Shin-buyoh & Koten-buyoh

I went to see a happyôkai (recital) of the Otowa-ryû Japanese Dance Group on Sunday.  Otowa Hinaaki has been teaching in the Lower Mainland for 40 years and was celebrating with a fabulous concert featuring her students and two guest teachers from Japan.  Hinaaki-sensei is a fabulous force for Japanese dance and culture in BC, and her students are a fabulous team.  TomoeArts collaborated with her on the All Over the Map presentation “Summer Odori” last July, and two of her students performed in with us in the Procession of Performing Circles last March.

Most of the pieces were shin-buyoh 新舞踊 or “new dance” which is a more contemporary style of Japanese dance that uses many of the same movements as kabuki dance, but the pieces are shorter, and the music combines western and Japanese rhythms and instruments.  The repertoire is quite different thought the fundamentals of body position gender and energy is the same as koten buyoh 古典舞踊 or “Classical Dance.” The many categories of this form we cal nihon buyoh!