Come Away with Me

諫早物語-The Story of Isahaya

I am sitting in the staff room at this hour while the students are taking their English mid-term test at this very moment. Kawasaki sensei was kind and said i do not have to invigilate any of the class so here i am blogging in broad daylight. Spent the first hour being productive by reading and catching up on news on Channelnewsasia, which unlike Straits Times, does not require any subscription.

Now that i am done with catching up the news, finally i can have some time to sit back and take stock of some of the things that had been going on, events and commitments that have been keeping me sufficiently busy on this litle island.

One of the main cause of my extreme business is that i've been going for dance practice every night in preparation for the upcoming performance at my town's annual festival. A month ago while spending a lazy afternoon at this snack bar near my house, the lady boss asked if i would like to participate in the festival some time in mid October by dancing on the streets with 'everyone'. I thought it would just be another round of dancing like the bon odori, which was really fuss free and simple prancing around in circle. Besides, what better way than to experience Japanese culture than through her myriad of festivals, big or small, grand or local so i agreed readily.

So i went home, expecting to go to the shrine a month later to see all those men carrying portable floats and women dancing on the streets. But i got a call from the lasy boss a few days later saying that the dance teacher would like to meet me and start the lesson. I was completely baffled and sensed immediately that there must had been some form of miscommunication(which is not unusual even though i speak enough Japanese to get by around here).

Soon as i reached the community center near my place, i was whisked off to see the dance sensei who gave me a big smile, commented i look just like one of them and helped me put on the dance practice robe while another lady thrusted a fan into my hand. All the while i was panicking a little cos this was not really what i had imagined or rather how i wanted it to be. Before i could comprehend any further, the sensei started teaching me the dance steps and i found myself going 'ichi ni san shi...ichi ni san shi...'

It turned out that they had put me in this dance item, together with another high school girl, to be performed in an auditorium during the night program after all the street dancing is over for the day!

From left, Ayaka Sugi, the 17yr old high school student who i am dancing with. Together, the obachans or aunties in the dance group like to call us Isahaya-chans ;p On the right is Tsuchiyama sensei the dance teacher, who is an extremely elegant and endearing lady. She is so kind and always full of praises even though i knew that i must had looked like a cow trying to be graceful on many occasions, haha.

Actually,the way things unfold really shouldn't come as much of a surprise to me. Yet i still can't believe that it (miscommunication and misinterpretation) happened to me again. I should have learnt my 'lesson' from the 'running festival' episode that happened about a month back when i was unassumingly roped into running A5km race. That was another long story in itself which i will write in a separate entry.

And so the dance item that i will be performing in is called Isahaya Monogatari(諫早物語)and though not exactly traditional Japanese Buyo dance (it's more like folk dance or 民謡), the movements and steps are more or less similar. The main difference will be the music and story behind the origin of the dance perhaps. Isahaya is the name of a mid-sized city right next to Nagasaki city and the music actually sounds more enka-ish. Although no one has really explained to me the meaning behind the dance, I sort of figured from the way the teacher wanted us to sway around in this dainty and poignant demeanor that it is about the story of a lovelorn woman in Isahaya awaiting for her lover to come back to their hometown. And as the name suggests, i believe that this dance is only performed within Nagasaki prefecture. But then again, for all i know, i may be wrong though :p

Initially, I was rather stressed out during the first week of practice as i couldn't seem to remember the steps and the correct ways to twist and turn the fan. On top of that, it just wasn't easy listening to instruction in another language and dance at the same time even though i can tell my left from my right in normal circumstances. At the end of the day, i was kicking myself for the 'mess' that i've gotten into. In Japan, particularly in small, rural places, once you've committed yourself to a cause, you'll find that it's really difficult to get out of it unless you are prepared to face disapproving look everywhere you go or people coming up to ask you why you stop dancing anymore. Moreover the obachans are so no-nonsense in attending practices and perfecting each and every moves that i too found myself striving to get my act together. And so it is　with this gambare notion (頑張れ!or work hard, stick to it!)that is so prevalent in the daily aspects of the Japanese lives that i too have been going to the community center every night after work to practice Isahaya Monogatari.

posted by テレサ @ 8:29 AM