3rd Annual Japanese Traditional Dance Performance

On the 23rd of November, one of the clubs I had joined put on their annual show. This was the 3rd year that they were doing a show, but it was very professionally orchestrated. We had to be at the Multi-Purpose Hall at 10 in the morning even though the show wasn't until 15:00/3:00 pm. So what did we do in that huge hour slot? Obviously, hair and makeup and getting dressed. Remember, all the members of the Japanese Traditional Dance club are women. We needed all that time to get ready. Seriously. And the result was beautiful, if I do say so myself.

The makeup from the side

All the gaijin

Kasumi and me in full makeup
How did you get your hair like that? Well, I had people help me do my hair because it was too difficult to attempt myself. What they did was separate my "bangs" from the rest of the hair. Next, they inserted a black puff ball behind the separated bangs. This puff ball was a black netting material that dolls from the '80s(?) might have had. The girl then pulled my bangs back over the puff and created that front bump. She then hid the puff by readjusting my hair on the sides of my "bangs" to cover the puff ball even more so. Next is the fun hair. They had put a bun on top of my head. That was seriously the highest bun I even had in my life. It was cray cray how they had it so high! Anyway, no hair was suppose to be down or out of line with the group. So they had to fix my bun on top a few times to get it even. To hide any strings of hair or hairs that were sticking out, they used hair gel as well as hairspray. Two of my worse enemies! After gelling and spraying my hair, they proceeded to add more fake hair to make my bun even bigger. Luckily, they had my hair color fake hair available.

The bumps/buns

The bun with fake hair

With accessories
And what about that makeup? The makeup was pretty cool, ne? Well, here is how that was done. I don't know exactly what everything was so bear with me. First, we were wearing our yukata (pictured below) and had to reveal our shoulders to the makeup artist. She then put this really, really, really cold foundation on our skin. Then hit us... with a makeup sponge, to spread the foundation around. Then, she hit us with a white powder sponge-y thing. Like in the old movies were they would powder their faces, like that thing. She put that all over our revealed back/shoulder areas, top of our chests, neck (front and back), and face. She got some of the powder in some people's hair. We then went to the next station which put more of the white stuff (I think?) on our faces. She then darkened our eyebrows using a eyebrow pencil. After that, she added the red eye liner thingy. She didn't put the red lips on us until after we ate our lunch. The red eye liner and lips were the same exact thing. They were very difficult to get off in the shower. In fact, the eye liner did not come off of me until after I had showered. I have no idea what that stuff is, but it is seriously legit long lasting makeup.

Seriously, look at all that. Everything together (makeup-wise) took about 15 give or take minutes. Makeup is serious business~
At exactly, 3pm or 15:00 as the rest of the world writes it, we had begun our show. We were all nervous, standing behind the walls of the stage. As the announcer was doing her thing of welcoming the audience, giving them the respectful requests (turn off your phones kind of deal), and introducing each dance piece, all the members of the dance club were practicing before going on stage. Obviously, we were all nervous to perform, but also every excited. ^^

(Sorry no video of the performance. I do have a copy of the whole dance performance so if you would like to see it or watch it again or something, let me know~ ^^)

At the very end of the show, all the dancers were to go to the main entrance so that way all the audience members could come and talk to us and talk pictures. It made me really happy to be able to see all my friends there and my Japanese professor. I was truly touched by their showing up and cheering us on. Because I am not the best at describing what I am feeling, I knew in my heart that they could tell how much I appreciated their coming. Thank you, guys~! <3

On that note, when I saw my professor, it reminded me of something we had discussed in my education course back home at Ursinus College. Though it is not the same case, it has the same feeling. In the course, my professor told the class of a student from my college that was student teaching at a nearby high school. One of her students absolutely disliked her for no reason. He would argue with her and constantly cause trouble. However, she did everything in her power to not let his rudeness disrupt the flow of the classroom. During the time she was student teaching at the school, she made sure to clear any time she could to go to her students' drama club productions, any games they had, or activities they did. This included the students that showed their dislike for her, especially that one boy. Seeing the teacher to put in the effort to cheer him on at his basketball games and to congratulate him and his fellow teammates after the games made the students like her even more as a teacher. Afterwards, this student would stand up for the teacher whenever someone else had tried to argue with her. Seeing teachers do stuff like this - going to see your basketball game, your drama club production, or your dance performances - is a really special feeling. You get a sense that the teacher is truly interested in seeing you do well in something you are passionate about. Though it makes me nervous seeing some of my Ursinus teachers at Tour of Asia, afterwards, I feel more appreciation for making time to come out and supporting their students. If you are like me and want to be a teacher or want to work with children/teens, please keep this in mind: Whenever you can, show your students you care about them by supporting them in their other activities. It makes the students feel happy and it may even do the same for you.