Dance Master Bando Mitsuhiro Teaching Technique as Well as Nurturing Students’ Personality in U.S. for 35 Years

 

Cultural News, October 2004

 

 

Mme. Bando Mitsuhiro, left, gives a lesson to Bando Hidesomi at Mitsuhiro’s home studio in Harbor City. Mme. Mitsuhiro has been teaching Japanese dance in U.S. for 35 years.

 

   This year, the Bando Mitsuhiro Kai Japanese dance school of Los Angeles celebrates its 35th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of Madame Mitsuhiro’s award of her “shihani” dance title. On October 2, the 35th Anniversary Recital was held at Aratani/Japan America Theatre with special guest artists from Japan such as Madame Hanayagi Sumi, Master Bando Mitsujiro and Madame Bando Hideko. The following is a report about Madame Mitsuhiro’s dance activities by Fumie Iida, a Bando Mitsuhiro Kai student:

 

By Fumie Iida

 

   From behind the studio door, you can hear the slow, melodic twang of the shamisen, a three-stringed Japanese instrument at a house in Harbor City, South Bay. As the door open, Mme. Bando Mitsuhiro, shishou (grand-master) of the Bando Mitsuhiro Kai Japanese Dancing School, 76, regally stands in the center of her polished hardwood stage with her students in front of her. Mme. Mitsuhiro wears a dark indigo kimono with a fine white arabesque pattern. Her dance students also wear colorful kimonos with flower and butterfly patterns, while kneeling Japanese style on the floor with their feet gracefully tucked beneath them.

 

  Mme. Mitsuhiro teaches to all ages. One of her youngest students is Natsuki Nishikawa, 8. Nishikawa listens and looks to her master’s face for approval as well as carefully observe her dancing and mimick her movements. 

 

  Within this rigorous lesson, there is an atmosphere full of respect between the master and pupil. With a gentle yet firm voice, Mme. Mitsuhiro is able to critique her little student’s dancing in only half-a-second glance; literally from head to toe: how much more the student needs to tilt her head; where she is looking to; the position of her hands; how she arches her back; how deep she bends her knees and where her toes point. 

 

  Born in Yawatahama City in Ehime prefecture, southern island of Japan, Mme. Mitsuhiro started learning Japanese dance at the age of 4. She learned Japanese dance from Bando Mitsugoro Ⅶ, the headmaster of the Bando School and also a famous kabuki actor. In 1954, she received a diploma and a permission to use two Chinese characters of the headmaster “Mitsu” in her artistic name. Mme. Mitsuhiro has been performing Japanese dance for more than 70 years and has been teaching it for 50 years.

 

  "I can recall more than a thousand choreographed dances," Mme. Mitsuhiro says as she sits with perfect posture and grace in her studio on her tatami mat floor, which is Japanese traditional floor made from rush. "When I was young, I was better and quicker at learning choreographs than any other student in the school. I was absorbed in dancing. Even when I had a fever, once I started dancing, it disappeared.”

 

  She says whenever she would go to her master's dance studio, she never missed the chance to learn choreographs. While her master was teaching other students, she carefully examined his methods. She taught herself various different kinds of dances. "Japanese dance has so many kinds of dances and songs. To master those dances, I had to be more attentive not to miss any detail. I tried very hard at that time," she says.

 

  After teaching Japanese dance for 17 years in Japan, Mme. Mitsuhiro visited her aunt in Los Angeles in 1969. During her stay in Los Angeles, she went to a picnic and saw some people performing Japanese dance.

“I was surprised to see their dance and thought that I didn’t want people to consider that Japanese dance. Frankly speaking, it was awful,” Mme. Mitsuhiro says laughing. “That’s why I came to the United States to teach true Japanese dance.”

 

 The first work was to give Japanese dance lessons to children of the members of Torrance Konko Church. The dance was in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the church. “At first, they asked me to dance at the party but I suggested that it would be a nice surprise if children would dance. So I gave lessons to children every day,” Mme. Mitsuhiro says.

 

  She said that it was a difficult task for her to teach dances to children who were not familiar with Japanese dances and did not understand Japanese. “It was no use telling them to turn right in Japanese, so I always danced with them,” she says. The children’s dance was a great success and her students asked her to continue teaching them. Mme. Mitsuhiro decided to stay in the United States for one more year.

 

  In spite of the one-year agreement, Mme. Mitsuhiro found herself staying in Los Angeles for 35 years. She now has studios in Harbor City, Little Tokyo, San Diego, Monterey and Tacoma, Washington. She has given lessons to more than 1,000 students. Some became mothers and their children are now students; others became grandmothers and their grandchildren became her students.

 

 “Oshishou-san (Mme. Mitsuhiro) is very generous and broadminded. We, students, trust Oshishou-san very much,” said Hiroe Okubo, who has known Mme. Mitsuhiro for 29 years. Okubo said that this good relationship made Mme. Mitsuhiro and her students get along well for a long period. “Oshishou-san always tells us ‘I’m so happy because my students always support me,’ but I think we are also very happy because Oshishou san always support us.”

 

  Sitting up straight on the tatami floor, Mme. Mitsuhiro still continues her lesson until 10 p.m. She looks earnestly at her students practicing on the stage. Her eyes are clear and sharp and never show weariness. She says now she loves teaching more than dancing herself. “I have come to think that it is my obligation to convey Japanese culture and soul to Japanese people in the United States through Japanese dance,” says Mme. Mitsuhiro. “I don’t want them to lose their identity as Japanese.”

 

  However, for this master, there is more to the job than merely teaching dance techniques. “The most important job for me is to broaden students’ personality,” she says. Mme. Mitsuhiro says one needs to have a good relationship with others, especially while dancing. “You need to be cooperative with others. But at the same time, you need to be competitive with others about dancing,” she says.

 

  Now she teaches not only Japanese but also many Americans and Japanese Americans. Many of them cannot speak Japanese but Mme. Mitsuhiro says that the language barrier does not bother her when she teaches. “I also enjoy dancing with students of the younger generation. I feel so happy when they tell me they love performing Japanese dances,” she says. “I want to convey real Japanese dance to the American people, therefore I think I need to teach authentic Japanese dance.”

 

 Fumie Iida is a freelance writer. After graduating from Waseda University, she worked at an advertising agency in Tokyo for five years. She was a staff writer, photographer and assistant sports editor of El Camino College newspaper Union. She came to the United States in 2002 to study American journalism and public relations. Readers may contact her by e-mail to fumie_la@yahoo.co.jp.