Three Steps Over Japan: Dai Hanya 2017, Day 2

Monday, May 1, 2017

Dai Hanya 2017, Day 2

I couldn't get out of the apartment on Sunday until 1 PM, and by that time all the big kite flying down at Dolphin Port was over. I went up to the main train station, and the Dai Hanya dancing there was just finishing, too. I had to do shopping for the week, and that ran until 3 PM. Fortunately, I was able to take the street car down to Asahi street, and from there walk the 10 minutes to Dolphin Port, where the main stage still had a lot of dancing going on. I think they said that the next ten groups had made it into the final ten, but I'm not sure, because other groups kept dancing on the stage, too. Anyway, the JR Kyushu group I'd recorded on Saturday was in the "final 10" and they did the exact same routine, so I didn't record them this time. I did record the other 9 groups, and I put them in the sampler videos below. I took a few more photos this time of the other groups, and I got one of the groups to pose with me, which was fun.

Last year, the organizers had more "commercial" groups, like the Seven Colors and Southern Cross idol girls, but there was nothing like that this time. They did have the big kites, and a children's play area in Central Park, which I didn't get a chance to see. As it was, I felt like I got enough entertainment value from the 2 hours each day that I did spend at Dolphin Port, even though I missed everything else at the other 6-7 event sites around town.

There hadn't been as many people in the audience on Saturday, so it was easy for me to stand at one corner and take video. Sunday was a lot more crowded, so I felt I had to sit in about the same corner, and shoot from a much lower angle. I wasn't so happy about that. But... After the first song while I was there, the people in front of me got up and left, so I moved in closer to the center of the stage. As I was taking photos and preparing to shoot the next video, I suddenly found myself surrounded by members of one of the other dance groups that had finished their set and wanted to watch everyone else perform. So, I was no longer given the choice of being able to stand up at all. I just had to hope that holding the camera up from where I was sitting wouldn't block the people behind me. After an hour and a half of that, my back was killing me, so I finished the last of the 10 "top ten" and got up to wander around a bit. I took more photos of a couple other groups, then went home to prepare the videos for uploading. And, to get out of the sun. With all of the bad weather we'd been having, the sky was clear and hot both Saturday and Sunday, and I was getting a sunburn.

All of the dances had a story of some kind attached to them, but a couple needed the background introduced before the music started. The dance with the people wearing white and brown fox masks was set in a haunted house. I liked that one, and the last group in the final video, with the bright striped basket hats was good. And the below group with the demon masks.