（ ↑ The best part of the lesson, walking on four legs. Our teacher, Mr. Leim tells us, “Make powerful steps, like a lion!” as he shows us how to do it.）

This past Sunday, I participated in the BSX Caravan Workshop and Concert. It exceeded my expectations. What fun!

First, from 2pm we had the “Breathing and Movement Workshop.” Our teacher was Mr. Brian Tjon Tjauw Liem. Brian looks so Asian (!), so I asked him about his roots and he told me that his grandparents immigrated from China to Suriname, which is a former Dutch colony in South America. After that, his family immigrated to the Netherlands.

First, we started out with a breathing exercise similar to Qigong or Tai Chi, called 16 Ways. We make sounds like “ooh” and “oh” while pushing our chests out (breathing in) and pulling in our chests (breathing out) and other exercises like that.

Now, teacher, please show us how it’s done!

Take energy from the floor, and bring it up to the top of your head. Then repeat in the opposite direction. The movement and posture says it all! That’s what it was like.

Do you think it looks easy? It’s actually tougher than you’d expect.

How about we get this guy to try it?

Hey, he doesn’t have what it takes!

Huh? Or maybe he does?

Depending on your perspective, you can’t say he hasn’t gotten the hang of it…. (ha ha)

Continuing on, (like the Carnival of the Animals composed by Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns) a performance where we moved slowly and purposefully, like lions.

Rather than the “First Movement: Lion”, we were closer to the “Fourth Movement: Elephant”… (ha ha)

The next exercise is the expression of desperation while lying down! Woah…

Ultimate! The word ultimate seems to fit this perfectly… (ha ha)

Now, when it comes to excellent powers of expression, these two can’t be beat. Ms. Yamaguchi from Tokimeki Dance Company Shikoku (TDCS) and Sarah Charalambides from the Netherlands.

It reminded me of a jazz improv session.

And so our fun and pleasant workshop came to an end. My face, body, and heart all felt lighter, and I felt fresh and happy.

The second half of the day’s program was a concert in the judo dojo.

Wil’s flute surprised me a bit. He had a sort of humming-while-playing style that is quite unlike the typical textbook classical performance… “So this is another way to do it!” I drank in the free, uninhibited performance.

The grand finale was “Letter from Space” and the workshop participants performed what they learned earlier in the day along with the live music. Of course I joined in as well. Eeps!

I was performing so I wasn’t able to take any pictures, but you can see a photo in this article on the Tokushima Shimbun website. (Our teacher Mr. Liem is on the left, and that guy curled up like a doodlebug behind him is me… ha ha)

This kind of event has become more and more common here in Kamiyama. What a wonderful town, don’t you think!

Mr. Wada, the general manager of Kamiyama Onsen was the one who coordinated this visit of BSX Caravan to Kamiyama. To him, and to the Green Valley members who helped out in so many ways, thank you, thank you!!