A dance festival

The other weekend saw the arrival of a dance festival/competition in Hamamatsu. Hundreds of competitors in faux traditional costumes competed for some unknown (to me) prize. Hamamatsu seems to need little excuse for a festival and this particular excuse was invented six years ago. At first we thought it might be some ancient celebration but it seems that it is a new competition and that might explain some of the lacklustre performances... I don't want to sound harsh but some of the dance groups would probably have benefited from six more years to practice. What was lacking in timing was more than made up for with incredible enthusiasm. The groups varied in age, costume, musical preferences degrees of inebriation. Having spoken to a few of our students about the event shows that there are very mixed opinions on new celebrations. Tradition is incredibly important here and new celebrations can sometimes be seen as diverting attentions from older, more 'important' events. Any way.... on to the pictures....