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Dancing in Japan

MadamePapillon

Fear my Niftyness
1 Jul 2007
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Wow, it's been awhile since I've been on Jref. 😌

This topic kind of sprang into my head randomly after having seen Lord of the Dance a few days ago and I immediately though of Jref. :p

Dancing in Japan. For some reason I can't seem to recall a single instance of when I've seen an example of Japanese dancing (with the exception of the Geisha performances, but I wouldn't consider that dancing so much as a story in motion, almost a play).

Cultures all around the world have very distinct and recognizable styles of dancing that set them apart and seem to characterize the overall tone of a nation, be it old or modern(ish), but Japan appears to be one of the few major countries that doesn't have some sort of dance form that you could look at an instantly know that 'this a Japanese dance'.

So why is that? The Japanese obviously do dance. I'm wondering how the Japanese view dance. Is it very important to them? Do they place a lot of cultural and personal significance on it like many other countries do?

(Please note Para Para and dances like that don't count as a 'culturally significant and clearly Japanese dance')
 
MadamePapillon said:
So why is that? The Japanese obviously do dance. I'm wondering how the Japanese view dance. Is it very important to them? Do they place a lot of cultural and personal significance on it like many other countries do?
If you travel in the summertime, you will have a good chance to see one of the festivals whose dance is a big part of. Each region has a different style of dance and usually with cheerful and uplifting music with the drums, the flute and singing which are often folktales about people.

While Nihon-buyou or Noh () are forms of traditional art, there are other types of dance () that are closely related to their culture.
 
Wow, I've never seen Noh dancing before. The festival dancing especially was nice, I've seen something like that during the Japanese festivals here. 👍

It seems traditional Japanese dancing is based on storytelling, I'd compare it almost more to interpretive dance or almost closer to a play than dancing however. The movements are extremely controlled and precise. I don't think most people would consider it dancing as we know it today.

But I was wondering more on the opinion of dance they have over there. I know over here dance is important enough that millions of dollars are spent on it a year, from music videos to live performances to shows like 'So you think you can dance' which has sucked in millions of viewers in America alone. Even the everyday person is willing to shell out a lot of money to learn to tap or do the tango simply for the sake of dancing.

So, is there any equivalent to 'SytycD' in Japan. I know in a lot of the music videos I see coming from Japan there is some Justin Timberlake-esqe moves but a lot of time (even in some of the live shows) the dancing is kind of lacking. In short, does dance mean as much to the Japanese people as it seems to to other people worldwide.
 
There seem to be dance steps that everyone seems to know. They can be seen being performed by performers and punters alike at matsuris. One where the girls seem to slowly rotate with their arms slightly raised outward springs to mind.

The only Japanese dance I've ever performed myself was bouncing along on tiptoe with an enormous shrine box thing (sorry I don't even know the name ot it) on my shoulder, being crushed on both sides by sweaty, grunting revellers. Tremendous fun! My shoulder was blue for a week though. The people at the head of this procession carrying flags and latterns were performing another curious step/walk.

I recommend everyone to find out where when/where their local matsuri is, go to the office to register and join in the fun.
 
Besides Nihon Buyou, there are two traditional Japanese dances, one is Bon-odori which is related to Buddhism, another is Kagura which is from Shintoism.
Noh is not the dance only, it consists of stage performance (sort of drama) as well as dance. (Same goes with Kabuki, which often inlucdes the nihon buyou).
Kagura is a kind of dedicating (offering) to gods, so it is solemn, and not that "ok, let's dance together" type of dancing.

Bon odori is also a part of religion but now it is more like a part of festival, fun type of dancing for ordinary people.

Here are some info for bonodori and some famous bon odori from different part of Japan, as well as Kagura.

Bon Festival - Wikipedia
ナ担ツ湘」窶肺窶堙ィ(gujo odori)
http://jp.youtube.com/results?search_query=郡上踊り&search_type=&aq=f
ヒ?「窶挌窶肺窶堙ィ (awa odori - Tokushima)
http://jp.youtube.com/results?search_query=阿波踊り&search_type=&aq=f
窶ーテ坂?愿?窶ーツケ窶慊ェ (kawachi ondo - Osaka)
http://jp.youtube.com/results?search_query=河内音頭&search_type=&aq=f

Kagura - Wikipedia
ツ神ナ?y (kagura)
http://jp.youtube.com/results?search_query=能 神楽&search_type=&aq=f
 
There seem to be dance steps that everyone seems to know. They can be seen being performed by performers and punters alike at matsuris. One where the girls seem to slowly rotate with their arms slightly raised outward springs to mind.
The only Japanese dance I've ever performed myself was bouncing along on tiptoe with an enormous shrine box thing (sorry I don't even know the name ot it) on my shoulder, being crushed on both sides by sweaty, grunting revellers. Tremendous fun! My shoulder was blue for a week though. The people at the head of this procession carrying flags and latterns were performing another curious step/walk.
I recommend everyone to find out where when/where their local matsuri is, go to the office to register and join in the fun.

I saw something like that once only there was a girl standing on the shine thing waving fans and shouting and some of the performers were throwing water on her. I was standing close enough that I got splashed a few times. I'm still not sure what the significance of that was but it was a lot of fun. 👍
 
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