Dancing

Today was my first lesson in traditional Japanese dance (Nihon Buyo), and it was really fun. On the way to the studio, a couple of us (big shocker coming up here, are you ready for it?) got lost. I swear that I spend more time lost in this city than found. Once we managed to find the studio though, it was very spacious, clean and truly beautiful. Today, as perhaps will be the usual procedure, we were not taught by the head of the studio but rather her apprentice, Kayo-sensei. I really like her. She might be as tall as me or even taller, and she usually wears these very thick and prominent glasses, which while certainly not ugly, don’t exactly scream ‘elegant’. They also make her look rather severe. When she’s not wearing her glasses, though, and is teaching a class, she is very graceful and a great deal of fun, and even tried to teach us beginners a few cool twirling tricks with our fans that might be used in more complicated dances. And then there’s the dance that we’re learning. It’s called ‘Sakura’, and set to a very famous song of the same name that I seem to remember learning in elementary school at some point. When we watched a video of some students from last year performing this dance a couple weeks ago, it really looked very simple, however, having actually tried to learn a small section this evening I know that it is definitely anything but. Every motion is carefully timed and executed, with several small points to remember, such as the position of head and feet and the exact angle of the fan. We were also taught how to walk while wearing kimono in an onstage situation. It was kind of odd, but even though we were just slowly moving back and forth across a room by sliding one foot in front of the other, it still wasn’t in the least bit boring.
-Dancing fans are bigger, both in length and width, than usual fans, and definitely heavier.
-When brand new, a dancing fan takes a considerable amount of effort to open.
-On dancing surfaces, which are usually covered in polished wood, one always wears tabi socks, which are white cotton, because the oils from your skin can hurt the floor.
-They are really not big on street signs here. At all.
-I am now convinced that pretty much everything from Engrish.com was purchased in a ¥100 store.
-If you know which one to use, the bus is definitely the way to go. It’s not as fast as the subway or train, but is only ¥220 for anywhere in the city, as opposed to usual ¥250 or more to use the subway, with more in addition if you change lines.