Tsukikage Bon Odorikai (Moonlight Dance Club) will teach steps to traditional bon dances from 1-4 p.m. during Sunday’s “Obon in the Gardens” event at Lili‘uokalani Gardens.
Tsukikage Bon Odorikai (Moonlight Dance Club) will teach steps to traditional bon dances from 1-4 p.m. during Sunday’s “Obon in the Gardens” event at Lili‘uokalani Gardens.
Sponsored by Friends of Lili‘uokalani Gardens, the class will take place in the small parking lot near Shoroan, the Urasenke tea house.
Organized in 2002, the Tsukikage Bon Odorikai’s mission is to provide dance classes for the purpose of exercise and familiarize people with the various dances in preparation for the bon dance season. Its home base is Hilo Meishoin Mission, but club members represent the various Buddhist temples in East Hawaii as well as those that just love to dance. Practices are open to the public. Drop ins are welcome.
“We call ourselves ‘odori aho,’ which means ‘dancing fool,’” said club member Jane Heit. “Members participate not only in bon dancing, but also line and ballroom dancing.”
Additional bon dance practices with Tsukikage Bon Odorikai are at 7 p.m. every Wednesday in June at Puna Hongwanji Mission in Keaau and at 7 p.m. July 3 and 5 at Hilo Meishoin.
For more information about “Obon in the Gardens,” visit the Friends of Lili‘uokalani Gardens page on Facebook.