Inspired by their Olympic debut, Japanese seniors lead the way in breakdancing | Health

By Chang-Ran Kim and Kyung Hoon Kim

TOKYO – A 74-year-old surfer and classical Japanese dance master may seem an unlikely member of a senior breakdancing group, but Saruwaka Kiyoshie said getting her feet wet in the sport was a no-brainer after she was confirmed for the edition 2024. Paris Games.

As a restless teenager, Saruwaka fell in love with surfing and wondered why it wasn’t an Olympic sport, until he finally earned his place at Tokyo 2020.

“And now the break is going to be added in Paris, and Japan even has a gold medal contender,” said Saruwaka, who placed second in a local surfing contest and still rides the waves for fun, at home in Tokyo.

“I would see kids breakdancing under the train tracks and I would think, ‘I would probably be one of them if I was young,'” she said, admitting that her parents had encouraged her to do so. introduced to Nihonbuyo, a traditional Japanese dance. at the age of 5 to keep their feisty daughter out of trouble. “Of course, I never thought I could do it at that age, but when the opportunity presented itself, I thought, ‘Why not? It looks like fun!'”

Saruwaka is now a member of Ara Style Senior, Japan’s only breakdancing club made up of seniors.

On a recent Friday, eight members gathered at a community center, dressed in matching orange and green T-shirts, to rehearse a show at a local festival in two days.

The team is the brainchild of Reiko Maruyama, 71, an elected official from Tokyo’s Edogawa district, who sought to energize the community through sport and exercise.

Maruyama had spoken with Yusuke Arai, a friend’s son and former national breakdancing champion, and floated the idea of ​​getting older residents to breakdance.

“I told him, now that it’s going to be an Olympic discipline, it’s the decisive moment!” she says.

Arai, who has judged breaking competitions – he once gave a prize to Japanese favorite B-Boy Shigekix as a child – agreed, starting with Maruyama as his only senior student early last year.

For motivation, Arai suggested that Maruyama join the children he teaches in a performance at a community center last spring.

Not wanting to be the only adult in a sea of ​​schoolchildren, Maruyama enticed Saruwaka to join him, banking on his penchant for taking on new challenges.

“I want to spread the rift among the elderly people of Edogawa district, and from Edogawa to the rest of Japan and maybe even the world,” said the city councilor. Japan is the fastest aging advanced society, with about 30% of its population aged 65 or older.

As Soopasoul’s funk track “It’s Just Begun, Pt. 2” played, the women took positions and rehearsed their routine peppered with the simplest of freezes, toprocks and floor moves – and lots of smiles.

“You can’t help but laugh when you see yourself in these funny poses,” said the councilwoman, who was tasked with posing on a chair at the end of the routine, balancing on her head, hands and one foot, with one leg held high above his body. “I think it’s great to be able to laugh, dance and stay healthy, and that’s why I recommend it to the people around me.”

B-GIRLS, B-BOYS AND B-LADIES

Ara Style Senior now consists of about 15 members, eight of whom performed to a packed house of Edogawa residents at the festival last month, joined by Arai and his younger students.

The moves they attempt are a far cry from the incredibly acrobatic feats that b-boys and b-girls will perform at the Olympics. The goal of Ara Style’s b-ladies, however, is to have fun and stay fit.

“At first I thought, ‘I can’t breakdance at my age,’” Hitomi Oda, 69, said. “And of course we can’t do anything extreme, but it’s fun to just do easy movements and work the body.”

For Saruwaka, breaking away is a welcome respite from the heavy responsibility she carries in passing on the art of the elite 400-year-old Saruwaka school of classical dance, in which she earned her professional scene, or “natori”.

Once she puts on her traditional yukata outfit to teach after rehearsing with the b-ladies, Saruwaka’s expression is relaxed but serious as she offers her students advice on the subtle gestures that characterize the profession from Nihonbuyo.

“I think I will breakdance as long as I live,” she said, noting that it helps strengthen her lower body so she can continue ballet dancing.

“I bet I can do this until I’m 100, if I’m still alive,” she said.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modification to the text.