Vietnam performs at Japan's top Yosakoi festival

Vietnam's Nakama Yosakoi dance team is the only team from abroad selected to perform at the Harajuku Super Yosakoi festival.

The Super Yosakoi Festival in Tokyo was born in 2001.

On August 26, the Harajuku Super Yosakoi Festival, also known as the “Harajuku Omotesando Genki Matsuri Super Yosakoi Festival” opened at Yoyogi Park, Tokyo. This is one of the largest annual festivals in Tokyo, resuming after a 2-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic relations, Vietnam's Nakama Yosakoi dance team is the only team from abroad selected to perform at this festival.

The Tokyo Super Yosakoi Festival was born in 2001, to honor the traditional Yosakoi festival of Kochi Prefecture, which coincides with a Meiji Shrine festival on the last weekend of August. Therefore, the festival is organized by the Harajuku Omotesando Keyaki Association with special cooperation from Meiji Shrine to create an event that deeply connects with the local community.

A large crowd of Japanese people enjoyed the performance of the Nakama Yosakoi team.

The Super Yosakoi Festival has grown in popularity over the years and is now held as one of the largest Yosakoi events in Japan.

The highlight of the festival is the Yosakoi Naruko dance, a dance that teams are free to choreograph as long as it is accompanied by an original song called "Yosakoi Naruko Dancing" by Eisaku Takemasa. The dance is energetic, combining traditional Japanese dance movements and modern music, along with the use of Naruko - a wooden object with a handle that is struck or shaken to produce sound. These Naruko are an indispensable part of Yosakoi and are used to highlight the rhythm of the dance.

There are 24 members of the Nakama Yosakoi team participating in the 2023 Super Yosakoi Festival in Tokyo.

Yosakoi performance costumes do not have regulations on design or color, so teams are often free to create unique costumes that have their own identity and are suitable for Yosakoi dance.

Nakama Yosakoi is a dance team under the auspices of the United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Information Center and the Vietnam Federation of UNESCO Associations, established with the aim of creating a playground for those who are passionate about the Japanese dance Yosakoi in Vietnam.

Nakama Yosakoi participated in the 15th Harajuku Omotesandou Super Yosakoi Genki Matsuri in 2015 and won the “Best New Dance Team” award.

Participating in the 2023 Super Yosakoi Festival in Tokyo, the Nakama Yosakoi team, with 24 members, performed a dance inspired by the Vietnamese fairy tale “Peacock and Crow”. Ta Ngoc Huyen, a member of the dance team, shared: “Coming to the Festival in Tokyo this time, we are very happy to have combined a Vietnamese fairy tale with a traditional Japanese dance and introduced this dance right in the country that gave birth to Yosakoi”.

A large crowd of Japanese people enjoyed the performance of the Nakama Yosakoi team, giving them warm applause for their energetic and passionate performance.

According to the plan, on August 26-27, Yosakoi dance teams will perform at locations including the avenue in front of NHK TV Station, the stage at Yoyogi Park, a special stage set up at the entrance of Meiji Shrine and the fashionable Omotesando Avenue. The organizers predict that the festival will attract nearly 1 million visitors to enjoy the performances of more than 100 Yosakoi dance teams with more than 5,000 dancers.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/viet-nam-trinh-dien-tai-le-hoi-yosakoi-hang-dau-nhat-ban-239812.html