High on Dance (part I)

written on 14.08.2011

(this one's really long, so there's two parts!)

It is Sunday evening, exactly one week after Yosakoi Toyama, the biggest Yosakoi event around here and the biggest Yosakoi event every year for TNC, our school's group. For 3 weekends before that there had been a festival we were dancing at every single weekend, and weekly 7 more hours of training. That, together with the last weeks of school for this term before the summer holidays should be a pretty understandable reason I was seriously waiting for it to come and be over.

Since even before the first of these four festivals I had started to have problems with my knees, too – just basically overworked them after having done no sports whatsoever for years before – so, it wasn't easy.

I was getting better at it,
we all together were getting better and that felt great but at the same time I was getting more and more behind in my schoolwork as well, knowing already that it would be impossible to get all the work for every course ready before the 29^th of July, which was the last day of official lessons. After that there would be one week more for tests, reports, critics a.o. I was a little calmed by the fact that in many courses many other students seemed to be in a clinch as well, but then, if I had had time at the weekends to use as well I might have even made it. But the weekends, of course, were for training and festivals, and the precious little time that stayed over I really needed to stay in contact with my family.

The first festival on 17^th of July was at a place called Namerikawa. 32°C in the shadow, direct sunlight for the parade (loop parade, two times the complete choreography). After that there were two more times dancing on the stage, but that was toward the evening and at night, much easier temperature-wise. The place and festival itself were not that great. A rather small area cramped with stalls, and no real place for the yosakoi teams at all. We were even told we were not allowed to use the toilets in a museum that was right there on the festival area, which I'm still kind of pissed off about in hindsight. I mean we come there to entertain them, to dance for them, and we can't even use the better toilets to prepare ourselves? I have no idea if our team does get anything in return, as in, payment or anything, but I don't think so...

Well, in the end there were at least some huge fireworks at night which really were very impressive. They must have been going on for 15 minutes at least and were much bigger than for example the New Year fireworks in Lahti, Finland! Here in Japan, summertime is the usual time for fireworks!

A week later we danced in Jouhana at a festival called Netsuokuri. That was brilliant! First thing all the yosakoi teams got rooms in some kind of city hall. Big, air-conditioned rooms, mostly one for two teams in which we could prepare ourselves. Toilets around the courner and even a full box of free beverages. That's what it should be like! Not as in Namerikawa...

Also, Netsuokuri is a night festival. Our first dance was around 5o'clock in the afternoon and the last around 8 or 9 if I remember correctly. We danced 5 times, most of those while it was already dark. Perfect. The temperature goes down for one thing. Also, dancing on streets lined with people, underneath huge shining, lanterns, while balloons lit from the inside were rising from a river's edge nearby. Wow! The festival itself was huge, stalls lining at least 5 streets. The only downside was that our dances were so closely scheduled that we had only very little time to explore and enjoy ourselves. Only after our last dance could we walk around for a short time, get some food, watch some other teams. Still, apart from the 'epicness' that was about to come in form of Yosakoi Toyama I think I will always remeber Netsuokuri as one of the best festivals here in Japan.

The weekend after that was Shinminato, a place only about 15 minutes drive from Takaoka Campus. A really small festival on which we only danced stage two times, and that also with a reduced number of people simply because it was such a small stage. The festival was not that grand, but it was somehow cute in its small scale and had familiar feel to it, maybe because it was so close to 'home'. But here as well: no private room or area for the teams. But both stages were at night, and I like dancing at night, and I definitely like stage best! So, in this case I was alright with it.

Three down and only one left to go. The grand thing.

But before that, a week in which it became obvious that I would in fact get none of my course works ready...

Already since the start of July, when we started the three times training a week routine again, I had started to doubt the wisdom of trying to combine Urushi and Yosakoi. Now, it became more clear than ever that I wouldn't be able to. Not if I wanted to get anything ready before going back to Finland. In the week before Yosakoi Toyama I made my decision, a thought I had been playing with for a while, final.

I love dancing. I love dancing yosakoi with TNC. Especially now that finally the steps had become so ingrained in me that I did not need to actively concentrate on them anymore, that my body would follow the music automatically with the right movent at the right time. Of course there still were, still are and always will be lots of things still to be worked at, but now I could finally start to put my concentration into expressing (as far as that is possible when everybody is supposed to move in unison), into telling the story that Azechi, our dance leader, had woven into this choreography.

Talking of story, that was something he only explainined to me in the last training before the big thing, which was definitely a lightbulb-over-the-head-experience. I might have wanted to know about it a little earlier, but then I can't blame him. He must have had way more to do than I, definitely too much as to spare all the time to explain to me in detail what his thoughts were. I am not even sure, in how far the rest of the team knows about those ideas. The seniors in the team probably do, but then I think I should have noticed if he had explained it to everybody... well, it is of no consequence now really. Also, I don't think it will use much explaining the idea here, especially if you guys can't see the dance. Maybe at some point there will be a video and then I might sort it out for my readers.

Were was I... Yes, I still love dancing. But I noticed something very important. There is something else I love even more, something that I have realized I never want to be without in my life, and that is creating. Doing things with my hands, making real something I see only before the eye of my mind. Drawing it out or writing it down or planning it and shaping it and bringing it to live. It is the one thing I never want to be without.

I wanted to dance Toyama Yosakoi. After all that was the one, huge event that we had kind of been training for since the very start. But I knew I definitely needed a break after that, and I knew in the next semester I would need more time for my Urushi work. At the end of October this school's own festival will be held right here on campus. That day will be my last time performing together with TNC. I hope I will be able to still go to the training once in a while to just dance for the sake of getting some exercise and for the fun of it, but no more performances after Soukisai (that being the school festival's name).

continued in High on Dance (part II)