Festival of Nations II

I had never seen traditional female Japanese dancing.  I had seen Japanese drumming and warrior dances, but never the traditional dance of Geishas and other women whose roles were to entertain.  I had the pleasure of watching a young woman perform such a dance at the Festival of Nations.  It was elegant and fluid like ballerinas and belly dancers but there was also rigid structure.  I don't know if I was more surprised to see this or was more astonished that I was actually expecting a similar style.  Asian cultures boast performances full of power, structure, patience, poise, stealth, and focus.  This dance certainly had these attributes laced into its obvious beauty.  I tried to convey these qualities in this photograph by choosing a pose in which the young woman is rigid but forming exquisite body lines that accentuate the soft folds in her skirt.  The dramatic contrast between the shadows and highlights in the photograph also add to these characteristics.