Happy (dead) Feet

Since my school kids are on summer vacation I am working at the town office, doing, as you may well be able to imagine, doing about as little as I can possibly get away with. Every day it seems I uncover new thresholds of acceptable non-work participation. Today I got to spend about three assorted hours practicing this year's dance of the dead, the bon odori for the upcoming festival, O-Bon. O-Bon is Japan's incarnation of Mexico's far more excitingly baccanalian Day of the Dead, and the bon odori means something like "the festival honoring our dead ancestors synchronized line dance." As was the case last year, I'm a member of the town office's dance team, which is exactly as lame as it is hilarious (in keeping with cultural tradition?). Aslo I may be in the captain's chair this year, or as I will refer to it, the Death Chair. I wonder if I can convince everyone to make Mexicish dia de los muertos masks for our team. Maybe I can force my students to make them for us--since, of course, summer vacation in Japan means they only have to be in school for half the day. If they're lucky.

These pictures are from O-Bon last year.
See, how cool would these suits be with big, paper-mache Mexican skull masks? The photo on the left here is the office team dancing the bon odori during the festival, while above you can see me expertly modeling a move from the dance some time earlier that day. Last year's dance had some great, "spin around and swing your arms about" business, and a really great Temptations shuffle in the middle of it (the shuffle was my favorite part). Had we worn sequined purple suits it would have fit right into the groove with that funky Temptations shuffle. Purple sequins, big paper-mache skull masks, honoring our dead ancestors...I'm sure it it all fits together somehow.