Thanks to a grant from the Mellon Foundation, Randolph-Macon College has built its own Japanese festival music team, bringing a famous dance festival to life on RMC’s campus. The festival, called suzume odori (sparrow dance), is a festival performed only in Sendai City, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Also located within Miyagi Prefecture is Ishinomaki City, which has long-standing ties to Randolph-Macon.

Using authentic taiko drums, bamboo flutes, and folding fans brought from an instrument maker in Sendai, the Japanese festival team will perform the suzume odori and bring the sights and sounds of Miyagi’s most energetic festival to Ashland. As the only suzume odori team in the United States, RMC’s team will offer a truly unique experience for participants and audiences alike.

The festival team is overseen by RMC Asian Studies instructor Kyle Maclauchlan, who studied suzume odori for over ten years while living in Miyagi, Japan. Maclauchlan lost his home in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, the same tsunami that took the life of Taylor Anderson ’08.

“I’m proud to be bringing a part of Miyagi’s culture to RMC, a college that has such an important connection to Miyagi and the people of Japan,” Maclauchlan said.Last semester, the inaugural team members performed the suzume odori for the first time while marching around campus. This semester, the team is already preparing to bring the joys of the festival to RMC’s campus and beyond.