Professor Kyoko Nakayama is the guest speaker at the NMI Humanities Council’s Community Lecture Series on Aug. 7, 2024.
THE Northern Marianas Humanities Council will feature Chamorro dance instructor Professor Kyoko Nakayama in the Community Lecture Series on Aug. 7 at the American Memorial Park Visitor Center.
The lecture begins at 5:30 p.m. There is no entry fee.
Nakayama is a student of Guam-based fa’fa’nague or Chamorro dance instructor Frank Rabon. She and her dance troupe, Guma Famagu’on Tano’ Yan I Tasi, were honored by the 32nd Guam Legislature for dance education and perpetuation of Chamorro culture.
According to the Guam legislative resolution, Guma Famagu’on Tano’ Yan I Tasi was formed in 2009 when Nakayama trained under Rabon as part of the Guam Visitors Bureau’s Chamorro Dance Academy in Tokyo.
She and Guma Famagu’on Tano’ Yan I Tasi have traveled extensively to Guam and have performed at the Dinana Minagof Chamorro Dance Competition, the Guam Micronesia Island Fair, and the Inalahan Dinana Minagof Fair.
Guma Famagu’on Tano’ Yan I Tasi is part of the Pa’a Taotao Tano’ family of dance troupes. Pa’a Taotao Tano is a nonprofit cultural organization “whose goal is to develop a forum in which cultural practitioners can perform, exhibit and share the traditions of the indigenous people of Guam and the Marianas,” the resolution stated.
Nakayama is a faculty member of the Department of Elementary Education at Teikyo University in Tokyo.
Leo Pangelinan, executive director of the Northern Marianas Humanities Council, said: “It’s fascinating…to have someone who’s not from here, who’s not Chamorro or Carolinian, to take it upon themselves to share or perpetuate this aspect of our culture. One of our overarching goals is to promote our Chamorro and Carolinian cultures and language. Here’s someone doing it in Japan. It’s a good way for us to examine and reflect on what entities [and individuals] such as herself are sharing in Japan through her instruction in class as a professor at this university.”
While on island, the council will give Nakayama a tour of the NMI Museum of History and Culture, facilitate an “amut” (medicinal plants) walk, and provide opportunities to interact with the Carolinian community as well.
Eight of Nakayama’s dance students will accompany her to Saipan. As part of the lecture series, they will perform a dance at the AMP theater.
Pangelinan said the Humanities Council is open to showcasing other individuals whose knowledge is worthwhile for the community. The public is welcome to suggest speakers to info@nmhcouncil.org/.
