Every year around this time of year in Niigata city (close to where I live) there is a dancing festival. The name of that festival is the Niigata sou-odori. In the festival dancers from all across Niigata come to give performances. This year there are 255 dance groups with over 12000 people dancing. The festival started yesterday and will go until tomorrow.
So, what kind of dancing can you see there? Anything from traditional dancing to hip hop and everything in between. Below you can see a picture of one of groups in more traditional costume.
Here is a compilation of what some of the dances look like. Most of these are more traditional.
The festival as it is now is based on a 300 year old festival called the Niigata Geta Sou-odori. In the original festival people would dance with geta (Japanese wooden shoes), lanterns and umbrellas. Seven years ago they decided to revive the festival in the way it is now. You can see an example of the dancing with wooden shoes below.
I can hardly dance with normal shoes on, so I personally think that is amazing.
Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 踊る(おどる). It is pronounced odoru and means to dance. I think that the only dance that I can actually dance is the chicken dance...
That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.
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