packed. It was fun to see so many people supporting their friends and family in the performance. The whole thing reminded me of the amazingly fun times I have had joining some of the Filipino celebrations at home. Watching the traditional dances in traditional garb is really cool. I am very happy to be American through and through - but we just do line dancing and wear cowboy boots....haha. I guess the performer in me can just really appreciate the beautiful costumes and elaborate dances and songs!