Yeah! Bon Dance (Usher)

This video was taken at the Kona Koyasan Daishinji Mission. The first 2 minutes or so are in there to show you a more "traditional" dance then later they start up Usher and all the old Japanee ladies in kimonos start jamming to Yeah! It was pure win.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• bon
• dance
• obon
• usher
• hawaii

[TevitaDiary]

everyone needs to calm down over this! hehehe! some of the Bon Dance songs need to updated from 100 years ago already. I'm glad were trying! If your looking for classical dancing then go watch Buyo odori or Shin Buyo. Stop getting mad everyone. Bon dance is about having fun with your ancesters. I dont think your relatives who have passed away want to see you bored!

[Islandgurl11470]

@michtoyama I do know who you are talking about when you said there is one young guy dancer. He is my hanai nephew and a very good dancer too

[TevitaDiary]

Well the first song there dancing to is Kawachi Otoko Bushi. On Oahu the dance is differnet.. Im used to the Bando and Iwankuni clubs when there in charge. This is actually the first year Ive heard them play yeah.. I heard some of the senseis talking about it. I thought they were joking. Well anyways bon Dance is supposed to houner and call back spirits of loved ones, Lets all try to remeber that mabey there kids that died might haved listened to this song. Everyone is just over reacting.

[hawaiiguy12345]

Obon is supposed to honor our ancestors and their contribution to the current generation. Now it's become all about making money at the bon dances and a popularity contest with the young spenders. So sad.........

[pintibudpi]

claims to cultural authenticity and purity have historically been used by some segments of the bon dancing community to stifle creativity and spontaneous joy. the entire bon dance activity in hawai'i is a hybrid cultural form. claims to cultural purity is involved in the hybridization and so are adaptations and changes. The various points of view meet in the yagura and arrive at what we see. Joy and honor to the past by the present and future.

[gentleradical]

There are meanings to the hand motions in traditional odori, such as "sun" "wind" "moon" "end of verse" "blossoms" "cutting" etc. I know some and want to learn more. These will eventually be lost. Imagine if the hula were reduced to only hip swaying and clapping. I have more respect for the "young new dancers" than to think that all they are capable of doing is clapping and "step step kick".  I hope that the new "dumbed down" dances don't totally replace the traditional.

[ninjastarz808]

Do you even know what the hand motions mean? And yes, each church and each island has small variations in the dances. But, songs like Shiawase and Beautiful Sunday are songs in which the youth dances to. So, those do appeal to a new audience, and that is a gateway to the older dances.

[gentleradical]

By "traditional Japanese" I mean certain steps and hand motions such as those found in dances like "Sakura Ondo" or "Aozora Ondo". It's difficult to explain since possibly the choreography differs from island to island. The more current choreography I notice (at least on Kauai) has mostly hand clapping and turning and shuffle steps with little or no meaningful hand motions. "Beautiful Sunday" and "Shiawase Samba" are examples on Kauai.

[ninjastarz808]

define "japanese choreography", and which songs do you know have westernized dances? Plus, Elvira?

[gentleradical]

Thanks for the explanation! I appreciate his intentions, but still not crazy about how they're gradually replacing traditional dances w/ Westernized ones. Maybe it would've been better with more "traditional Japanese" choreography. Doesn't look like they're even going in a circle. Well...at least it's not as bad as "Elvira".