Pre-holiday matcha tea ceremony with Japanese artist Ayano Honda

A pre-holiday Japanese matcha tea ceremony, observation, and a lesson on preparing and drinking matcha tea - this Sunday, in December, at the Kaunas Zen studio, continued by Japanese artist Ayano Honda! Part I: Japanese tea drinking ceremony with six guests. All other guests participate as observers. Part II: Informal part – education and a lesson on preparing and drinking matcha tea. All participants will have the opportunity to learn how to properly prepare the tea and taste it. There will also be time for Q&A and conversation. The Japanese matcha tea ceremony, which has many details and subtleties and offers Westerners a great deal of rich exoticism, dates back many centuries. It was started by Zen monks. Enjoying matcha tea is only possible if it is prepared correctly. This tea is exceptionally green, grown in the shade to produce more chlorophyll. The collected "young" buds and leaves are ground into a fine powder with millstones, so one hundred percent of the plant is consumed, and many vitamins and beneficial substances are absorbed. Matcha tea was "discovered" by Zen monks, who noticed that it not only provides energy, alertness, and mental clarity and focus, but also has health-promoting properties; it was also drunk by samurai before battle. Ayano Honda studied traditional Japanese dance and the Japanese matcha tea ceremony in Japan for many years. She is also an independent dance artist working in the field of performance and dance communities. Born in Japan, she began ballet training at the age of 8. Ayano graduated from the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, founded in 1926 by Marie Rambert, the oldest in the UK and one of the most famous in the world, which is perhaps the only ballet school on this planet that even has its own orchestra. Ayano Honda has worked with various contemporary dance companies, mostly in the UK, and opera companies (English National Opera, Vienna State Opera, Lithuanian National Opera, and West Australian Opera). Since 2015, Ayano Honda has been a member of the Slow Label company in Japan, conducting workshops and performing with people with various disabilities. The Japanese artist performed at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic closing ceremony and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games opening ceremony. In addition to her contemporary dance career, she has worked with a traditional Japanese dance company in Japan and performed in Japan and the Philippines. Since 2022, she has worked with the Lithuanian National Opera on "Madama Butterfly," and in May 2022 and 2023, she was a performer at the "Kaunas 2022 Japan Days in Kaunas WA." In 2023, she was the initiator of the "Bon Odori" Japanese culture festival, held for the first time in Lithuania in September 2024. WHEN? December 20 (Sunday) at 1:00 PM (duration about two hours). WHERE? Kaunas, DROBĖS FABRIKAS (Drobės St. 62, Kaunas). Map: https://goo.gl/maps/YWfuSAWyXztp6kNaA. Enter through the main entrance of the building, go to the stairs, and climb to the fourth (IV) floor. After opening the glass doors, turn right immediately and walk down the corridor to the old wooden doors. Next to them is a sign that says "Zen." Leave your shoes in the closet and climb the narrow stairs to the hall. Please wear athletic, comfortable clothing and warm socks. HOW MUCH? 40 EUR for the first ten tickets (only 20 spots!), after which the price will increase. The first 6 will participate directly in the tea ceremony, others will be observers, and later everyone will participate in the practice and taste matcha. A. Honda will speak in English. (Children are welcome to attend if they can remain quiet during the first, ceremonial part. Free for children under 14!) It will also be possible to purchase Japanese matcha, other teas, and incense. Information: Viber, WhatsApp, tel. + 370 657 84499. Ayano Honda in the photo by Indrė Beinartė. Tickets are distributed by Paysera Tickets. There is no age limit. Venue rules: Security has the right to search you, deny entry, or remove you from the event if you do not have an ID, behave inappropriately, or incite hatred. Parents are responsible for the behavior of minors during the evening. If you leave the event venue, you must repeat security procedures and purchase a new ticket. Bars will be operating during the event. Payment on-site can be made in cash or by card.