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Description
I was looking through my pictures from my stay in Japan and thought I should post some of them.

This was from last year's Gion Odori, the annual fall dance put on by the maiko and geiko of Gion Higashi (which is not the famous Gion most people think of when they think of geisha, that would be Gion Kobu). This was during the first act, in which the more junior geiko did a dance together where they each represented a distinct style and had folk music woven into their solo. I don't know a lot about the individual dances since I couldn't understand the music, but I was able to get an idea of what each woman represented.

This is Hinagiku. Her dance was very innocent and child-like, and during this particular section she played with an imaginary toy called a temari, or hand ball. I remember being really shocked seeing this, because while in that kneeling position, as she pretended to bounce the ball, she shuffled around in a full circle. It was crazy, a person need thighs like steel to be able to do that. In this youtube clip [link] , you can see Bando Tamasaburo do the exact same thing (right after the costume change, around about three-four minutes in).

Description
I was looking through my pictures from my stay in Japan and thought I should post some of them.

This was from last year's Gion Odori, the annual fall dance put on by the maiko and geiko of Gion Higashi (which is not the famous Gion most people think of when they think of geisha, that would be Gion Kobu). This was during the first act, in which the more junior geiko did a dance together where they each represented a distinct style and had folk music woven into their solo. I don't know a lot about the individual dances since I couldn't understand the music, but I was able to get an idea of what each woman represented.

This is Hinagiku. Her dance was very innocent and child-like, and during this particular section she played with an imaginary toy called a temari, or hand ball. I remember being really shocked seeing this, because while in that kneeling position, as she pretended to bounce the ball, she shuffled around in a full circle. It was crazy, a person need thighs like steel to be able to do that. In this youtube clip [link] , you can see Bando Tamasaburo do the exact same thing (right after the costume change, around about three-four minutes in).