Dance to the Headphones: Bon Odori

Make believe that you are in a circle of people dancing to the favorite tunes megaphoned from the center pole and, of course, to other "tunes" like a distant dog barking, kids running about, and perhaps innocent exchange of greetings around you....That's the way a folk dance in the field normally progresses and people will make no fuss about it.

But then, suppose someone - someone with a peculiar sense of "sounds" came up and said: "It's nothing but a bunch of noise. Go ahead and dance but no "noise" by all means." What would you do?

This actually happened in Japan and dance-loving people found a solution. Here's an episode that tells you all about it.

Autumn come, Japan dances to thank Mother Nature for her blessings - Bon Odori. People will flock in open fields, often in the gardens and temple shrines, to dance to traditional tunes played live in the middle of the circle on top of the center stage by a band of musicians - flute, drum, chime, shamisen, and singers. Dancers are all fancifully dressed in Yukata (summer kimono) and dance, one following another, in a large circle. Music is joyous, rhythmical, and quite loud.

Now, down in the town of Ohta, Aichi, there was a group kimono-clad people one evening dancing in what appeared to be a Bon Odori without a single note of music! You hear only the cluttering of Geta (wooden sandals) and rhythmic footsteps. There were no musicians in the center, not to mention any megaphone to provide music. All was quiet; dance went on.... A charmingly strange scene to watch.
The whole scene was telecast the night and a flood of comments filled the station: "It's eerie"","A cult of any sort?", "A Zombi Dance, is it?"

It was bared afterwards that there was that "sound-sensitive" someone in the neighborhood who made a claim to the authorities to "quiet them down". The organizers suggested all dancers wear headphones. That they did, hence that all quiet Bon Odori. In fact, they all enjoyed it all; some thought it a lot better.

The message is: You can dance to your headphones.