In this paper, I will redefine the aspect of dance education to bring out children’s expression from a historical context. In particular, taking Chiyoe Matsumoto’s (1920-2022) view of dance as a clue, we compare the theoretical background of dance in “games” and in the 1947 “Outline of School Physical Education Guidance.” Matsumoto was a member of the committee that drafted the 1947 “School Physical Education Guidance Manual” and positioned dance education, which had previously been included in singing-dancing, as a new category of dance. She criticized “games” as teaching pre-existing works and insisted on dance education that emphasized creation. The question that emerges here is what elements Matsumoto considered necessary for dance education, which emphasized creation in the 1947 “Outline of School Physical Education Guidance.” This paper will shed light on the background of Matsumoto’s view of dance, in which he tried to draw out children’s expressions by giving them images and themes of movement while avoiding imitations of existing works.

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Merce Cunningham (1919-2009) is a dancer who broke away from the expressionist modern dance of Martha Graham to create works unparalleled in Western dance history. In 1964, Cunningham conducted a world tour, earning a reputation in each of his various performance locations, which also led to recognition in his home country of the United States. Japan was the final tour stop. This study examines how Cunningham’s performance was perceived in Japan in 1964.
Cunningham’s works has defining several characteristics, as discussed by James Klosty et al. One of these characteristics is the “mutual independence” of the work, where dance, music and art are juxtaposed independently on the stage. Another is the “multifocal nature” of the work, where there is no single focus. Along with the introduction of chance procedures into the choreography, the mutual independence and the multifocal nature of his work ensures that the audience never fixates on a single element on stage.
Critics in Japan have also noted these characteristics of Cunningham’s 1964 performance; in particular, the mutual independence among them. For example, K. Akiyama, H. Tono, and T. Ichiyanagi commented on Cunningham and referred to his stylistic elements by using a specific term “sougou” (synthesis), which is a term widely used in the field of Japanese post-war avant-garde art. This paper analyses the term “sougou” to clarify some aspects of how Cunningham was received in Japan at the time of his performance there.

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The purpose of this study is to focus on the activities of Fusako Shida, a Ryukyuan dancer who was the first person certified as an Important Intangible Cultural Property holder, during her period of residence in Hawaii (1955-1956) and to clarify the actual situation based on newspaper articles, performance programs, official documents, and interviews with Fusako for her activities as a “cultural envoy” that connects Hawaii and Okinawa. Through the study, I elucidate some aspects of Fusako’s personal history that are still unknown as well as positioning her activities in the history of Okinawan dance. Fusako’s activities in Hawaii marked the beginning of the full-fledged introduction of Ryukyu dance overseas after the war.
Fusako contributed to strengthening the relationship between Hawaiian music world and Okinawan music world, nurturing local Ryukyuan dancers and widely disseminating the artistry of Ryukyuan dance.
She also played a symbolic and social role to introduce postwar “Okinawa’s revitalization” to Hawaii’s Okinawan immigrant community under the movement of “Return to Japan Movement” and “Cultural Revival Movement” backed by Ryukyu government, Okinawan music world, and newspapers. Through the activities, Fusako herself gained a sense of mission to convey Okinawan culture, not as an individual, but as a representative of Okinawa, and this mission became the guiding principle for her subsequent life as a dancer.

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Feuillet’s Choregraphie, a theoretical treatise on dance published in 1700, and choreographies notated throughout the early 18th century reveal that the glissé, or sliding step, was then emphasized as an independent step unit in ballet. However, by the mid-19th century, the practice of learning sliding steps disappeared from ballet training. Therefore, changes in the glissé must have occurred during this period.
The details of these changes are conveyed in the theoretical book La Sténochorégraphie, written by Arthur Saint-Léon in 1852. Saint-Léon did not regard the glissé as an independent step. Instead, he described it as a link between or preparation for the following movements. The glissé, which was usually performed in an uplifted position during Feuillet’s time, was lowered by the plié in Saint- Léon’s practice. He also recorded some instances of the glissé performed with the feet raised into the air.
When examined with accompanying music, the glissé in Feuillet’s time concluded the phrase with music. In contrast, in Saint-Léon’s time, it changed to connect subsequent movements with the uninterrupted flow of accompanying music. All these changes transformed the glissé from an independent expressive unit into an auxiliary movement.

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This study examines some fundamental inquiries regarding photographic materials in dance history research reading the photographic collection of “The Fairy Doll” from the 19th century.
What should be read from photographic materials? If something can be read, how does it relate to the dances performed on the stage? These inquiries are of utmost importance in every dance research yet frequently remain unproven, particularly regarding the media through mechanical reproduction. One of the recent dance archival researches has focused on photography, but it is based exclusively on dance materials since the modern dance era. And the photography of the nineteenth-century ballet was produced and distributed in an entirely different value system. Researchers are required to consider historical circumstances as well as technical limitations and possibilities of each material.
As the example of material between these two photographic genealogies, this study struggles with the photographic collection in the Theater Museum of the Austrian National Library and attempts to show the basis for historical studies of dance.
As a result, the photographic collection of “The Fairy Doll” reveals two deviations from the Series of the Portrait of the Stardancers rooted in the Cultural Industry of Romantic Spectacle: the series of unknown corps de ballet and stage photography which could be one of the earliest documentations of the choreographer’s work.

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