Children’s Kabuki Dance, May 15, 2005

 

Cultural News, April 2005

 

A scene from Nagauta “Suehirogari”

 

 

  Bando Mitsuhiro Japanese Dancing School of Harbor City will present the fifth “Children’s Kabuki Dancing Recital” on Sunday, May 15 at 1:00 p.m. at James Armstrong Theatre in Torrance.

 

  Eighteen children, as young as age five, will perform in 14 classical Japanese dance numbers, joined by two newly natori-titled students. In each piece, children will appear on the stage with elaborate kimono costumes, make-up and extravagantly decorated wigs.

 

   “I’d like the audience to see how the children have practiced hard to master their dancing,” says Bando Mitsuhiro, a master of Japanese classical dance. Most are dance numbers, with the exception of “Omiwa,” which is a Kaubi drama. Three children, who do not regularly speak Japanese, will attempt old Japanese lines.

 

  Since Bando started teaching Japanese dance in the United States 36 years ago, she has trained more than 500 children. As some students became mothers and grandmothers, they now send their children to learn under Bando.

 

  It has long been a Japanese tradition that children take artistic lessons, such as Japanese dance, tea ceremony, calligraphy or flower arrangement, for discipline and sophistication. Nowadays, however, fewer Japanese tend to take these lessons. Yet, Bando’s young students have been putting forward much effort to succeed in this authentic Japanese performing art.

 

 “I always try to teach not only dancing, but also traditional Japanese manners such as how to bow, how to say thank you to your elder people and what to do when you cross in front of some one,” Bando says, “So, they’ve become very polite, as well as better dancers.”

 

 Children’s Kabuki Dancing Recital’s program is as follows: Nagauta “Fuji,” Nagauta “Kaga no Kiku,” Nagauta “Yume,” Yamatogaku “Takekurabe,” Hauta “Yakkosan,” Buyou Shoukyoku “Harusamegasa,” Nagauta “Fuji no Hana,” Kiyomoto “Tamausagi,” Tokiwazu “Toutojishi,” Nagauta “Maiko,” Tokiwazu “Omiwa,” Tokiwazu “Mitsumen Komori,” Tokiwazu “Yuzuki Sendo” and Nagauta “Ukare Hyoutan.”

 

  James Armstrong Theatre is located at 3330 Civic Center Drive, Torrance, CA 90503. Tickets are $15 for adults, and $10 for children (ages three to 18 years), students with ID, and seniors (62 years and older). Children two years and younger are free. For tickets, call the box office at (310) 781-7171, Bando’s main studio in Harbor City at (310) 539-8636, or Hirata Camera in Gardena at (310) 329-4911.