Sunday, July 19, 2009

33rd Bon Odori

Obon (お盆) is a Japanese custom of Buddhist origin held to honor the departed spirits of ones ancestors, and bon odori (盆踊り) refers to the dance held during obon.
The festival celebration held in Shah Alam has much of its Buddhism elements removed, and becomes mainly an
event where Japanese families could gather as well as exposing local Malaysians to some of the Japanese culture.


He looks like a serious principal of a school...

Little girls running about happily.

The boy throwing his helium balloon.



The drummers walk in and...


...followed by the dancers.




Little girl being fed by her mother.



A solemn moment...


The drummers in preparation for performance.


On stage dancing.


And downstage dancing as well.



Intermission... and the boy drummers rested on the ground.


While the girls would chat away.


Now this is a rare sight... for boys to stack on top of each other just to watch the dancing...


...but then in a crowd this big you'll need to be tall to see.


The Selangor Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Abdul Khalild Ibrahim, joined in on the dance.



More dancers.




The finishing drum performance.

2 comments:

Më| §zë said...

bet you enjoyed yourself..!!
couldn't make it this time, but seems better than last year though..
=]

kws said...

Well I'd say the show was mostly the same, though I tried to make the most of it with what I have. Hah.