Celebration Day -- Jan 25c

Why I thought I should go to the temple without my camera is beyond me. Sure, it was evening, and sure the rain hadn't totally stopped. But I knew the dancing would be well lit.

You're just going to have to relive my memories.

I arrived near the end of the ladies dance portion of the program. There were five women in their twenties, makeup like porcelain dolls and perfect hair. Each carried a brass base of flowers, each had a fringed yellow sash. At one point, they held their sashes out and formed a circle, their sash arm working as the radius for their circle. Another time those in the back came forward.  Hand movements are controlled and exaggerated. Head movements are as if they were each a bobble head, bouncing from side to side.

The second dance was a solo, featuring a woman in a gorgeous purple and gold dress. She would oscillate from being fluid to being mechanical. I thought I saw the genesis of that robotic form of hip hop. Her costume was complex, so that she could move her shoulders without moving her torso. I thought it was articulated, like an armadillo she'll.  She had a gold fan that fluttered and twirled seemingly on its own.

Then came the men. The first was a solo dancer in a white-face mask and a mane of blonde hair. He moved like an old man, curious and hesitant at the same time. At one point, it looked like he was trying to retrieve his cell phone from the folds of his long jacket. Afterwards, it was more clear that he was wiping sweat from his brow. The woman standing beside me that first time said he was going to call me, then laughed and laughed at her joke.

The next dance was a boar dance, similar to a Chinese lion dance, with a very ornate boar’s head on the front of a two-person animal. The mask’s teeth could chatter, making it very scary indeed.

The old man dancer came back on, this time with a monkey face mask. He carried a roll of money with him, trying to buy friends, then snatching the money away at the last second. Whenever someone was faster, the crowd cheered. The old man dancer, as you probably guessed, was a young man under 20.

Another boar dance followed, this one from a different village. When you live in farmland, your dances reflect your life. Makes me kind of wonder what the government workers dance might be. First retrieve and turn on your computer. Dancers in rows drinking coffee simultaneously.  Phones ringing sporadically. Dancers going in and out of groups as they attend meetings. The dance ending with people collapsing with exhaustion. Frankly, I think the boar dance, with chattering teeth challenging the onlookers is more interesting.

I left when a man in another tremendously complex and hot costume came on. I think it was probably a creation story, judging from the furs.

I've learned not to go anywhere without my raincoat. I'd like to learn not to go anywhere without my camera.