小学校の「英語科」授業を見てきました

先日、本年度から市内すべての小学校の全学年で「英語科」の授業をスタートさせた、群馬県は伊勢崎市の小学校にお邪魔してきました。

4/12発行号の朝日ぐんまに掲載されました

 ご存知のように、英語の授業はすでに全国の小学校で必修化されています。
それと今回のケースは何が違うのか？という部分は、少しややこしいので最初に簡単な説明を…。

haunt me: [Butterfly Effect] This may change your life

“Butterfly Effect” 
by Andromeda Software Development
(watch it on full screen!)

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This is a computer program-driven art called “demo”. If you want to generate this on your computer, check here. To know more about what “demo” is, maybe you can start from here.

これは、「デモ」と呼ばれるコンピュータプログラムで生成された作品です。自分のコンピュータで、ファイルから生成してみたい場合は、こちらから。「デモ」について少し詳しく知りたい方は、こちらへ。

Little Ballerina

For April edition of AG (tabloid format of Asahi Gunma), I met and did interview with Miss Airi Igarashi, who participated this year’s Prix de Lausanne (International ballet competition held annually in Switzerland).

“AG” April edition

She’s on cover!! Thanks for the great photo, Ito-san!

Prix de Lausanne is the dream stage for aspiring dancers around the world. It’s often described as “gateway to successful dancers” since quite a lot of current ‘star dancers’ went through this competition. Not just dancing and competing on the stage, participants get coaching from great dancers. It’s a wonderful occasion but as you can imagine, it’s not so easy to be qualified…

Miss Igarashi started ballet at age four. Her older sister was taking a class at local ballet school wearing cute costume, and she wanted to join that world as well. At first it was just once or twice a week of fun time, but as she mastered techniques, she was getting serious about it. “I like that sense of accomplishment I feel when I finally mastered difficult steps”, she said. By age of 7, she entered Reiko Yamamoto Ballet Institute in Gunma to pursue more, and now she is a boarding student of Tokiwa highschool which is associated with the ballet company. (What does this mean? It means full-time training, my dear. Everyday! Day and night, literally.)

Though she has won many prizes at domestic dance competitions (check her dance from here), Prix de Lausanne was her first competition outside of Japan. “I got very nervous. The stage looked so big that I felt smaller than ever… But when I went on, I decided to try my best and dance as big as I can,” she smiled.

Unfortunately she didn’t win a prize at the competition, but she received scholarship from prestige ballet school in Germany. It took some time before she accepts it (because she enjoys her current school life) but she decided thinking “it’s a great opportunity for growth”. Her dream is to become a professional ballet dancer who can dance any role. I hope and believe that her strong will leads her to grand stage in the future. But for the moment let’s just wish her for having fulfilling time in new place…

“Ballet” often brings up the image of airy and graceful world where people are all smiling, but behind that flashy stage there’s quite grueling workout… I didn’t know that fact either until I started to take ballet class some years ago. (I still get sore muscles every time and I don’t see any improvement…but I'm trying... or at least I'm enjoying it..)

Most of the professional ballet dancer started it at age of three or four, and they keep practicing and mastering the basic movement of ballet (arm, leg, sight line, posture…) even after they become professional. We tend to say “oh, ballerina have a great figure. I wish I could be like that…” in a casual tone. But well, it’s the result of years and years of effort they made.. And what we can see on the stage is their fruits of hard work…

It’s not about Prix de Lausanne, but there was a movie called “First Position” featuring YAGP, ballet competition held in NY. I think this movie’s trailer sums up that world. (I haven’t watched the whole thing though… can’t wait for the DVD release..)

Anyway, it was lovely to see her, and I feel happy to know that many of hopeful dancers are born from Gunma.. (well, actually not limited to dancers from Gunma..  I’d like to cheer for all of them with pompom!)

[Update: 2014.08.21] Ms Igarashi's performance at Lausanne is posted on Youtube. Classical variation is here, Contemporary is here.]

[Update: June 2019] Ms Igarashi has danced with Atlanta Ballet since 2017!

小さなバレリーナ

--> Read this in English 

先週の金曜日（4/5）に発行された朝日ぐんまタブロイド版「AG」では、2月末にスイスで行われた「第41回ローザンヌ国際バレエコンクール」に参加した群馬のバレリーナ、五十嵐愛梨さん（山本禮子バレエ団付属研究所所属）にインタビューしました！（Update: AGのウェブサイトで記事が公開されています）

「AG」 4月号・表紙！どどーん！

素晴らしい写真を撮ってくださった伊藤さんに多謝！

ローザンヌ国際バレエコンクールといえば、「若手ダンサーの登竜門」として有名であり、プロを目指す世界中のバレリーナの憧れの舞台でもあります。コンクールといえばステージ上で踊って評価されるのが一般的ですが、ローザンヌでは数日間にわたるレッスンの様子も採点対象となります。

Cherry Blossom 2013

Sakura (cherry blossom) is full bloom in Gunma!

Looks like pink fluffy snow.

 Sakura is something special for us.
It's so much more than just a tree or flowers...

It's been pretty warm this year and Sakura blooms quite earlier than usual. (Check out the annual Cherry Blossom Report from Japan-guide.com, famous for its credibility and beautiful photos. This year they featured Gunma a lot! Yay!)

Spring has come! Time for something new!

Spring has come and April is here.

April is known as “starting time” in Japan, since school and company start from April. Seeing the cherry blossom blooms and the first year students wearing brand new yellow hats (somehow quite a lot of elementary schools provide it to them), even though we are no longer students this season makes us want to start something new.

Asahi Gunma (3/22)
It made the cover!