Finding Indian roots in Nichibu
Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Every day, the Japanese are creating something new and extra ordinary. But deep under the technological excellence, the Japanese people maintain a traditional and close-knit community. And if we look closely, we find many similarities between their culture and ours. Japanese food, their way o f exercise, traditional and conservative style of dressing and their dance forms, they all have many things common with India and its culture.
I discovered this recently when I had the privilege to interact with Ms Royoko De. She is an accomplished dancer; having learnt dancing at the tender age of three years, she trained in jazz and ballet and finally found her true calling in Japan’s most traditional dance form called nichibu.
Royoko says, that the original style of Nichibu has slow and graceful hand movements and beautiful foot actions, but having learnt many dance forms she has developed her own version of the traditional Japanese dance. In Royoko’s Nichibu, it’s no longer a slow dance form. It is upbeat. The speed varies with the style of music; when danced in traditional kimonos, it can be mesmerising.
I did not believe this fusion form when Royoko first told me about it. Because from what I had seen of Nichibu teachers, they were staunch believers of authenticity and any kind of mixing or remixing was never entertained. But when I saw Royoko’s dance I was simply taken aback.
The modern version of nichibu that Royoko has created is worth learning. It is extremely entertaining and fun with some fantastic hand and body movements. My dancers gave me the feedback that this mix of traditional Nichibu with modern music was similar to the way we Indians mixed our traditional dandiya dance to Bollywood music and called it the ‘disco dandiya”.
So impressed was with Royoko’s nichibu that I invited her to come to India and take a series of workshop on Nichibu. I believe this will be a great way to know the Japanese culture, its people and most importantly its culturally rich dance. Royoko will be conducting her workshops in Nichibu from this coming weekend in Mumbai, before going to other cities like Pune, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Indore, Ahmedabad, Surat, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and also to Kathmandu.
This is my way to show the dance lovers of India that there are many beautiful dances around the world. All dances share similarities and find resonance in each other; yet they are different in their own ways. We can understand this difference only when we get to experience it. So this is a chance for everyone to see how Japanese Nichibu is similar to Indian dances.
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