As I wrote in this post, a world music festival is held every year in my neighborhood. There was a week-long Ainu music workshop as part of it the year before last. The flyer said it would be an Ainu "song" workshop. I wanted to be able to sing like Umeko Ando, so I signed up without a second thought. The teacher was Mayun Kiki from MAREWREW, who is a great artist, too.

However, on the first day, I learned that the workshop would primarily teach dance which was not what the flyer said. We did the grasshopper dance, which was really tough. According to Mayun Kiki, the dance was created when a swarm of grasshoppers attacked an Ainu village and caused tremendous damage. It's interesting that they chose to imitate this destructive creature through dance.

The upper body must be level and the limbs must move quickly to resemble a grasshopper. It's especially tough when you have to clap both hands behind your back. I didn't intend to do something so hard, but I pushed through. Many other Ainu dances also imitate creatures such as cranes and foxes.

If you ever attend an Ainu music workshop, please be sure to check carefully whether it teaches a song or a dance.