In Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, known as the "city of hula," the national hula dance competition "Hula Girls Koshien" was held by high school students.
"Hula Girls Koshien" began in Iwaki City, the setting of the movie "Hula Girls", with the aim of recovering from the Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear power plant accident.
For the 11th time, a total of 21 schools from Iwaki City, Miyagi and Shizuoka Prefectures, and Tokyo Metropolitan Government participated.
In the competition, participants were judged on two points, one for dancing with a task song and the other for dancing to a song of their choice, and were judged on their expressive abilities such as comprehension and ingenuity of the song, as well as technical skills such as basic movements, a sense of rhythm, and teamwork.
The participating high school students wore bright costumes with creative designs and performed a gorgeous dance in which their hands moved slowly like waves, which is typical of hula, and the audience waved and clapped to praise the students for their performance.
As a result of the judging, Asaka Kaisei High School in Koriyama City was selected as the grand prize.
Rika Sawada, 3, a third-year high school student who serves as the head of the club, said, "I was able to perform the best dance I've ever performed because I have been training on how to arrange the dances beautifully and how to express myself."
The 17 winning schools are scheduled to perform their dances at Spa Resort Hawaiians, a hot spring resort facility in the city, on the 11st.