In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Associate Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer Chieko Imada shares a beautiful kimono with us and what it means to her ❤️:
“This kimono is called a Yukata, which is a casual Japanese summer kimono. My mother hand made this Yukata when I was still in Japan. When I was there, we sometimes had Japanese traditional dance class and I wore this Yukata. Our teacher taught us the Azuma style, so the print of this Yukata has those flower logos.
When I wear it I feel my mothers warm hands wrapped around me and I think of home, of tradition, and of beautiful arts. I will be teaching Japanese dance for our upper level students during our Ballet Tucson Summer Dance Workshop and look forward to sharing this tradition with them.” - Chieko Imada
