Kyoko Nakayama
THE Northern Marianas Humanities Council invites the public to its community lecture series this Wednesday, featuring Teikyo University Professor Kyoko Nakayama, who will discuss her interest in Chamorro culture, history, and dance.
Nakayama also leads the dance troupe Guma Famagu’on Tano’ Yan I Tasi. Her presentation takes place at the American Memorial Park Visitor Center on Aug. 7 at 5:30 p.m. There is no entry fee.
As part of the presentation, Guma Famagu’on Tano’ Yan I Tasi will perform a special dance number.
Nakayama is on island, where the NMI Humanities Council is providing her and her students an immersive experience of the Northern Marianas.
She is a student of Guam-based fa’fa’nague or Chamorro dance instructor Frank Rabon. Her dance troupe was formed in 2009 after Nakayama took part in the Guam Visitors Bureau’s Chamorro Dance Academy in Tokyo.
In an interview last week, 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.”
