This study seeks to understand the significance and specifics of Choreography Concept for Untrained Amateurs 001/002/003 written and performed by contact Gonzo, a Japanese performance group. The piece was first staged at the Toyota Choreography Award in 2014. This work consists of concepts and instruction for the performers to actualize the choreography for themselves and the spectators. Each part of the work focuses on the following three elements: “weight,” “speed,” and “angles.” While few studies have assessed how this piece amplifies the notion of choreography, there have been fewer studies on its aesthetic value. This study focuses on both the aspects. Therefore, comparing this piece to similar or opposite examples in history of dance, this study proposes the following five analytical frameworks: 1. work and unwork, 2. task as choreography, 3. practice of “against interpretation”, 4. activating kinesthesia, and 5. attitude as amateur. The study then compares the results of these analyses to Michel Foucault’s concept of the “disciplined bodies,” and attempts to extend the concept of the “antibody” originally proposed by French philosopher Michel Bernard. Finally, this study discusses how the body emerges as the “antibody” through contact Gonzo’s performance. The “antibody” imbodies two meanings: attitude toward the body that normally suffers from modernity, and an illness of modernity.

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify the creation process of the classic Ryukyuan dance “Yotsudake” frequently played domestically and internationally at present. The name of the dance is derived from the materials in hands. For this purpose, materials about repertoires relating to “Yotsudake” produced by the Ryukyu Kingdom during the early-modern times were collected to analyze the components of the acts. As a result, acts relating to “Yotsudake” produced by the modern Ryukyu Kingdom were largely categorized into two. One category is about Chinese envoys, and the other is about officials in Edo and Satsuma in Japan or the royal family in Ryukyu. The former was produced mainly to strengthen the tributary system of China and disappeared at the end of the tributary system in China and the Ryukyu Kingdom. The latter mainly expressed the joy to entertain the distinguished guests with the feudal system in the background, and a variety of lyrics and music combinations were recognized. Fixed connection including all factors that comprise the current “Yotsudake” was not confirmed in these acts. However, factors other than flower hats and costumes (Bingata) – the materials (Yotsudake), lyrics, music, dressing (Tsubori), and genre of Women’s Dance (Onna odori) – seem to have appeared individually and have been created and integrated over time from the early 19th Century toward the late 19th Century.

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The Denishawn’s far-east tour from 1925 to 1926 is well known in that they introduced their new dance to Asian audience. Their performance, based on the modern concepts ranging from exotic entertainment to abstract dance called “music visualization,” was enthusiastically received especially in India and Japan where they also ignited arguments about “modernism” in dance. The discursive impacts that the Denishawn gave to the Indian and Japanese modernists make a curious contrast. To examine the difference, I focus on the Denishawn’s quasi-anthropological research into Asian vernacular dance cultures during their long trip and attempt to draw a big picture of their scope. They met not only the stars like Matsumoto Koshiro VII or Mei Lanfang, but also enormous, mostly nameless dancers. Through this survey on Denishawn’s research, the issues related to the major difference between their impact in India and that in Japan would be articulated; while their Orientalist interest, largely in the traditionally authentic high-culture, did not meet with Indian modernist agenda which was still struggling to find a path to social renovation of traditional dances, it was decisively fit with Japanese modernist agenda which has almost established a new hierarchy between old geisha culture and modern stage dancing.

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It has long been known that Mary Wigman, the leading dancer of German expressionist dance, was influenced by Noh masks when designing her dance masks. Studies also show that Japanese dancers in Europe from the early 1900s to the 1930s often took up Japanese subjects. But compared to other art forms such as painting or theatre, the influence of Japanese culture on German expressionist dance still remains unclear. To show the examples of Japonisme in expressionist dance, this paper focuses on Wigman’s Noh reception as well as the Japanese-style mask dances by Wy Magito—a student of Wigman’s—who has rarely been spoken of. Considering Wigman’s mask theory, I would like to show that the Noh mask played a crucial role on its development and that she recognized its so-called “intermediate expression.” From an analysis of Wy Magito’s dances, I intend to make clear that Japonisme in the expressionist dance had various resources such as academic studies, travel reports, photographs, and films. I would also like to show that the reception of Noh in European modernism—which has been spoken about mainly relating male artists—can be discussed from a broader perspective with regard to female artists.

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Belly dance as a dance from was imported to Japan from the United States in the 1970s. However, the Japanese impression of Belly dance is also associated with The Arabian Nights, a typical story of the Orient. The purpose of this paper is to clarify how belly dance was adapted by the Japanese society, specifically through the influence of The Arabian Nights. Using the view of adaptation, this article describes how the dance form Belly dance gained acceptance by Japanese society through influence of The Arabian Nights and its derivatives published between the Meiji Era through the end of World War II. Since the Meiji Era, the introduction of The Arabian Nights, a typical adaptation work, to Japanese society has occurred through translations as well as ballet, film, etc. Specifically, this article investigates the dances and the dancers’ body through translations of the famous story Alibaba in The Arabian Nights and its derivatives such as the ballet Scheherazade (1910), and the silent film Sumurun (1920). A cross-genre investigation demonstrates The Arabian Nights and its derivative works, from the Meiji Era to the end of World War II, were always adapted on the premise of the West’s superiority to the East. Throughout these works, the dancers’ body has been established as a sensual body and the image of these dances has gradually become closer to Belly dance. In conclusion, the dances’ representations in The Arabian Nights and its derivatives sometimes intersecting with Western dances’ representations, formed the sensual image of Belly dance. Therefore, the dances seen in the works of The Arabian Nights became a hint of acceptance of Belly dance in Japanese society.

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This study clarifies junior students’ preferences for and perceptions of dance and dance learning in physical education. There were 138 junior high school student participants (65 boys, 73 girls). The method of study was a questionnaire, and the topics for clarification were preferences, experiences, and interest/disinterest in dance learning activities. Results are as follows. Altogether, 60 percent the students like to dance, and the girls enjoy it more than boys, with statistical significance; 40 percent of all students consider themselves to be unskilled at dance, and boys have more negative thoughts than do girls, although without statistical significance; 40 percent of students are most interested in rhythmic dance, while the participants did not prefer creative dance or folk dance. 80 percent of students think that positive self-expression, creativity, and ingenuity of movement are core dance concepts, and girls have more positive impressions about those concepts than do boys; students believe that the joy of movement, the joy of partnership and interactions with peers, the joy of creation, and ingenuity are positive characteristics of dance. As opposition it makes difficult to implement and remember dance movement, creation inhibition, human relationship trouble, and other’s loose attitude. Girls have more difficulty about human relationship trouble and disagreement with other people than boys.

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