I've been a student of Ryukyu Buyo (Okinawan Dance) off-and-on since I was 5 years old. As a child, I would watch Okinawan dancers with their beautiful kimonos, stage make-up and exotic accoutrements with wide-eyed wonder. I soon found out exactly how much work was behind that 3-minute performance. From learning the dance motions to the pre-show preparations, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to take anything to the stage. Here's a glimpse into life backstage with our Okinawan performing arts troupe, the Ukwanshin Kabudan.

Part of the pre-performance jitters usually comes from the preparations such as doing my hair, make-up and getting dressed in the stage kimono. There's a technique to everything, including getting dressed. There is a right way and a definite wrong way to do things -- and unfortunately, I'm often doing the latter.

Being that I have been a largely on-again, off-again practitioner of the arts, I'm not a seasoned performer like my counterparts Takako and Shizue who can do their own make-up and hair under the pressure of stopwatch and the watchful eye of our sensei. They actually had practice sessions where they would time themselves to see how long it would take to do hair, make-up and full stage dress so that they could make sure that they would allow themselves enough time prior to a performance.

As for me, I am often finding myself fumbling through the process and often relying on the help from sensei to fix my faux pas, especially with the stage make-up. One day, I'll learn how to do it by myself; but as with everything else, it simply takes practice and the patient guidance from a knowledgeable teacher (which I am thankful to have).

We often find ourselves utilizing some interesting spaces as makeshift dressing rooms. For this particular performance at the Hongwanji, we found ourselves in a Japanese Language School classroom upstairs from the hall where the performance was being held. The Ajimine family provided mirrors, a tarp for the floor as well as a padded comforter for us to sit on while we got ready. This was one of the more comfortable accommodations that we've had.

The room, however, didn't offer much for privacy, but as performers we're used to compromising modesty for the sake of saving a few minutes to run to the restroom to change. Let's just say that I am the master of the quick change and can make very creative use of kimonos for covering up the unmentionables in a co-ed, community dressing area.

After getting ready, we often have some downtime until its our turn to grace the stage. You will usually find us practicing our dance steps or constantly checking our make-up, hair, and kimono to make sure everything looks perfect.

Sometimes, we take the time to just have some fun backstage. Keith is such a good sport and is often the butt of our jokes, mostly because he's not afraid to do crazy things and he doesn't mind laughing with us -- even though we're often laughing at him and not just with him.

When Eric was done applying Keith's stage make-up, he put the kanpu hair piece on his head which is in the female styling. (see right) We all had a hearty laugh at Keith's expense. These kinds of antics help us to relieve any stage fright that may be fluttering in our tummies before the show.

What was even more hilarious was that at the end of our performance, an elderly man who had been in the audience was sitting down with us as we had dinner. He commented that all of the girls in the dance group were so "churakagi." (NOTE: "Churakagi" means beautiful in the Okinawan language.) Takashi (a Sanshin player from Hilo) was quick to point out that Keith was not a girl. The old man asked me his gender just to be sure, because he was convinced that Keith was indeed a churakagi young girl. Let's just say that we will never let Keith live that one down.

More gender-bending fun (see left) with me dressed as a boy. I danced 3 male dances for this particular performance. It's not uncommon in Okinawan dance for females to play males; however, it is unusual to see a male dancing in a female role. This is mostly because of the fact that not many men are pursuing the dance art any more (of course, Eric Sensei and Keith are exceptions).

As a side note, my sensei did a phenomenal job dancing in a female role in the Wakasho performance that he did at the Hawaii Theatre several years ago. To me, it truly shows the caliber and talent of the performer to be able to dance both male and female roles convincingly despite your gender.

Originally in Okinawa, all dances were created, taught and performed by males. Now, it seems to be a female-dominated art, with the men now opting more to be musicians which is why you will often see women dancing the male roles now.

Anma!
The talented Mrs. Kaneshiro,
Queen of the Shibai.

Shizue, Keith and Takako ready for the limelight!

When all is said and done and the musicians are playing our song, all of the hours of practice, preparations, and nervousness come down to a few minutes under the spotlights. When you look into the audience and you see the happy faces of people who are enjoying your performance, it makes it all worthwhile. I remember in the early years, I used to literally look over the heads of the audience and pretend that they weren't there. This time, I found myself looking directly into the audience to see if they were actually enjoying it or not. With a big odori smile, I danced my little heart out and found myself "in the zone."

This is what happens to me when I enter the zone - and it only happens when I'm onstage. I completely lose myself in the experience. When I'm done, having safely danced offstage into the wings, I can't remember a thing that happened. My body goes on auto-pilot and my mind takes the backseat.

There have been times when I'm dancing and suddenly forget what the next step or hand motion is and I am rudely jarred back to awareness being hurtled from out of the zone back into reality. I almost feel my heart stop for a moment and time seems to crawl, every excruciating millisecond until I can use my peripheral vision to catch a glimpse of what my neighbor is doing to jog my memory and get me back on track - and back in the zone.

In short, it was an awesome performance and the audience seemed to have enjoyed themselves immensely. They even participated in the mini-Obon Dance that we planned and the kachashi to conclude the show.

We're looking forward to doing more shows in the future, possibly taking it to the other neighbor islands. If you'd like an Okinawan performance group to do a show for your group or party, just let me know. (I'm serious!) We're looking for gigs to help us pay for our trip to Okinawa when we go to Gushikawa to perform again in March 2004!

(bottom, l to r) Keith, Takashi, Mrs. Kaneshiro, Shizue, Takako, Donna
(top, l to r) Andy, Eric, Scotty, Glen, Norman, Lois and her daughters

For more information on Okinawan Dance, read Eric Wada's (my sensei!) informative article entitled Udui: Dances of Ryukyu.