[Blog] Thank you for all this time!

During Christmas Eve 2011 I was sitting with Peantus in the kitchen in a student dorm in Japan, looking in a dictionary for a good name for the yosakoi team I had convinced her to start with me. And thus Zyka YOSAKOI was born.

2012 – Zyka’s first camp

Over five years has gone since that day and Zyka has gone from four people dancing in my living room, doing our best not to hit to many things in the process, to a team with two original performances, more members, international performances and so much more. Through all of this I have been the leader of Zyka.

2013 – Performance at Ytterjärna Kulturhus

It has been a honour and a joy to see the team grow and the members come to love yosakoi just like I do. It has not always been an easy road, many of us are strong willed, me maybe most of all. But while there of course has been difficult times, fights among the members and opinions that no matter what stay far far apart I honestly believe that the amount of joy and fun we have shared over the years is far more than the amount of sadness, anger and misery we have gone through at times. We have done great things together, and I am sure more great things are waiting for us in the future.

2014 – Zyka in Japan (Photo: Tilda Dalunde)

But five years is a long time and in the beginning of this year I came to the conclusion that it was time for both me and Zyka to move on, and that it wasn’t me who was to take Zyka down the road to the unknown future that awaited us. I love Zyka and always will, but it is time for me to focus on other things and Zyka deserves a leader with full focus on the team. So for that reason the leadership was handed over to WHOlock (Amanda Carleson) who was chosen as the new leader at the team’s annual meeting in spring this year. I ask that you show WHOlock the same support and encouragement that you have shown me through the years.

2015 – Zyka and Sweden Taiko at Etnografiska museet

So at the 22nd of April this year I did my last performance as leader of Zyka at the Cherry blossom festival organised by Stockholm Japanese Society. Zyka performed with Yosakoi Naruko Odori, the first yosakoi dance of them all, as well as a more modern one together with Japanese children who joined us especially for this performance and dancers from the Try Yosakoi Project. It was a great event, and though our practice time together was short the children did their best and we had a great performance together. Many thanks to Stockholm Japanese Society for allowing us to be part of such a great performance!

2016 – Zyka at Stockholm Kulturnatt

And with this my five years as leader of Zyka came to and end. I will of course stay a member of the team and do my best to help Zyka continue to develop best I can. I look forward to what awaits us and where WHOlock as the new leader is going to take the team.

2017 – Zyka at Stockholm Cherry Blossom Festival

Thank you to all members of Zyka, past and present, for allowing me to continue leading the team for so many years and for choosing to be a part of this crazy idea that I convinced Peanuts to make reality of with me back in the winter of 2011. And thank you to all of those who are, or who have been, supporting our team in different ways during this time. I am immensely thankful for all the help and encouragement you have given.

Thank you for all this time!

 

 

– 王将

Oushou

 

[Blog] 30th of August – Final days in Japan

Final days in Japan

There are still 2 days in Japan I haven’t told you about! The festival was the 10-12 of august, last blog post was about the 10th.

On the 11th we started with sightseeing in Kochi castle. Very beautiful! After lunch we split up in pairs to experience the yosakoi festival together with a team from Kochi. Me and Oushou had the pleasure to join the team Central, which is very cool! Central is a team that has existed for a long time and are very good. Waiting for their performance with them was like seeing the festival backstage, sitting in a street next to the parade street that was full with waiting yosakoi teams. When they performed we got to ride in the truck playing music, called Jikatasha in Japanese. They had real instruments on the truck that played the music live! Standing up there watching them perform was so amazing! We really got to feel the atmosphere.

From Central’s truck

After the performance we continued watching other teams performing. Yosakoi is fun because it can be so many different things, all the dances we saw were so different. We also got to try being “competition venue staff”, meaning giving medals to good dancers. Nervous but fun! They were all so good, it was hard to choose who to give the medals too.

After dinner it was time for the biggest, coolest, most important performance: On Otetsuji in the evening. We lined up along the street before the parade street, other teams in front and behind us. The sky was dark, but the spotlights on the parade street was so bright. If you peeked between waiting trucks you could see silhouettes of dancers against the bright lights and hear their music. All waiting dancers were filled with anticipation, so strong you could feel it in the air. Finally it was our turn. It went really well, and was so much fun! This time we could hear our music, luckily. I enjoyed it fully, and I think everyone else did too.

This was sadly our last performance with Yosakoi Kokusai Koruy Tai. We had a dispersal ceremony after were the leaders thanked us for joining and we them.

Oushou and WHOlock with some of the other ambassadors

The 12th was the last full day in Japan. We started with visiting a Buddhist temple at Godaisan mountain and got to try meditating. The temple was very beautiful, tatami rooms with sliding doors opened up to a traditional garden.

One of the reasons we came to Kochi was to be formally appointed ambassadors at a ceremony. This was held midday at the Kochi castle stage. Very formal, all of us lined up on the staged, got a diploma by the governor and bowed. Each team also got a really big flag which had to be sent home by mail as it couldn’t fit in the luggage.

We spent the entire afternoon watching performances. The last day it is only the best teams performing and everyone was so good! Really inspiring. Before dinner we got some time to relax in an onsen, because dinner was an important, formal, affair with lots of important people. We both talked to a lot of different people, dancers, festival organisers from Tokyo , business men from Kochi, and many others. Mostly Oushou since I don’t speak japanese but I did my best. The organisers had made a video with material from the first two days which was very fun to see. The evening ended with everyone dancing a traditional dance together which was very fun.

Some of the ambassadors had a goodbye party at the hotel were we made plans for future work and cooperation. After intense packing and some sleep me and Oshou left the hotel before 6 am following morning.

So that was our Japan trip! Really great, meeting new people, seeing amazing performances, dancing in Kochi again and lots of tasty food! I look forward to returning next year with our international team!

Thank you everyone in Kochi for making this experience possible!

WHOlock, Ho-san from Central and Oushou

 

– WHOロック？

WHOlock

[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

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!

[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

 

[Blog] 11th of July

This past Thursday we had our last practice before our summer-break. We were looking forward to both get some practise done with Hatsuyuki as well as do some Sou-odoris together before parting for the summer. But sadly the weather wasn’t on our side this day and heavy rain started pouring just as we finished our warm-up. WHOlock and Shishou bravely fought the rain for quite a while and danced under the cover of the trees, hoping for the rain to soon let up. But soon not even the trees could keep the rain away and we had to admit defeat.

Packing our stuff together we decided to go to a nearby café instead, but before we even got to the edge of the park we practise in the rain let up completely. Seeing as we already were quite wet we didn’t want to pick up practise again but we did take the chance to do some Sou-odoris before we left, with Iruka? joining in as well as she arrived at this time. Some of the Sou-odoris were a bit shaky from not having been danced in quite a while but all in all it was great fun and I think all three of us enjoyed it.

Satisfied with dancing we then proceeded to celebrate WHOlock and Peanuts birthdays as well as Iruka? being accepted at University before we said good-bye and went our separate ways. Now we have the rest of July to take it easy and rest before we start-up again in August. And then it is the start of our very own Bankuramou that awaits us!

Shishou and WHOlock on the way to the café

WHOlock and Shishou waiting for the rain to let up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-王将

Oushou

[Blog] 21th of June

Hi everyone, it’s been a while.

We have moved outside again and like the past summer we dance in Humlegården in Stockholm. On sunny days there are a lot a people there, and many people training so it can be a bit crowded at times but we are enjoying it nevertheless. Being outside makes it possible to have longer trainings and the fresh air helps us stay focused. At least most of the time. While the rain can be a bother at times we are over all having great fun.

Park and Iruka?

The last few weeks we have practices what we call rotation, which means we rotated between the different positions. In Hatsuyuki there are eight different positions and even after learning them it can be hard to keep the sometimes rather small differences in mind when suddenly having to change position. It is hard work learning them properly but knowing all positions helps us keeping track of each other while dancing. Synchronization is something we need to get better on and this is good practice.

Park, Amo and Shishou

WHOlock and Iruka?

We have also gained a new member in YEN, the French team Yosakoi Paris Hinodemai that was started just last year and are based in Paris. We are happy that they have joined YEN and hope to see them during the next meet-up, which by the way are planned to happen here in Sweden on the 17 – 18th of October. We are planing on putting up a performance together so keep an eye out for that!

Yosakoi Paris Hinodemai

 

-王将

Oushou

[Blog] 24th of May

Hi everyone!

The music and choreography for our new dance Bankuramou is now finished! \(^^)/ We have been working hard since November and are very pleased with the results. It’s exciting to have accomplished it, the creation of an entirely new dance with music and choreography that didn’t exist before. But before we start training Bankuramou we still have to have our grand finale Hatsuyuki performance! In yosakoi teams which do their own performances it is custom to close one dance before starting the new one. After closing the old dance it will never be performed again. We want our last Hatsuyuki performance to be the best ever so now we are working on the details, synchronisation and style of the performance.

We also have gotten a new member: Shishou! New members are always exciting, more team mates and more people who wants to dance yosakoi! One of our earlier members, Niisan have also come back and is dancing with us again. It’s nice to be so many people on the trainings! ^^

As per usual in May everyone is busy with school and work before summer comes. But soon we will start training outside again, so lets hope for warmer weather!

– WHOロック？
WHOlock

[Blog] 27th of April

The Saturday before last Zyka had the honour of performing at the annual Sakura Matsuri in Kungsträdgården!
The weather was on our side, with no rain and the sun shining down on us with just some chilly breezes. Even though the sakura still wasn’t it full bloom yet, quite a lot of people had gathered in Kungsträdgården to celebrate that spring is finally on it’s way. And of course to take part of the huge variety of programs, including cosplay show, kimono fashion show and a speech made in Swedish by Japan’s Ambassador Morimoto Seiji.

This year Zyka performed Odori Yosakoi Ai Nippon, a sou-odori we’ve been wanting to perform for quite a while, and it seemed that the audience was enjoying it a lot! As of course were we; Ai Nippon is such a fun sou-odori! 🙂  The other dance we performed was Power!, an oldie but a goodie, that always gives us a lot of energy, and well, lots of power! This time around, our daihyo Oushou was out of town so Amo was the one to do the MC!
“I was so nervous, but when I actually held the mike in my hand, it was so much fun!”

,

After the performance, we held a small picnic and danced sou-odoris in a little circle, which was so much fun! 😀 A lot of people came and thanked us for our performance and even more were very interested in what we were doing. One girl even tried to join in in our dance!

Yosakoi is still very unknown here in Sweden but we hope that our performance in Kungsträdgården might get us lots of new members that will join us in the amazing world of Yosakoi!

– あも
Amo