[Blog] Last stop of Danskarusellen, and a well deserved award!

Yesterday, 3rd of April, Zyka Yosakoi performed at the third and final stop of Danskarusellen 2016.

The event took place at Skarpnäck Kulturhus in (you guessed it) Skarpnäck. It featured the great dancegroups from the two previous tour stops, and all their amazing, creative performances. Well, except one group that couldn’t make it and one of the original choreographies that mysteriously went missing this time.

Which choreography, you ask? Well… it was ours…

“Wait, what? No Bankuramou? But why!?”

Calm down. Let me explain. We wanted to perform Bankuramou, but found ourselves in an increasingly tricky situation when a growing part of our Banku dancing team was unable to make it to the stage. Howl studied for exams, our leader Oushou went on a trip to Italy, Wholock had guard duties and sickness struck Peanuts when we needed her the most.

We ended up with only half of Zyka, including our trusty -to new to dance- member Ewok. Helping us as staff and morale support.

We were full of dance energy!

Since most of us normally dance in the same middle column, trying to perform Bankuramou would feature us in a never before seen (and best left unseen) L-formation.

But just look at us. We were full of dance energy! In spite of our predicament we mustered our courage, and with the strength of ten thousand dreams still in our hearts, we prepared for our plan B: Changing choreography (overnight!) to the always uplifting sou-odori, Za Festival!

And the show was a blast! As we danced, we spread our joy and energy to the crowd. Some couldn’t help themselves, they started waving their arms in dancelike patterns and shout our kakegoe with us. And that’s what Yosakoi is all about.

We didn’t win the competition though. We won’t be representing Stockholm in the finals at Karlstad. That honor was given to the talented k-pop group UNIQUE, and the awesome BLACKOUT EMPIRE. We congratulate them on their victory and wish them luck in the finals!

But Zyka also found a reason to celebrate! One of the special awards went to Zyka’s very own member, Park! “For showing the passion and joy of dancing and boosting her whole teams performance” she won the Best Stage Personality-award!

Park! “Best Stage Personality”, Danskarusellen 2016

It was an award most well deserved. All of Zyka is very proud!

– ヒッチ

Hicchi

Bankuramou at the second stop of Danskarusellen!

On the 19th of March Zyka Yosakoi performed at the second stop of Danskarusellen, this time at Blå Huset in Tensta. We had lots of fun, both dancing and watching the other groups’ performances. So many great performances!

We also managed to for the first time get a video of Bankuramou, our very own original dance!

So for the first time, here you go. Enjoy!

 

Second stop of Danskarusellen 2016!

Today at 14:00 Zyka Yosakoi performs at the second stop of Danskarusellen 2016! The stop will be at Blå Huset in Tensta and lots of great groups will participate!

Photo by: Malin Welander, Danskarusellen

Please look forward to our performance!

Performance at the first stop of Danskarusellen!

On the 5th of March we participated in the first stop of Danskarusellen!

It was the first time since the Yosakoi festival in October we performed Bankuramou so we were a bit nervous but the performance went really well and we all had a blast. The event was great fun and we enjoyed all the other amazing dancers that also participates in Danskarusellen.

Hopefully we will be able to post a video of the performance soon. For now, only a photo though.

WHOlock, Park and Iruka? at Danskarusellen in Sollentuna. 2016

Next stop of Danskarusellen is at Blå Huset in Tensta on the 19th of March, which is next Saturday. If you have the time, please come watch us then!

Festival!

A bit late of an update but…

On the 17th and 18th of October the long-awaited YEN camp took place in Trosa in Sweden, and with that came the YEN Mini Yosakoi Festival that was held on the 18th.

The festival was held in Folkets hus in Trosa. When the guests arrived they could enjoy both yosakoi photos exhibited on the walls and some Japanese festival snacks. The tickets and snacks was handled by our beautiful staff, many thanks to you! The guests also had the chance to speak to the dancers who were out mingling before the dancing started Many took the chance to ask about the dance and the different teams there.

(All the beautiful photos in this post is taken by Tomoya Suzuki)

Manager-san selling Japanese snacks to the guests. Photo by Tomoya Suzuki

Naruko from different teams (both present and not present) on display. Photo by Tomoya Suzuki

And then it was time for the main event, dancing! Zyka started out by presenting Bankuramou for the first time ever. We were all nervous but the audience enjoyed it so that’s all good.

Bankuramou with Zyka. Photo by Tomoya Suzuki.

After that followed a mix of sou-odoris, danced by all teams together, and team performances, with just one team.

 

Sou-odori. Photo by Tomoya Suzuki

It was an exciting day with lots and lots of fun. While it was a bit tiring dancing so many dances at the same event we got a lot of energy from each other and the audience. It was a great experience to dance so many dancers together, and all with different styles. Some of Zyka’s members experienced a larger team during the Japan project but even then the different languages hindered communication for many. And our new members had never experienced any other team then Zyka before the meet-up. So it was an important, and fun, experience for all of us which we hope to repeat again.

All of the dancers. Photo by Tomoya Suzuki

Where will the next meet-up be? We are already looking forward to it!

YEN meet-up and Europe’s first Yosakoi Festival!

On the 17-18th of October YEN will hold the second meet-up, this time hosted by Zyka in Trosa. For two days we will dance, talk yosakoi and have fun together. It has been half a year since the first meet-up and those of us who participated then are exited to meet each other again, and for the rest excited to finally meet more yosakoi loving people.

The meet-up will also bring Europe’s first Yosakoi festival, YEN Mini Yosakoi Festival, which will take place in Trosa on the 18th of October. This will be a unique chance to see the yosakoi teams from Europe and experience many different kinds of yosakoi! Three of the European teams will take part in the meet-up and the festival, Raiden yosakoi, Yosakoi Hinodemai Paris and Sakuramai Poland. We will both perform together and as teams.

And most of all, for Zyka the festival will be the first time we present our new dance Bankuramou! Don’t miss it!

The festival will take place at Folkets Hus Trosa on the 18th of October 12.00 o’clock.
100kr for and adult50kr for children up to 12.

You can either buy tickets at the book-store in Trosa or here.

Find out more about the festival on the facebook event!

The closing of Hatsuyuki! And a new member!

For almost two years we have danced Hatsuyuki. It has been a bit over one and a half year since the very first performance at NärCon Vinter 2014. It has taken us to Japan, taken us through Danskarusellen and have been performed at the very first YEN meet-up.

Hatsuyuki was the first performance we created from scratch and it has taught us a lot as well as given us many amazing opportunities. We have laughed over it, fought over it, cried. For almost all our members Hatsuyuki was the first experience of a team yosakoi performance.

But all good things must sometime come to an end for new things to start. This past Saturday, on the 29th of August, we did our last performance of Hatsuyuki. First performed at NärCon it felt fitting that the last performance was at a convention as well, this time PeppCon in Uppsala. For the first time in Sweden we performed with live MC, and also had one of our flags with us. It was a great performance. It wasn’t perfect but the energy was there and the audience seemed to like it. And most important, we all had fun and felt satisfied afterwards.

And thus, Hatsuyuki is closed. We will now look forward and focus on Bankuramou, Streanght of ten thousand dreams. The first performance will be in October, please look forward to it!

We are also happy to announce that we’ve got a new member! We now have as many as four sibling-groups as Shishous younger brother Hicchi has joined us. Yosakoi is the best when performed in a bigger group, the more the merrier really applies. So we are more than happy to say, welcome to the gang, Hicchi!

Hicchi, Park and Iruka?

If anyone is interested in joining Zyka don’t hesitate to let us know! If your unsure, come visit our practice to see what it’s like. We are always looking for new members!

[Blog] 25th of August

Zyka have now had another training camp! We spent this past weekend at our usual training camp place in the countryside. It was great weather, and very hot. We practised both for our performance at PeppCon this weekend and on Banku. On PeppCon we will close Hatsuyuki, meaning that it is the last time we will ever perform it. So of course we want to do our very best. We practised Hatsuyuki the whole day on Saturday and were very satisfied.

 

On Sunday we practised Banku, for the first time with music! It was very fun and challenging. Banku training is progressing and we have high hopes for the premier in October.

 

But of course we didn’t only train. 🙂 In the evening there were time for swimming in the sea, dancing sou-odori, playing games and just generally having fun hanging out. It has been more than a year since our last training camp so it was very fun to get the chance again. Luckily it will not be so long until our next training camp. It will be in October to prepare for the premier of Bankuramou.

 

After this intensive and fun weekend we are ready for the closing of Hatsuyuki the upcoming weekend.

 

– WHOロック？

WHOlock

[Blog] 11th of August

The end of summer gets nearer just as the real summer weather arrive. And it’s time for Zyka to start again.

While the summer holiday has been nice and most likely necessary for all of us it is fun to start again. And most exciting of all it is finally, finally….

 

Time to start to learn Bankuramou!

 

After more than half a year of intense work the time is finally here for the members to learn the choreography. It’s been some time since we learnt something new so it’s fun to get a challenge like this. But also it is something that almost all for us have worked with at least one part of for a long time. To see it all coming together is a very special feeling. I can hardly wait until the costumes are done and the last pieces fall into place! Look forward to our premier on the 18th of October everyone!

But summer also means travel time to many and thus not all of our members are back home yet. For the first training of this season Peanuts and Shishou showed up. And they worked hard! Good work both of you!

Shishou and Peanuts

– 王将

Oushou