My classmates

My classmates have become my dear friends. Wen-hsuan comes from Taiwan and studies Japanese culture at the University of Kyoto. She plays the koto and composes her own music. She took the Noh class last year and has been a source of good advice throughout this course. She chose Hagoromo because she wanted to dance a feminine piece this year. (The image of her in a samurai dance last year is so incongruous with her tiny, delicate form and sweet voice!) We consulted each other often about our shimai, and I loved how she floated around the stage in the Hagoromo mask. Meyu is a dancer and teaches communication through movement to junior high students using the Feldenkrais method. She has danced with a butoh company, and transforms into Kagetsu onstage. She speaks English very well and often explained something to me or translated for me. She is tall and thin and has a charming, anime-like lock of hair that falls over her forehead. Meyu, like me, often reacts out loud to new information from our sensei. That comes as a relief to me because I had been afraid that mm-hm, ohh, and ahh might be a breach of protocol. Sometimes I think sensei might have been tougher on Meyu than they were on the rest of us because she is the only native Japanese in the class. Maybe they just wished to give her extra support because she had to miss several classes in order to go to her job. Maybe they saw more potential in her because she really is so very good. Num is my English-speaking buddy. He is from Thailand but was educated in the UK. He is earning his PhD at Exeter University and is basing his thesis on this experience. Num's boyish features belie his experience and mature commitment. He teaches acting at a university in Thailand and has danced butoh and appeared in several productions and commercials. I love that Num takes pictures of food like I do, and he gives me recommendations of where to eat! I have become so attached to my classmates and hope that we will always stay in touch. They are all young enough to be my children, but I see them as my guides and my superiors in experience and talent. I was lucky to get into this class with these people.