Japan Spring Tour 2011 has had an incredible start. I am sitting here in the gorgeous theater at The Olympic Center in Yoyogi, Japan. We are on our show day of our second workshop. This one happens to be an all Adult Workshop- with ages ranging from 18 to 55.  I was in Japan in 2007, but this is my first chance to be a part of a workshop like this.  All I can say is “Woah”. What an amazing experience!

Our workshops are predominately geared to what a student feels- ie. the pressure of doing well in school, having friends, being what the media considers “cool” and how to find joy in ourselves through the art of musical expression….but what this workshop gives is SO much more than that! I’ve learned that it applies just as much to the pressures of adult life- work, relationships, money, family, everything! And what we are blessed to be a part of is so much greater than any of us could ever imagine!  Yesterday we had our creative classes. This is where everyone has the chance to express them self through painting, poetry, and choreography. I’ve included pictures of the artwork that was drawn by some of the participants from the painting class I was in. During the class, there is a Young American playing the piano for the workshop participants to draw to what the music makes them feel. The first three picture were drawn by a woman who explained it as follows. She said that the music reminded her of a peaceful Sunday afternoon. The tree is to represent the the peaceful feeling and then the blue birds are flying out of the tree to represent the hope and the feeling of soaring that she has. The fourth picture (It may show up upside down when you down load it…sorry) was drawn by a woman and she said that the orange, yellow, and red ball represents something important in life, like love and passion and worth. The body is sitting grounded,reaching towards the meaning…representing her always reaching for what is important. The fifth picture was drawn by an older man. He said that the picture was of a tree that had been battered and beaten and had no life left in it, but the one leaf. The leaf represents hope. Then the rain came to give life to the tree, and the red coming up from the ground was to represent the passion being restored into the tree after the rain came. It was to remind him to not give up.

The last picture was drawn by the woman that I sat next to. When we asked her what it meant she told us about her life. She moved around a lot as a child- something like twelve times before she was 12. As a child she live in the States and England- and she remembered being very happy, which is shown by the first stick figure.  The second figure is from when she was around 13. That was when her family moved back to Japan. She said starting then she never felt like she belonged anywhere. She felt that way for about the next 30 years. That was until three years ago, when she met Young Americans. That was her first workshop- and it was then that she finally felt like she fit in- like she belonged! At that point- the whole class was crying!  How amazing to see that a group of adults could get so much and feel so much- and to be free like a child again!

After today, I feel like as a cast, we have been so blessed by this one workshop- that we could go home tomorrow and feel like we got more than we ever came for!

• With Much Love, Mary Liest, Company Manager