The annual Dream Yosakoi Festival was held from October 31 to November 1, 2009 at various locations in Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan.
Over 4,000 dancers performed in this traditional team dance with teams as large as 100.
This style of choreographed dance is highly energetic, combining traditional Japanese dance movements with modern music.
It was quite a windy day, so the large team flags were flying in full flutter, providing an excellent backdrop to the team’s colorful costumes.
One of the defining aspects of yosakoi dance is the use of naruko, which are small wooden clappers that are held in the hands of each dancer.
Finally, below are a few videos to give you a sense of energy in this type of Japanese folk dance (sorry that the sound is awful, as it was a very windy day as you can tell).
Earlier this summer, I also attended the Super Yosakoi and the Fukuro Matsuri featuring the same type of dance.
