THE Saipan Awaodori team will join their fellow Awaodori performers in various cities in Japan from July 11 to Aug. 27, 2023.
Saipan Awaodori founder and Kinpachi Restaurant president Misako Kamata said she and the Saipan team will be in Japan for seven weeks, and will perform every weekend at five different locations.
On July 16, the Saipan team will join Japan’s Awaodori dancers at the 12th Shirogane Awaodori Festival; on July 23, Ujiie Awaodori Festival; on July 19, Kitamachi Awaodori Festival; on Aug. 5 and 6, Higashi Rinkan Summer Wow Festival; on Aug. 25, Koenji Furedori; and on Aug. 26, Sajiki Festival.
On Aug. 26 and 27, the Saipan Team will join the Tokyo Tensuiren at the 63rd Tokyo Koenji Awaodori Festival.
Kamata said the Saipan Awaodori team will also witness the Koganei Awaodori, Kagurazaka Awaodori, Narimasu Awaodori, and Shimokitazawa Ichibangai Awaodori festivals.
Kamata and the Saipan Awaodori team will back on Saipan on Aug. 30.
Local Awaodori dancer Jeafanie Tibong said it is her third time to be in Japan, but it still feels exciting because it’s fun to participate in Japan’s Awaodori festivals.
She said she gets to meet new people, as well as the individuals she used to talk to and hang out with on her previous trips. “It’s really fun,” she added.
It is going to be Marcela Heben’s fourth time to join the Awaodori festivals in Japan, but she is still quite nervous.
In previous Awaodori festivals, she said she met a lot of people and saw new places “and I enjoyed it.”
Awaodori drummer Codie Forbes said it is going to be his first time to join so he is excited and nervous at the same. “I don’t know what to expect,” he added.
Awaodori dancer Leon Wabol said it’s his first time, too and he feels excited that he will get to learn more about Japan and see new places.
Eljan Tibong, another local Awaodori dancer, said it will be his first time in Japan, and “I am really excited because I am going to be learning things and meeting new people.”
It is also drummer Cassidy Thompson Wabol’s first time to go so he feels excited to learn more about Japan and its relationship with the NMI. He is also curious to see other Awaodori festivals.
The Saipan Awaodori team is one of the very few, if not the only local group that continues to entice visitors from Japan while maintaining close ties with the Asian country though their performances at the various festivals and community events on Saipan.
From left, Saipan Awaodori team members Cassidy Thomphson Wabol, Leon Wabol, Jeafanie Tibong, Marcela Heben, Eljan Tibong and Coddie Forbes pose for a photo during the Liberation Day parade on Beach Road in Garapan, Tuesday, July 4, 2023.
