“Hand Sign”, a Japanese dance crew that utilizes sign language as their dance performance and teaches dance techniques specially designed for deaf and mute persons, will visit children in select residential facilities in the Olongapo city, Philippines from May 26-30, 2016.
Hand Sign, a vocal and dance crew that combines songs, dance and sign language in their performances, was formed in Kanagawa prefecture in Japan in 2005. The group of 5 performers is becoming increasingly popular in Japan as they have won 16 awards since 2005, including two championships at the prestigious New York city’s Apollo Theater Amateur Night. Since then, they have been guesting as performers at Apollo Theatre. (see Hand Sign Performance on https://youtu.be/rTl82fUxSXA)
Back in Japan, Hand Sign developed their own dance technique using sign language to put forth their advocacy that “dance is universal”. They also had several media exposures such as NHK Education Channel (Sign Language Lessons), NTV News, as well as numerous publications in various print media such as news articles, books and magazines. They also appeared in various TV shows in Japan and started their own radio program called “Hand Sign Radio”.
Hand Sign’s visit to the Philippines was organized by a former volunteer of A Child’s Trust is Ours to Nurture (ACTION), a non-government organization in Olongapo city, Philippines, providing assistance to underprivileged children and youth to develop their full potentials. Through crowdfunding set up by this former volunteer, Hand Sign was able to raise enough funds in a very short period to finance their trip to the Philippines.
During this trip, Hand Sign will be visiting various partner residential care facilities of ACTION to interact with children and youth and impart unique dance lessons using sign language in a modality especially developed for differently-abled individuals.
ACTION hopes that the artistic skills of children and youth in these residential care facilities will be further developed by engaging in a unique form of artistic expression and that the children’s experience will be enriched through integration with young people from another country.
Catch HAND SIGN at the following venues and events:
May 27, 10am-12am: Dance lessons in various residential care facilities in Olongapo City
May 28, 4pm-6pm: Grand Recital of children beneficiaries of ACTION’s Chikara Program at Olongapo City National High School Quadrangle, Olongapo city
May 28, 6pm-8pm: Subiza Resort’s Dance Craze, a Dance-for-a-cause for the benefit of ACTION, Olongapo city
May 30, 2pm-3pm: Dance lessons at National Vocational Rehabilitation Center, Project 4, Quezon City, Metro Manila
Contact Machiko Obikawa at 0908-557-8815 for more information about Hand Sign’s visit in the Philippines.
See more videos of Hand Sign on their official Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCZSVGbLPc1uCexI4lwREiSA
A Child’s Trust is Ours to Nurture (ACTION)
ACTION is a child focused non-government organization based in Olongapo city, Zambales, established a Japanese national, Hajime Yokota, in 1994.
ACTION, for the past 22 years, continually provides various assistance and interventions to children and youth in partner residential care facilities and those from indigent communities.
ACTION provides marginalized children and youth opportunities for development through various skills training; seeks to empower parents economically through its livelihood program so they can better provide for the needs of their children; augments the resources of partner organizations to sustain and improve their programs for children; build relationships among partners and stakeholders to raise awareness on child’s rights; and enables local communities to realize the basic rights of children so children can achieve a better quality of life.
For more information about ACTION, visit www.action.org.ph
