A Yosakoi dance festival usually held in Kochi Prefecture will instead be streamed on YouTube during which enthusiasts worldwide will be able to perform together on Aug. 10-11. The Yosakoi Festival was cancelled due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Yosakoi8's executive committee consisting of eight people, including choreographers, from both inside and outside Kochi Prefecture will organize the virtual streaming event dubbed "Sekai So Odori" (All the World Dance). They are calling on spectators to use the online event as a chance to deepen their relationship with Yosakoi dance for this year and to wait for next year when the festival is slated to return to its origin prefecture of Kochi.
The executive committee has planned the event to also consider and promote new styles of Yosakoi dances for the next year and beyond. With the event being held online after it was cancelled, a new choreographed song was created along with the distribution of instructional videos. T-shirts and towels were made to promote this year's festival.
The event will be streamed on the Yosakoi8 YouTube channel at 8 p.m. on Aug. 10-11. The executive committee will stream videos including well-known treasured scenes from prior Yosakoi Festivals, after which the first 1,000 attendees on the day will be able to participate and enjoy simultaneous online dancing with each other.
The members of the executive committee talked with Mayor Seiya Okazaki at Kochi City Hall on July 27. Norie Tokihisa, the chairperson of the committee, said, "We are working on activities that will lead to the event being held next year, because we want to do something for the despondent dancers."
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