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Craig Kurumada
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Craig Kurumada is a folk musician, singer, dancer, linguist, radio disc jockey, podcaster, and science fiction fan (working at Humboldt State University). He lives in Arcata, California with his wife Linnea Mandell, a fellow folk musician and dancer, Chubritza band member, and Arcata Festival organizer.
Craig grew up learning Japanese Obon dancing in the Japanese community of Salt Lake City, Utah in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s and recently began a study of the history of Obon in the United States as well as its ongoing growth and evolution as a living folk tradition.
Craig teaches classes in Japanese Obon dances as well as a craft class in making Uchiwa (round fans). He shows students how to customize each fan, perhaps with a katakana indicating their name, or maybe an easy kana/Kanji writing of some kind.
Craig and his wife Linnea taught at the Mendocino Folk Dance Camp in 2014.