From Los Angeles to Hawaii to train in dance
On November 2, 2014, a Ryukyu dance performance titled "Nou Gukuru" was held at the Aratani Theater in Los Angeles. The organizer of this performance, Aiko Majikina, is a central figure in the performing arts department of the Okinawan Association of North America, as well as a dancer and instructor of Ryukyu dance.
Her first encounter with dance dates back to her childhood in Chinen Village, in the southern part of Okinawa's main island, where she lived with her grandparents. "My father was a military doctor and died in battle while serving with the Himeyuri Unit. After that, my mother, who was born in Hawaii and had citizenship, moved to the United States with my older sister, leaving me to live with my grandparents in Chinen Village until I graduated from elementary school. I was surrounded by the sound of the sanshin, which I loved, and would often go listen to in the neighborhood. My grandmother thought I might be lonely being left alone, so she made me learn to dance."
After graduating from elementary school, Aiko moved to Los Angeles where her mother and older sister were waiting for her. In the late 1950s, many Japanese people lived in the downtown east side area known as Boyle Heights, and her mother worked at a Japanese hospital. "In Okinawa, the ocean stretched out in front of me and behind me. But in Los Angeles, which is so vast as the eye can see, you couldn't see the ocean from where I lived. At first, I struggled with the language, but my older sister helped me with my homework, and I soon got used to living in English."
Even though her environment changed from Okinawa to Los Angeles, Aiko's passion for dance never faded. After entering Los Angeles High School and becoming a high school student, she stayed in Hawaii for three months during the summer vacation to receive instruction from a dance teacher and to train.
"In America, I had the opportunity to perform dance at events such as the Okinawa Prefectural Association's New Year's parties. Performing in front of people like that made me want to dance more and more. At the time, there were no formal Ryukyu dance teachers in Los Angeles, so I had no choice but to go to a teacher in Hawaii."
50 years of teaching Ryukyuan dance: the joy of seeing seeds grow
During her first year of university, she decided to go to Okinawa for a year. As a result of studying under Yoshiyasu Masakina in Okinawa, her passion for dance deepened. In 1964, Aiko returned to the United States and began teaching dance in her living room. For the past 50 years, she has taught nearly 100 students in Los Angeles, at venues such as the Okinawa Prefectural Club Hall and the North American Okinawan Association East Building in Gardena, while raising her two children and working at a company.
"I had students who were not of Okinawan descent. But I believe performing arts have no borders. If you continue to study and cherish the arts of Okinawa, your own home, I believe you will also develop an understanding of and appreciation for the cultures of other countries."
He says that what makes teaching rewarding is when his students return after having stopped for a while: "They all start learning when they are young, but then they stop for reasons such as their school activities becoming too busy or going on to university. However, when they graduate from university and return to the area, they start again, or when they come to him asking him to teach them so that they can perform a dance at their wedding, it makes him truly happy from the bottom of his heart, knowing that the seeds he planted over a long period of time have grown."
But why do Okinawans have such a strong passion for the performing arts? Aiko says it's a regional characteristic, and that the appreciation of performing arts is itself an Okinawan tradition. "When people get together, they dance something called kachuushi, and they keep dancing forever. It's an ancient Okinawan custom, just like Armenians and Greeks have similar customs."
So what are the conditions for being a good dancer? "First of all, it's about how to use your body, how to move your legs and hips, and how well you have mastered those basics. And what my head taught me thoroughly was to put your heart into your dancing. No matter how correct your form is, if you don't put your heart into it, it won't be a lively dance."
The difficult part is that in order to convey the meaning of the dance, one must understand the meaning of the song. Not only is the Okinawan language far removed from standard Japanese, but Aiko's students are already third and fourth generation Okinawans, and many of them do not understand Japanese at all. Nevertheless, Aiko says that "understanding the lyrics" is an absolute requirement.
The scenery may change, but people's warm hearts remain the same
Aiko, who is currently working hard to train successors of Ryukyu dance in America, apparently held a performance at the elementary school she graduated from in Chinen Village about three or four years ago. There, she was greeted by a warm welcome from her former classmates.
"I also visited the area where I used to live. It's completely different. The houses that used to have thatched roofs have been replaced by a landscape of neatly arranged houses lined up, like a resort area. I don't know any of my neighbors. Still, someone I met by chance said to me, 'I heard that the people who used to live here went to America. I guess they're staying with us tonight.' They also said, 'After you've looked around the village, come back here. I'll cook you lunch.' Come to think of it, when the roofs were still thatched, every year when there was a typhoon, one of the houses would be blown away. Then the whole village would pitch in to rebuild it."
Aiko must have realized by visiting Chinen Village again that even though the scenery of Okinawa has changed, the warm hearts of the people have not. For Aiko, Ryukyu dance is a way to express her feelings for her hometown. She said that she felt a great sense of accomplishment when the performance in November, which was the culmination of her dance experience, ended successfully, and her heart was filled with gratitude for the people who had been involved in the preparations for the performance over the past two years.
Finally, when I asked her about where she would be in 10 years' time, Aiko replied with a warm and gentle expression, "I hope that new students will continue to learn, and that, if possible, my next instructor will continue the Majikina Ryubu Dojo."
© 2014 Keiko Fukuda
