Awaodori Women – 2
Here’s more women of the Koenji Awaodori 2011! One of the great things about this festival is the fact that it is open for participants of any age, but the majority seems to fall between the 3-90 years. The reason being that dancing nonstop for 3 hours tend to be extremely physically exhausting. I can’t even imagine doing this, I have friends who are exhausted after just walking for 30 minutes, and these ladies are dancing around, violently, for 3 hours!? There’s a good reason there are no over weight awaodori veterans – they tend to turn slim pretty quickly!
The young lady in the first photo is a member of the Kaseiren, かせい連, a 32 year old team with about 86 members. I don’t know much about them but they are associated with the well known team Tenguren. Lots of great dancers in this team!
The last two photos are of a young lady in one of my favorite teams, the Kasumiren (華純連). This is one of the great Awaodori teams in Japan, they have it all, great dancers, wonderfully attractive uniforms, perfect coordination and a lively music section. Easily one of the teams to always look out for. Some of the best older men dancers belong to this team and the way they use miming and facial expressions to interact with the crowd is simply amazing! Anyone of these old dancers could be a star in any comedy movie, from the way they act alone.
More on the other teams to come, and more photos as well. Enjoy!
You mean they keep dancing and marching for 3 hours without a break? That’s tough. All the costumes are so colorful. The girl in the last photo seems to be happy to have her photo taken. Yeei, 華純連 has my name in it.
Yes, 3 hours! In the Koenji festival though, I know that there are two 60m stretches where they merely walk fast. So maybe 178 minutes of dancing and 2 minutes of brisk walking! I’d probably die if I tried. (^-^)
The pose of the first girl is fantastic! The kids are so cute, as always! >_<
She was tall for a kid and I was pretty close to the ground, when I looked up she was very close already…! It’s always fun to change your perspective…!
The dedication and their expressions are amazing, it’s so incredible that they can be so precise and still smile while doing it
wow!
Yes, my thought exactly. Skill, dedication and a genuine love for what they are doing! Very Japanese!
Ahah..^_^;I’m also dancing as a hobby, and from the hands of the girls I reminded myself that my sensei always tells us how to keep our hands and how not.
The first pictures girl has a little pouch, is it something neccessary for the festival? Or simply just useful for carrying things?
Yes! In Awaodori the hands are very important, especially for the part of the young lady in the first picture! She has indeed a pouch for holding small things in her obi (belt). I guess she is too young to have been equipped with a proper inro (印籠), a sort of lacquer box held together with strings that you can see in almost every other uniform. They hold anything from cash to mobile phones to make up and medicine. I have only once seen an “inro accident”, a male dancer opened his by mistake and his cigarettes spilled out all over the street. Everyone laughed.
I see, thanks for the info ^-^ i didn’t know it had someting to do with age as well!
I really don’t know, but I think the inro is quite expensive while a cotton pouch is easier for a kid to use and wear!