Photo Essay: Okinawa Eisa

It was noon on a brilliant sunny day, the worst time of the day to be taking pictures outdoors, when we heard the drum beats. Doc, the photojournalist and myself a student/wannabe National Goegraphic photographer were just driving around sightseeing. We had to kill some time waiting for the sun to get to a lower angle; like the after 3PM mode.
We were on a causeway driving to some of the smaller islands of Okinawa when we spotted them and by the time we managed to drive the length of the road to turn around and park the car the activities were going full blast. We grabbed our cameras and hurried across an overpass to a field, just off the highway, where the entertainment was taking place.
Living in Okinawa, I've seen Eisa Dancers hundreds of times, but, never on the first hot sunny day in the beginning of May. Not being much of a writer, I'll let my pictures do the talking and hope Doc provides a real story for you.
The whole event may have lasted half an hour and I probably spent twenty minutes stretching, squatting, squinting and crawling trying to get the best lighting, aperature and shutter speed to capture the moment. The music gets my adrenalin up, but it's the movements and expressions frozen on digital film that keep the memories alive.