Tanabata

Yesterday we had the star festival (Tanabata Masturi) in the evening. Our company worked whevever we had time and after the nightly meeting to make this festival all that we can. We worked on writing the script for our play, made decorations such as cranes, worked on making Tanzaku (paper we write our wishes on). Although we tried to make this work because of our busy scedule we were not able to do everything we planned to do. However, the festival turned out to be one of the best memories we had at this academy. We made many decorations and hung them up on the bamboo. Also, we made many tanzaku and put it on the table so everyone could write their wishes and hang it up on the bamboo.
Once the decoration was ready, we all dressed up in Yukata, summer kimono, and got ready for the festival. Getting the yukata on was a whole new experience for many of the students here at the academy. For those who had trouble putting on their yukata and obi, teachers from the Virginia Beach are came to help us.
The festival opened with a performance by River City Taiko from the University of Richmond, and they did a fantastic job. They played three pieces for us and later let the students and teachers to experice playing the different types of taiko. After that, our company did the play which told the story of the legend of Tanabata. Everyone did a fabulous job telling the story and each actor and actress played their role every well. Also, we danced the Obon Odori, and everyone looked like they were having fun. We all sang the Tanabata song together and took many fun pictures together, including pictures of students all from the same school districts. Although the process of getting ready for the festival stressed out not only me, but everyone else, I was glad I was able to be a part of this company.     -Sarah

                                                                                                                       - Sarah