Dances are an integral part of many cultures, especially for Japanese people. In hopes of keeping this part of their culture alive, the Sakura Kai Group will perform Japanese dances at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, 400 Eau Claire St.

The group hopes to show Eau Claire a little more about the Japanese culture through dance, said Tomoko Kuohujokil, leader of the Sakura Kai Group.

Folk dances have been a part of regular Japanese life since ancient Japan. Many of the dances are based on the Shinto and Buddhist faiths, the Institution of Japanese Folk Dance Web site stated.

The dances to be performed at the event will closely resemble the Obone Dance, which is performed as a celebration when Japanese people believe their ancestors come back and visit them, Kuohujokil said.

The Sakura Kai Group didn’t initially start out as a dance group, Kuohujokil said.

Most of the women in the group came from Japan in the early 70s. When they arrived, they found it hard for them to meet new people. Sakura Kai started as kind of a social group for the women to talk about their experiences, meet new people and socialize, she said.

The group offers Japanese women a way of getting out of the house.ÿIn 1993, they started to perform dances.

The dance group means different things to each woman. For Kuohujokil, the dances are a way for her to get in touch with her heritage. It’s a hobby that allows her to maintain her culture and also have a good time, she said. Since most of the women learned the dances as children, it brings back old memories of their days as children in Japan, Kuohujokil said.

Taki Johnson, another dancer, said the dance group gives her something else besides memories. She worries about her son, who is a soldier in Iraq. At times, she becomes depressed about the world around her.

“When I dance it makes me forget about all the rotten things that are going on in the world,” Johnson said.

During the first hour of Saturday’s performance, the women will perform five dances that are each about five minutes long.

The group likes to get the audience involved, so it will offer an opportunity for everyone to learn a dance if they wish. The dancers also will give a demonstration on how to put together an elaborate kimono. One audience member will get to try on an Obi kimono.

One goal of the event is to show Eau Claire how the Japanese dance is different from Western or European styles of dance, Kuohujokil said.

“The movements, music and meaning are all our own,” Kuohujokil said. “We just want people to have a good cultural experience and gain some knowledge about Japanese culture.”

It also is important to the Japanese women in the group to preserve these authentic dances.ÿPassing them on to their children is one of the reasons they perform.ÿThe group wants the dances to live beyond them, Kuohujokil said, so people will know about this cultural heirloom for years to come.ÿ

The young people are not really interested in these cultural dances, she said. Most of the ladies themselves did not become interested until later in their lives.

Hazuko Suzuki, a UW-Eau Claire exchange student from Japan, said she will go to the event and see what it is like. She was unaware of the event, but is interested in it.

The group is anticipating a turnout of about 100 to 150 people, said Shu Cheng, event organizer for the public library.

Cheng said she believes this event and others like it will breathe new life into the library.ÿIt will give the library something fresh and different besides just books, she said. It will bring a little diversity to the community, while showcasing fun things to do at the library.