Spiral Bön Dance Living Prayer Wheel
Dance with us! Bön dances are Japanese folk dances, employing repeated choreography while dancers move in a circle together. Led by my beloved friend Mihoko, we perform pop-up dance events in parks, malls, parties, and at the Portland Winter Lights Festival. In sunny weather, we’ll meet up in Laurelhurst Park or by the cherry blossoms on the waterfront on weekend afternoons. The choreography is pretty simple, and while we do a mix of older dances and fresh contemporary ones, we always dance to really fun, bright, groovy Japanese music selected by Mihoko.
Bön dance is centuries old, but a lot of the contemporary practitioners are closely tied to the Japanese counterculture, the anti-war movement, and folk revival culture. The ancient lineage of Bön dance is probably tied to Buddhist celebrations and ancestor worship practices, and they have been doing some of these dances in villages in Japan since the 1500s. I was so inspired to learn about this folk lineage, which celebrates working class coal miners, fermented foods, natural cycles, and more. Mihoko also choreographs new dances — we even do one that celebrates the city of Portland!
It’s really fun to watch people’s faces light up when they see us perform, and even better when they join in the dance with us. We’ve been joined by kids, elderly folks, dogs, punks, ravers, and even a trio of men in fancy business suits. Bön dance is inclusive, accessible, and community-oriented, and we love to share our dances with the broader community. Feel free to invite us to your festival, farmer’s market, or community gathering!
For our Winter Lights Festival performances, we easily fused the idea of prayer wheels with Bö dance. Since we already dance in a circle, to make a living prayer wheel, we wore tunics with Om Mani Padme Hum screenprinted in fluorescent letters, and illuminated our spiral dance with blacklights. Joining my passion for Buddhism, dance, music, and community celebration is really fun and meaningful, and I love watching people connect with one another through the loving experience of folk dance.
Mihoko and I traveled to Japan last fall for a Bön dance convergence, and it was so cool to connect with the larger community. We brought home a deeper understanding of the value of Bön dance and renewed enthusiasm for sharing this special folk art with our West Coast community.
We’d love to share more Bön Dance with the world, and we’d love to have you join us. Shoot me an email to get involved! You can also follow us on
Instagram at @Bon_dance_picnic
