Wandering around Kortoicon on Saturday the fun is impressive.  The energy high and excitement everywhere as people saw others they knew or cosplays they liked.

I was particularly fascinated watching a three-hour spontaneous dance and song in a small courtyard between buildings.   A diverse group formed a ring of participants that faced each other  repeating what sounded more like a meditation than any current pop song while one person ran around the inside of the circle stopping in front of someone where the two would do a small dance rotating to all four sides (I’m pretty sure even the most uncoordinated of us could do this dance).  The selected dance partner would then run around the circle and select someone else repeating the cycle over and over. Not only was no one excluded from participating, but on occasion someone would break out of the circle and run to draw in those standing or walking nearby to the screams and cheers of the others.

The dance or game is a great example of the underlying attitudes of tolerance, and more importantly acceptance and inclusion of diversity prevalent within the cosplay anime alternative culture.   The dance was simple to not exclude the less coordinated (where was this when I was younger?).  There was no segmentation that would isolate ethnic backgrounds, life-style choices, or anything else I could see. Even those watching had persistent smiles. The participants even tolerated me walking into the middle of the circle so I could take pictures from an inside vantage point.  The dance itself celebrates each other and not any type of self-destructive activity.

The conference itself drew 1000 people, over 300 more than last year, and the max the conference organizers want so they keep their own identity.