A Farewell Dance

Mayumi Ikeda was one of our Sakata eikaiwa students.  She spoke excellent English.  She had spent a couple of years in America studying dance when she was a college student.  She fell in love with American modern dance.  It is her love and her passion.  We became very good friends with her.  She said would like to do a dance for us as a farewell gift.  So, one afternoon just before we left- May 12th, we met her at a recreational center in Sakata.  She performed for us a dance she choreographed.  She is a beautiful dancer.  This is a short clip from the dance, followed by many pictures I took as she danced.

It was a beautiful, sweet, thoughtful, and unique farewell gift.  She also presented us with a bouquet of flowers.

After she danced she showed us some of her notebooks that she has kept over the years.  No one in the Sakata area teaches this kind of dance, so Mayumi has virtually given herself a master's degree in dance and the muscular structure of the body.  She has stacks of these notebooks in which she has drawn the body, focusing on different muscles and how it all works.  I was amazed at the hours and hours of work.  I took a few pictures.  There were many, many, many more.  She has truly made it a lifelong pursuit to learn all she can.

We love Mayumi and hope and pray she will someday accept the gospel.  She already has great faith and believes in Jesus Christ- the biggest hurdle in Japan.  We keep contact with her through facebook and email.  It was a special gift and a special afternoon.