Japanese Traditional Dances- Culture?

Question:

I was hoping to get some friends together to do a Traditional Japanese Dance and perform it for our school. However, I am not very familiar with the Japanese culture and don't wish to cause offense in anyway. In a traditional dance is it considered offensive to not wear a kimono? Are there any other things we should be sure not to do wrong? Are there specific dances for only boys and for only girls? Any help is appreciated, and if anyone can find any Youtube videos in English to help us learn a dance, that would be great. Thank you to those who help!

Answer:

Okay, here comes my question: WHY do you want to do this? Because this is pretty much on par with someone who isn't a ballerina and who doesn't have access to a teacher saying she wants to learn a ballet dance to do for her school (in terms of technical difficulty) and if you aren't of Japanese descent it also smacks of cultural appropriation (look it up, Wikipedia has a good page if you need more info). Frankly, if you want to do this right, the only way to do it would be to find a teacher and learn from that person before performing. YouTube videos can't correct your technique and posture or give you insight into why a dance is done a particular way. And not only that, but there are several schools of dance out there, and even a relatively basic dance like Gion Kouta can be done in many different ways.

To deal with your specific questions:
- Offensive to not wear kimono? Not sure, really, but I will tell you that I have never seen a proper performance of Japanese dance with dancers not wearing kimono (or whatever other Japanese attire is appropriate to what they are doing).
- Specific dances for boys and girls: Yes, there are (though I don't know the names of any boys' dances), and men and women have different styles of dancing. Of course, there is some cross-over: for example, in kabuki all of the performers are men and there are specially-trained actors who perform women's roles and dances; geisha performances where there are male characters involve women performing men's roles, etc.
- YouTube videos with instruction in English: Probably don't exist. I have never seen any.
- On doing your own choreography: I wouldn't recommend it. Traditional Japanese dance is like hula: the gestures and steps tell a story. If you don't know what the song is saying and you don't know what the gestures and steps mean, how could you possibly choreograph a dance that would actually make sense?

On the issue of kimono, you have to consider that you would need to buy not only the kimono but also the accessories to wear it properly, you would have to get accessories that were appropriate for the specific type of kimono you were wearing, and you would have to learn how to put it on properly and how to move in it properly. Kimono can be very complicated, and learning how to put one on properly could be almost as complicated as learning a dance. I can put a kimono on myself but when I had to wear one publicly for a koto concert, I let the professional dresser dress me to make sure it would look right and I wouldn't be an embarrassment to myself and my teacher. Purchasing even a single kimono ensemble can be very expensive, even if you get the most casual pieces you can and even if you buy them all second-hand.