The air was filled with nervous excitement. As we headed towards the dressing room, we were greeted by an array of beautiful colors and exquisite music. Performers were putting on final touches to hair and makeup, others were practicing on their shamisen and koto. We met friendly, happy faces that recognized us from our previous shoot with their Teishin Kai group (click HERE to see our previous shoot with the group). The Hawaii group was incredibly cordial to us, and welcomed us (which always makes our job so much easier). It was through these members, that we realized that this was not just a group of individual performers, it was a family…with multiple generations that joyously perpetuate the Okinawan culture. We were also privileged enough to watch part of the dress rehearsal (which ended up being a better situation to photograph in than the actual performance, because we had the entire auditorium to ourselves). The sets were an explosion of beautiful color and lights, and the kimonos and various other outfits literally lit the stage up like a rainbow. The music was amazing, and the performers were stunning! We also did some candid shots of the performers, families and stage crew…so many people were there to support this wonderful group. The audience members eagerly awaited the opening of the front doors–the line snaked out to what seemed like infinity. The auditorium quickly filled with family, friends and admirers.

Thank you, Teishin Kai Hawaii Shibu for being such gracious clients! We thoroughly enjoyed our experience (and hummed your music the entire car ride home).  We had too many photos that we liked to post individually, so I decided to do a slideshow instead of individual photos (blog readers would be scrolling down forever!). Click on the “Full Screen” button (button on the bottom menu with four arrows pointing outwards) to see a larger version of the photos.  I tried to get as many of you in as possible  🙂  Here’s your sneak peek:

Thank you again, for a wonderful experience!  Thanks for visiting us at Images by Kellie Ann!