What Asian Beat is Aiming for?
Asian Beat is a collaborative project started in 2013 by MRA Foundation, a general incorporated foundation and Common Beat, a Non-profit organization.
MRA Foundation has developed wide network of student exchange activities in Asian countries over the years.
Common Beat has a lot of know-how of exchange programs through singing and dancing.
By combining both cultivations, Asian Beat is promoting international exchange programs in Asian countries through singing and dancing.
In Asian Beat, we recruit participants (cast) — mainly young people from Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea — who visit different countries in Asia. On the Tour, we give performances in universities, orphanages, and shelters while appreciating different cultural experiences that we can never have in Japan.
The Cast and the Local People Sing and Dance Together!
In Asian Beat, we give performances while on a tour for about 10 days. Prior to the tour, all cast members get together to script the performance in a Kick-off camp held in Japan.
In our perfomances we incorporate Yosakoi (a dance originating in Kochi Prefecture using “naruko”), Bonodori, and Arirang, and other songs and dances reflecting culture heritages of different countries. In the finale, we also, we use pieces of music that are popular in the country we are visiting. In addition to these we have organized flash mobs on the street.
Communication Beyond Words
Our cast members come from all corners of Asia. Although we use English as a common language during the Tour, we experience and enjoy the value of non-verbal communications as well. Since many local children in towns and villages we are visiting don’t understand English, our cast members come up with some games or expression activities. These enjoyable experiences members may go through in Asian Beat Project will become treasured memory for these children in their life.
Visiting Many Different Local Communities
In a Tour, we visit different local communities. We interact with people while dining and playing together or having the local university students tour guiding for us. We sometimes stay at orphanage overnight, where we interact with the children throughout a day and listen to circumstances surrounding the orphaned children.
Opportunity for Dialogues among Cast Members – Cast Meeting
At the beginning, middle and end of the tour, we hold cast meetings where cast members are offered an opportunity to converse among themselves. This is where they work discuss goals and challenges they faced, as well as what they felt and learned on the tour, how they can apply lessons their challenges and what they learned from their successes and failures to their own lives.