Gender and Awa Dance Movements

At around the period when Japanese women began to seek the liberation from sexual segregation， the sex diffreence in the movements of the Awa Dance gradually widened, due to obtaining more attractive performance as tourism resources. Women danced a female dance and men danced a male dance. Despite clear differences in movements，some women came to challenge the male dance.This article attempts to make clear，through interviews， who began to dance the male dance and when and tries to describe the present state of women peforming the male dance.
The women's male dance was first performed by Takeichi in 1960's. Others soon followed her. Some assumed the position of group leader. Although the solo male dance usually indicates leadership in the group，women's positions as leaders are not simply due to their abilities to dance the male dance but to their passions and personalities which enable them to create something new by dancing the male dance.