An intense, straight-faced stare and flowing, yet restrained body movements accompanied Elizabeth Dowd as she chanted Japanese poetry and danced the medieval art form of Noh.
Noh, a Japanese art dating back to the 14th century, is revered the same way opera is revered in the Western World, Dowd explained. She became involved in this form of traditional dance 12 years ago after a trip to Japan.
"It's one of the oldest continually performed art forms in the world," she said. "Noh has survived a whole lot of change. A lot of people will say Noh is a museum piece because it's changed so little."
The dance is performed to the chanting of Japanese medieval poetry accompanied by a bamboo flute and three different types of drums. The dancers often wear masks and elaborate costumes which are considered art forms in and of themselves due to their high level of artistry, Dowd said.
"Noh is revered and admired for its economy of gesture and its power," she said. "It's so simple and it's Zen-like. Where I initially thought, 'This isn't a hard movement,' it now is infinitely difficult.'"
The dance presentation was the culminating event of Japan Week, which started Sept. 26 with a garden picnic. The week included a tea ceremony, flower arranging, a drumming performance and a film series focused on female Japanese directors.
The event is also the beginning of the Asian music series titled "Asian Rhythms: Traditional Music, Modern Manifestations," offered by the Asian Studies Center. The series will involve dance and music presentations throughout the academic year.
Psychology and premedicine freshman Kacey Oquinn said she was excited to watch the traditional art form because she plans to live in Japan in the future, and because it reminds her of her friend who moved there.
"It gives me a sense of closeness with her," she said. "I'm going to keep experiencing; I want to learn as much as I can."
Marilyn McCullough, the assistant director of the Asian Studies Center, said one of the missions of the center is to portray people of different cultures to students more completely.
"North Americans have been unaware of the cultures of other countries, and if they have, they've seen them as exotic and inaccessible," McCullough said.
She said she hopes by exposing American students to the Asian culture, they will appreciate the feelings and expressions of beauty in other countries.
"If they know something about Vietnam or China, they know the politics, but if you expose them to the culture, then they get a better understanding of people," she said. "People are more than economics and politics."
