Hatsudairen Awaodori Mime
Here’s one of my favorite Awaodori dancers in Tokyo, everytime I know that his group is performing I make sure I see his dance especially! He is a member of the Hatsudairen (初台連), one of the larger Awaodori teams in Tokyo and his role is to perform a comical miming dance to entertain the audience. Without using any words or any real interaction he dances a simple mime routine using exaggerated facial and body expressions to show a man who is very drunk and enjoying a very good time with his drunken friends. I think he is telling a comical story of some sort, but since he doesn’t use any words it is free to anyone to interpret his expressions. I love this comic-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder kind of approach and every time I see this man I feel better about anything in the world. As long as there are great entertainers like him in this world, there is still hope for us, no matter how much stress or misfortune we experience in the world. This man is a missionary of joy!
I took these pictures in Nishihachioji (西八王子) in July this year, seconds before the typhoon drenched us all in a torrent of rain. Well, it didn’t stop him! More posts about this festival here.
LOL so much dedication and energy
Indeed! If I only had one tenth of the energy I’d be twice the man! (^-^;)
You do have the energy, you have the energy of creativity and are amazing with the camera! now that’s a gift worth being happy about
Thanks Andy! You are so kind!
Indeed he’s putting all he’s got into this dancing! Does he know he has such an ardent fan?
Haha… I don’t think he does! I think I am a little bit crazy for being such a follower of Awaodori. How many people have favorite teams, favorite dancers and follow them around to catch all their performances? (^-^;) Even Japanese people think I am crazy when I talk to them about Awaodori. I think Coal here is the only one who understands me. But he is a pro.
Does he do this all the way down the street, or is it part of a formation dance?
All the way down the street, is my understanding! Every time I see him this is the dance he does! (^-^)
Looking a bit closer at the pictures, I’m guessing it’s not really a mime so much as a stylised dance just intended to be entertaining. That’s pretty common, though it’s hard to do well consistently, and stay within the confines of the dance’s traditions. I’ll see if I can dig up some Hatsudairen video to get a closer look. (I have a personal gripe with Hatsudai, because they insist on writing the “odori” part of “Awa Odori” in kanji, while everybody else uses hiragana… I will try to contain my rage…)
You talk about people thinking you’re crazy to be so enthusiastic about Awa Odori. I know (or have got chatting to) at least 100 people that can off the top of their head name 10-15 different teams, recognise them by their outfits from 100 yards, and identify individual dancers among them by the way they move. I’d say it’s more common than not, but I guess the people I hang around with aren’t typical…
People I hang around with:
http://tokyoebisu.webspace.ne.jp/bbs/data/tokyoebisu/img/23_a06cd3e2d4.jpg.jpg
Not typical:
http://c-3jp.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/o0359064010660916038.jpg
(Apologies for spamming up your comments…)
Nice group! I saw that beer advert and remember it because of the Awaodori dancers in it! Lovely commercial in my opinion! (^-^)
Haha… I agree! We are both atypical. And your friends even more so! I have no-one near me who is even mildly interested in Awaodori. Maybe not a mime technically, but it is the only way I can describe it to the blog audience so that anyone out there in the big wild world can understand what I’m blogging about. (^-^;)
Ah thanks!
Is there a better way to start the day than with such an amazing guy
Great!!!
Thank you Lili! (^-^)/
Wow, that looks pretty interesting. His facial expressions are really funny. I’ve never heards of Awaodori before, but now I feel like I need to look it up. Thanks for the tip!
If you want to learn more about Awaodori you have come to the right place! I think about 10% of my posts are related to this fantastic form of music and dance!
I love this guy
send him some chocolate in my name if you see him again! Made someone smile on the other part of the world! (^-^)
He deserves a proper fan club! (^-^)
Wow! He looks purely entertaining! That is so amazing! Love his facial expressions!
Yes, he is great! And the best thing is that he is only going to get better and as he ages his face will become richer and richer!
The facial expressions are hilarious!!
Thanks so much for sharing! ^__^
Aren’t they? He has the gift! Thanks for the kind comment!
Just noticed he has a hyottoko mask on the back of his head.
That probably comes into play later on… Checked out a bit of their video from Koenji, and there he was. Certainly a good dancer and a crowd pleaser. It looked like a lot of his arm movements were fishing themed, as in casting out and drawing in nets, though I’d have to get that confirmed. There’s a fan version of the fishing nets too (網打ち) which I’m working on now. 
Oh, and Hatsudairen onna odori need to work on their feet. Half of them it seemed were just walking. Tut tut. Pity because their arm movements were quite skilled.
Coal the critic! (^-^;) Haha… well read sir! I have never seen his set piece, but then again I’m not a set piece guy (as you know). The fishing mimicry makes sense, it totally works! Although I’m stumped as to why fishing of all human activities related to Awaodori would be used as the base for his movements… (^-^;)
The net casting thing was a guess really based on others I’ve seen doing the same dance—certainly seems to be doing something with rope. Being a coastal prefecture on a small island, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Tokushima has a pretty decent fishing industry. Other dance styles include making thread (from the looks) and getting drunk, the latter of which Shikoku is also particularly well known for…
I’ve seen many dancers doing the drinking routine, even one guy who did the drunk sleeping at a table routine, but never fishing, which is a little bit hard for drunks. (^-^;)