Minyo Dancers
By: Andrew Maddocks
Issue date: 3/7/08 Section: Features
Gliding across the stage with synchronized steps and gestures, the Indianapolis Minyo Dancers brought Japanese folk tradition to life Tuesday night in Meharry Hall.
Students, faculty and even a Brownie Girl Scout troop braved the frigid winter weather to attend the performance.
Seven dances presented different traditions in interpretive form. Nissy Stetson-Grace, assistant director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, told poetic stories that explained the relevant folk tradition behind each new dance. Beth Ann Newton, secretary of campus activities, brought the Scouts in recognition of Ayanka, a Japanese member of their troop who moved recently back to Japan.
The performance opened with a celebration of a bountiful rice harvest called Don Pon Bushi. Purple silk robes swished on the wood floor of the stage as the six dancers moved their arms in time with the music and each other.
Sticks and straw hats featured prominently in the next selection, Nikko Waraku Odori. While the dance also celebrates harvest time, dancer Toshiko Bennett said parts of the performance symbolized drinking sake.
Following Stetson-Grace's next introduction, white and pink fans spun, waved and fluttered their way across the stage in Hakata Don Taku. The dance comes from the Dutch festival Don Taku. Several centuries ago the port Hakata was Japan's link to the west, so the setting lives on in the Hakata Don Taku.
The background story speaks to the multilingual connections embodied in the dance. The tale says, "In any age and in any language, 'festival' means food and fun and dance and music!"
The dancers then moved from harvest and festival traditions into the symbolism of nature in Japanese culture. Usuzumi Zakura is named after a cherry tree that grows exceptionally old, yet sports blossoms more striking and fine than its younger counterparts. Mothers display the same characteristics in folk tradition.
According to the story, "Like an Usuzumi Zakura, a mother has to be strong, with roots that run deep, yet beautiful and soft."
Students, faculty and even a Brownie Girl Scout troop braved the frigid winter weather to attend the performance.
Seven dances presented different traditions in interpretive form. Nissy Stetson-Grace, assistant director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, told poetic stories that explained the relevant folk tradition behind each new dance. Beth Ann Newton, secretary of campus activities, brought the Scouts in recognition of Ayanka, a Japanese member of their troop who moved recently back to Japan.
The performance opened with a celebration of a bountiful rice harvest called Don Pon Bushi. Purple silk robes swished on the wood floor of the stage as the six dancers moved their arms in time with the music and each other.
Sticks and straw hats featured prominently in the next selection, Nikko Waraku Odori. While the dance also celebrates harvest time, dancer Toshiko Bennett said parts of the performance symbolized drinking sake.
Following Stetson-Grace's next introduction, white and pink fans spun, waved and fluttered their way across the stage in Hakata Don Taku. The dance comes from the Dutch festival Don Taku. Several centuries ago the port Hakata was Japan's link to the west, so the setting lives on in the Hakata Don Taku.
The background story speaks to the multilingual connections embodied in the dance. The tale says, "In any age and in any language, 'festival' means food and fun and dance and music!"
The dancers then moved from harvest and festival traditions into the symbolism of nature in Japanese culture. Usuzumi Zakura is named after a cherry tree that grows exceptionally old, yet sports blossoms more striking and fine than its younger counterparts. Mothers display the same characteristics in folk tradition.
According to the story, "Like an Usuzumi Zakura, a mother has to be strong, with roots that run deep, yet beautiful and soft."
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