[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

[Blog] 17th of March

Today Zyka had a special practise! We did a Juliana. Juliana is when you dance lots of sou-oudori after each other. It’s a good way of remembering all the dances you have learnt but don’t dance so often. It is also good fitness training because dancing so much is hard work. But mostly it’s a lot of fun! Learning new things is fun, but energetically dancing the dances you know is also fun. In a Juliana you get to do both! It is a good way of learning new sou-oudori that some in the team knows but not everyone.

Having a Juliana now was good timing because from next practise we will be busy practising for our last performance in Danskarusellen the 27th of March. Danskarusellen have been both fun and challenging. We have also for the first time received criticism from a jury about our dancing. Getting a knowledgeable outsiders point of view and opinions gives us the chance to develop and dance even better.

-WHOロック？

WHOlock

Bon-odori in Kungsträdgården!

On the 27th of August we performed in Kungsträdgården in Stockholm as a part of Japanska Föreningens Bon-odori event. As always when invited by Japanska föreningen it was a lovely event and we had lots of fun, both dancing bon-odori and performing. Some of the children there believed us to be a rock band, hopefully they weren’t too disappointed when it was our turn to performed and we danced instead of doing rock music^^

WHOlock and Park

Iruka? and WHOlock, Zyka Yosakoi’s vice-president’s.

When Zyka is together there is always lots of laughter!

And of course, a group shot