Palmerston North to celebrate cherry blossoms with Taste of Spring event

IPU New Zealand students and soran dancers (from left) Isabella Armstrong, Rei Moriyasu and Wairama Ngatai-Martin. Photo / Judith Lacy

Coleman Mall is the central city home of Palmy’s cherry blossoms and the venue for a new event, Taste of Spring.

IPU New Zealand has combined with Palmy Bid to celebrate Japanese culture, better weather and central city retailers.

On Sunday morning, the Soran Dance Team and Kodama Japanese Drum Team will entertain visitors.

People can also try their hand at Japanese calligraphy.

Rei Moriyasu is from Shizuoka on the Japanese island of Honshu. Soran is a traditional song and dance form from Hokkaido and is based on stories of fishermen.

There are variations of soran between regions and generations.

Moriyasu started dancing soran in junior high school and has carried on.

She is doing a Bachelor of Contemporary International Studies majoring in international relations at IPU.

Isabella Armstrong is doing a Bachelor of Contemporary International Studies with a double major in Japanese and accountancy.

She has a Filipino mother and Kiwi father and was born and raised in New Zealand.

Her Japanese teacher Maya Rikimaru encouraged her to try soran dancing this year and she has grown to enjoy it.

It involves simple moves but there are a lot of lower-body movements such as squatting.

Armstrong found the first few weeks hard on her body but has got used to it.

Wairama Ngatai-Martin (Ngati Porou, Ngāti Raukawa) was born and raised in Palmerston North and attended Awatapu College.

He studied Japanese there and had a go at soran while attending a spring festival at IPU.

Ngatai-Martin is doing a Bachelor of Contemporary International Studies majoring in Japanese.

The dancers and drummers also performed at World on Stage in June at the Regent on Broadway.

On Sunday, there will be 26 dancers from IPU and high schools and for each bracket, they will perform two dances.

The dancers and drummers will perform in traditional cultural attire in rotation from 10am to 12pm in front of the cherry blossoms in Coleman Mall.

Palmy Bid works with businesses to promote vibrancy in the CBD. General manager Matthew Jeanes says Palmy Bid and IPU have built a partnership this year with the IPU Student Volunteer Club helping run events.

This increases the students’ community connection and volunteer experience.

Taste of Spring will not only enrich Palmerston North’s cultural fabric but attract the tertiary sector into the city centre, Jeanes says.

Alexandre Patisserie & Chocolaterie has created a raspberry mascarpone mousse and matcha sponge for the event.

The organisers plan to make Taste of Spring an annual event.