Three local artisans have
By Michelle Ramos
mastered the Okinawan Ryukyuan
dance form
Special to the Star-BulletinA young girl spins colorful threads onto a reel, preparing to weave them into clothes for the man she loves. Clothes that will keep him warm with her love.
Each "suppressed" gesture is deliberate, each "thoughtful" expression is planned -- these are some of the characteristics of the Ryukyuan classical women's dances being performed Saturday at Hawaii Theatre.
"The story of the court dances usually have to deal with love," said Eric Wada, program coordinator for the "Wakasho" dance concert featuring Ryukyuan dancers Frances Nakachi and Wada.
Nakachi and Wada are two of three Ryukyuan dance artists in Hawaii who have completed the three degrees of testing administered by the Ryukyu Shimpo Newspaper Co. in Okinawa. Wada is the first male artist outside of Okinawa to achieve this level. He has been training in Ryukyuan dance for 16 years.
Nakachi, a native of Okinawa whose father was born and raised on Maui, has been training since she was 3 years old.
To pass each test, students must perform womens' and mens' dances chosen by judges. After passing one level, a student must wait two years before taking the next test.
"Wakasho," which means "young pine," symbolizes the upcoming generation of performers who want to perpetuate the Ryukyuan arts.
The dances were originally created for Chinese envoys who brought gifts from the Chinese emperor, Wada said. They were performed for Okinawa's royal court before Okinawa was taken over by Japan in 1879. The court dances are called classical dances; dances created during the Meiji Era, after the overthrow of the court, are called folk dances.
Although some of the folk dances were adapted from court dances, most of the folk dances differ from court dances in their tempo (folk dances are faster), costumes,
hairstyle and content. Folk dances symbolize the lives of the peasant class.
As in the Shakespearean era, classical dances were performed by men to poems written by men. Many of the poems have deeper, hidden meanings, just as some Hawaiian mele possess kaona, or double meanings, Wada said.
The concert consists of three womens' dances and three mens' dances with Nyla Ching-Fujii filling the role of storyteller. Wada will perform one of the womens' dances in a costume appraised at $10,000. "It is made out of banana fiber that is stencil-dyed," he said.
All the womens' dances use slow movements, resembling tai chi, with many "deep" facial expressions, Wada said. The mens' dances, based on martial arts moves, "are crisp and masculine."
For Wada, the womens' dances are more difficult to perform because "it takes a lot of concentration not to overdo the movements." It's also hard to express the poetry or try to convey the feelings of love and romance with expressions, Wada said.
In the second half, viewers will be taken back to the period of Okinawa's overthrow.
The finale will have Nakachi and Wada performing the story of two brothers avenging their father's death. Their heads will be covered with purple cloth, and they will wear plain, black kimonos absent of family crests because "they don't want to reveal themselves to the enemy."
Wada said that few people know about Okinawan dance and music. "I think it's how the Okinawan culture is presented. People feel that it's only for the Okinawan community. We're not even targeting the Okinawan community. We want to share Okinawa's classical culture and history with Hawaii."
Wakasho
Concert time: 6 p.m. Saturday
