A Story, A Dance 1000 years in the making.

Unfortunately I cannot grace you with my own photos in this entry as cameras were not allowed but I will describe it as best I can for you. After spending time with Tsune Momo we experienced this years 'Miyako Odori' (the cherry blossom dance)

This is a dance performed by both Maiko and Geiko and depicts a number of stories through dance and music. All the performers are women who play the parts of both men and women and it consists of eight scenes.

1st scene starts with silver sliding doors and introduces the highlights of the Miyako Ordori calling out "Miyako Ordori wa YO-IYAa SA" as greetings. Geiko and Maiko dancers hold floriated fans and emerge from sliding doors either side and perfom a dance on the stage.

2nd scene depicts a New Years visit to Rozanji and is a dance about an author who wrote the 'tales of Genji' based in Rozanji where 'Murasaki Shikubu' used to live.

3rd scene depicts the Wakamurasaki part of the novel where the main charactor Genji sees a girl Murasaki for the first time, she looks like his stepmother whom he loves very much and he decides to raise her in his home for her to later become his wife and spends the longest time with him among all his lovers.

4th scene depicts a scene where Genji finds 'evening faces' blooming on the fence of a humble home and asks for one of the flowers. He later starts having an intimate relationship with the master (i.e. mistress) of this humble house.

5th scene depicts a scene where Aoi the principle wife of Genji becomes ill and dies in agony. She is tormented by an evil spirit of one of Genji's former lovers and the scene where the two women confront each other is depicted with powerful Joruri music.

6th scene has Genji and a number of other charactors enjoying playing music under the autumn moon. This scene is also depicted on the back of the Japanese 2000 Yen note.

7th scene is a splended dance with Nagauta music and tells the story of Ukifume who is torn between two men

the 8th and final scene is based on the last chapter of the book and is called 'Yume no Ukihashi' (the floating bridge of dreams) It has an incredible backdrop of full bloom cherry blossoms.

Throughout all the scenes the dances were graceful and very different to our own, being very expressive and fluid. The music was played on various instuments and vocals from the Geiko and Maiko. The experence again was one that will stay with us all forever, from the mysterious dancers to the incredible backdrops that created each scene.

After we finished we spent some quick time in the Japanese gardens that surround the theatre which again thanks to the season being as it is, boasted cherry blossoms in full blooms.