Music and Dance of Okinawa - Lecture/demonstration

Okinawa's elite performers demonstrate the techniques, inventiveness, music, and costumes of court dance and stylized musical theater (kumiordi) of the Ryukyu Kingdom (15th - 19th centuries), as well as lively folk dances (zo-odori) and cheerful rhythms of music on sanshin, koto, fue, kokyu, and taiko. Sumptuous bingata costumes and the music's iconic use of pentatonic scales burnish Okinawa's distinctive artistry.

Admission is free; takeaway lunch provided while supplies last.

This lecture/demonstration accompanies the performance of Waves Across Time: Traditional Music and Dance of Okinawa, Friday, March 25 at 8:00 p.m., Williams Center for the Arts.