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25 June, 2001

BECOMING A DANCING FOOL FOR OBON

Although I've attended Denver's Sakura Matsuri, or Cherry Blossom Festival, many times, I've never stayed late enough on Saturday night of the weekend-long event for the traditional Obon street dance. This year, I'll not only be there to watch, I'll be dressed in a yukata (a lightweight summer kimono) and dancing with about 150 others.

I was trying to be black, not Japanese. I wanted my bon-odori to be funky.

The street dance, called a "bon-odori," is part of a three-day Festival of the Dead celebrated every summer in Japan called the "Obon." A Buddhist ritual that pays tribute to a family's ancestors and invites the spirits of ancestors to come back and visit the family, Obon is Japan's version of the colorful Mexican holiday Dias de las Muertos, or "Days of the Dead." Lanterns are hung at the home so that the ancestors can find their way, food offerings are made at home and at temples, and bon-odori are danced in public squares.

Denver's public square for bon-odori is Sakura Square, and the dances are performed on the closed-off block of Lawrence Street between 19th and 20th streets on the hot summer Saturday night of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, after the day's performances are over, the vendors' booths closed up and the daytime crowds have gone home.

What's left is the core of the Japanese and Japanese American community, which takes the time to learn and keep alive the traditional dances of the obon culture. The group is led by the Denver Buddhist Temple's Minyo Kai, a small group of dedicated people of all ages who perform traditional dances in traditional dress, and who help anyone who wishes to join the bon-odori practice the intricate moves over a two-week period leading up to the dance.

This is the situation I have found myself in the past week - me, a stiff dancer with a fear of dancing, even for those rock and roll dance styles that take no coordination and need no interaction with a partner. When I am forced to dance, I feel as if every eye in the room is focused on my back, and watching incredulously and snickering as I stumble around to the beat. I know, this is an irrational fear that everyone has when they are children, but one that most people grow out of by the time they are in high school. Call me rhythmically-stunted, call me dance-challenged.

The only "move" I can lay claim to when I am forced to is a silly swinging of the legs that I stole from Groucho Marx. Like the Marx Brothers movie where I first saw the move, people laugh at me when I swivel around like an out-of-control gyroscope. It's no wonder I avoid dancing!

I approached my first obon practice for this year bravely, though.

Erin, Jared and I arrived at the Denver Buddhist Temple gymnasium with a bag of the props we would need - round fans, folding fans, "kachi-kachi" (castanets), tenugi (folded cotton towels) and sticks with colorful ribbons wrapped around them. There were a lot of people already assembled, including the members of the Minyo Kai, who began the practice by standing in a circle in the middle of the gym. The sound system blared the first song, and the rest of us assembled in concentric circles around the Minyo group and began moving in unison, all the while with our eyes glued to the leaders. When they moved their hand this way and then that, we did the same - usually a half-beat behind. When they made a graceful turn, we all made a less graceful turn.

Actually, not everyone was as spastic as me - most of the people there had been in the bon-odori for years, and these practices are more refresher courses than a first-time introduction as they are for me. But I was heartened to see that even the experienced, and sometimes even the experts in Minyo Kai, would find themselves out of step.

Jared cracked up several time as he watched me trying in vain to keep up with the leaders (and I cracked up at him when he did fumbled his moves), and Erin gave me constructive criticism. At one point, a couple of friends came up to welcome me to the practice. Andy Hamano had been harping at me for years to be involved in the bon-odori, so he was happy to finally see me there. But, he laughed and told me, I had to learn to "dance like a Japanese."

Andy had seen me during several of the dances, when everyone claps their hands, bobbing up and down at the same time I clapped. He pointed this out to me, and I defended myself by explaining that I was adding a little extra rhythm - if I had to dance, I figured, I would think of soul music's king of rhythm, James Brown, with every move. I was trying to be black, not Japanese. I wanted my bon-odori to be funky.

Andy replied that the goal wasn't to be funky, but to be graceful and precise - Japanese.

I've tried to take that advice to heart, and with Erin's help am being as graceful as I can. We attended three practices last week, with one more to go this week before the Cherry Blossom Festival.

I hope that during the bon-odori, I don't hear too much snickering from the audience on hand as I whirl with the others. If there is some laughter, it'll probably directed at me.

Groucho Marx would be proud that I could make people chuckle, but I hope I can also be proud of myself for overcoming my fear of dancing for Obon.

NOTE: The Sakura Matsuri, or Cherry Blossom Festival, runs from 11 am to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday, June 30 and July 1, with the Obon Dance Festival taking place from 7:45-9:15 pm on Saturday, June 30. The festival takes place at Sakura Square, 19th and Lawrence, and the block of Lawrence between 19th and 20th Streets will be closed off for vendor booths and the entertainment stage. All events are free and open to the public. Wear a hat and bring sunblock.