Gion Kouta dance performance

Whew! I'm exhausted. The dance performance was nearly 5 hours long. It was also set up in a way unlike any other performance I've been to. It was billed as a "maezomekai," which basically means "first dance gathering of the year." All the students sat at two long tables in front of the stage, facing each other. At the beginning there was quite a ceremony with the teacher on stage toasting all the students below with a little plate of sake. Then the teacher handed out new fans to all the students. I asked her what it meant, and she said the idea was that her students would try extra hard and dance this next year with their new fans. She picked me to help her with this ceremony! I carried her sake to her, and handed her the fans to hand to her students. Even my friend, Tomoko, was surprised. "She treated you like a princess!!" It's that obvious, huh? My teacher really does favor me, doing all sorts of things for me. I think I must be her first (and only) foreign student, probably, and she wants me to get the fullest experience possible. Hence, the fantabulous furisode (long-sleeved kimono) that she lent me, and doing my hair all fancy, and letting me participate in the opening ceremonies. Heehee! I'm glad I haven't managed to disappoint her yet. But, I was ridiculously nervous. With all those people fussing about me, I was afraid I would screw up badly (like drop my fan or something) and disappoint them all!

I've uploaded a video that my friend took of my performance. It should be on facebook soon...in about 4 hrs, if the upload progress bar is correct. I haven't watched it yet, because I'm too afraid too. I'd rather bask in the illusory glow of all the praise that various little old ladies have showered on me, than to watch the video and face the truth that I am, after all, just a beginner (although a fabulously costumed beginner). One lady even told me that she was so moved that she cried! Maybe it was something about seeing a foreigner do something so traditionally Japanese. But then again, I think that the fact that I look Asian has facilitated my acceptance by the group. The little old lady who did my makeup (she's 81! looks not a day over 60, at most) commented casually that she expected I would be like one of those tall foreigners, but instead I'm so cute. HA! There were lots of "ooh ahh you're so cute" and "you look so good in your kimono/hair/etc." going around. Clearly, looking Japanese helps.

A lot of people came! Tomoko came, of course, but so did my host family with their new baby in tow. I handed out a few fliers to my Japanese culture class, and two of those students came (total surprise!). Also, Mrs. Yano and her daughter came--them being the family that I spent New Year's with. They even brought me some chocolate truffles. I must have been the single most represented dancer there! I was overwhelmed with everyone's kindness.




And finally, there was a ridiculously cute little 5 year old girl who danced before me. Sadly, I was backstage so I couldn't see her dance, but I did exchange some words with her backstage, and later in the audience we were sitting close to each other due to the show order. Well, apparently she took a liking to me! By the time of intermission, she was loudly broadcasting to everybody that she's "become Sophia-san's friend!" She dragged me into pictures with her family (a mother, older sister, and older brother, all performing that day) and held onto my leg, and played with my hair. She even took my cell phone from me and took pictures with it (preventing me from taking pictures of her family's amazing performances too, while she was at it *sigh*). But she was so adorable. Japanese kids are so adorable.

Yesterday I was at the children's classroom, I was lightly berated by another young Japanese girl for "sitting like a boy." I had just changed out of my kimono and was sitting cross-legged on the floor. I was so startled by her comment! I told her that this is how we are taught to sit, even from a very early age in kindergarten. I asked her how Japanese girls sit, and she demonstrated for me (basically, legs tucked under and off to one side, or another uncomfortable and hard to describe position. I call it W-sit, because the legs are shaped like a W). Ah. Right. I tried to explain to her that Japanese girls probably have to sit that way because they are always wearing a skirt uniform in school, so sitting cross-legged would be difficult, whereas very few American students wear uniforms, so most girls wear pants to school and thus sit cross-legged like everyone else. She was so surprised, I think a lot by the fact that I could manage to explain that in Japanese! Ah, cultural exchange. Gotta love it. Then she and her sister were so impressed when I said that "tai-iku" is "physical education" in English. Impressed and surprised like, ::gasp:: with mouth agape and eyes wide open. So cute!