Kuweight 64: JAPAN CULTURE WEEK IN KUWAIT

JAPANESE DANCE

I was so glad that my husband and I could go for the Japanese Dance held on Thursday 3^rd March at the Abdull Aziz Hussein Cultural Centre in Mishrif. They had also held Ichitaro’s Taiko performance (Japanese Drums) which I could not attend.

I have always been intrigued by the Japanese heritage, culture and tradition. I enjoy watching documentaries and travelogues on Japan. There’s so much to learn from them. I had a friend whose son worked in Tokyo and she would always share beautiful stories of Japan and the people as she made several visits to Japan herself.

Anyways, coming back to the Japanese Dance, it was an amazing and totally entertaining event. Every dance left a beautiful impression, though I couldn’t understand the language or the songs, a leaflet given to us that described every dance, helped us understand what each dance was about. I believe language is not a barrier when it comes to enjoying music and dance of other cultures. I am certain the audience enjoyed every dance.

There were many dances that encompassed ancient tradition, humour, vigour, rhythmic styles, exuberance of youth, harvest, rejoice of catching fishes, happiness, dances using fan and umbrella, well dances for every celebration!. All the dances had an element of discipline as well as perfectionism. At the end of the show, all the dancers came down the stage to where the Japanese Ambassador was seated and the Japanese Ambassador got up and danced along with them! Some of the audience too started swaying to the music. The dancers passed amidst the audience which really got the audience delighted. Later as people were leaving, many stood to take pictures with dancers who looked lovely in their traditional costumes. My husband took a picture of me with the the dancers as well. Hehehehe. I am not going to post that picture here, though.

We had a such great time. It was really nice of the Japanese Embassy to bring the Japanese traditional dance troupe ‘Kikunokai’ to showcase such a beautiful dance performance for the people of Kuwait, as a part of the 50-20-5 celebrations.