Japanese culture through energetic team dancing
Yosakoi dancing is a choreographed,
team festival dancing using "Naruko"
(castanet style instruments).
It originates in Kochi, Japan.
What is YOSAKOI?
All Yosakoi dancers use an instrument called "naruko". Naruko were originally used to scare birds away from the fields to stop them eating the rice plants and to improve the harvest. That was long ago of course. Nowadays they are only used as an instrument to add rhythm to the Yosakoi festival dance routines.
The Gold Coast Yosakoi Maito group aims to provide an opportunity for anyone to participate in and enjoy Japanese culture through the traditional style of Yosakoi team dancing.
The Gold Coast Yosakoi Maito group welcomes members of all ages, genders and cultural backgrounds.
Based on the traditional Yosakoi style of team dancing, the Gold coast Yosakoi Maito group aims to add its own Gold Coast flavour to the popular dance.
We also have a good exchange with other Yosakoi groups in Sydney or Cairns.
The Gold Coast Japanese society established the Yosakoi Dance team to promote multicultural and Japanese communication in Australia.
With five years of experience behind them, the Maito group continues to gain in strength in their aim of seeing the expansion of The Yosakoi dance style. The group trains to improve their performance level through the guidance of Japanese Yosakoi dance experts and a local dance instructor. We are hoping to add more members and improve our level of dance performance in the future.
The Maito members hope to be able to spread this fun aspect of Japanese festival culture to Australians and to Japanese children growing up in Australia. We look forward to meeting many more fans of the Yosakoi style.
