Awa Odoriis a type of Bon Dance that has been performed since the latter half of the Edo period in Tokushirna city, on the island of Shikoku. lt has transformed since the implementation of the tourism policy in the 1929, to become a signifincant specialty. This paper focuses on the process of transformation from a free-style dance to uniform collective dance style whereby the majority of Awa Odori groups include various scenes that are performed by making formations. To examine this transformation, the present study investigated documentation and videos, observed participants, and conducted interviews. lt was found that the two styles of dance movements: male dance and female dance, emerged, and uniformity was implemented in each style. In this paper, an example formation was evaluated which garnered much attention for in-door performance in the 1980s. ln an interview, the female dancer who created the formation said that, as she was highly aware of the perfection levels involved in stage shows, she was inspired by watching the formations of marching bands on television. These gave her the original idea to divide the process of creating an objective formation into several phases: counting dancers' steps for timing, tuning the direction and distance of movement, and constructing a mid-phase formation.

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This study focused on clarincation of the status and contents of classical ballet competitions in Japan based on information obtained via an lnternet survey. ln addition, a comparison was made bettween the clarified situation and the problems with classical ballet competitions to identify today's problems in Japan from the viewpoint of ballet education. The study produced the following findings:

1.There were 101 classical ballet competitions in 2015, which were categorized into 69 types in terms of the titles. Ballet competitions were held every month somewhere in Japan, nearly half of which were similar in terms of contents. ln particular, many of the competitions started in the last five years.

2. The classical ballet competitions were roughly categorized into three types: typical competitions for ranking, pre-concours types, and international competitons. The pre-concours competitions in particular contributed signincantly to ballet education.

3. Problems with classical ballet competitions identified in this study were as follows:

1) InfOrmation on the competitions that include the organizers, objectives, and criteria lor examinations, which the participants should consider in choosing competitions, were not provided appropriately in many cases.

2) From the viewpoint of ballet education, special consideration should be given to participation by children in the ballet competitions because of the diferent risks associated with their participation (particularly in the case of the lower and middle grades of elementary school).

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There is an abundance of literature regarding the practice of classical ballet. Studies on educational aspects of ballet, however, are not as common as those in the field of dance science. Based on literature seen in Japan and overseas, this paper aims to reveal the current trends in ballet practice research.

The literature shows that there has been a shift in views towards ballet practice since around 2000. The previous view of ballet practice was associated with the idea of “training” where a dancer's body and self are often separated. From 2000 onward, the research began to emphasize the importance of a dancer's mind-body connection and his/her own experience. It was considered that such a change was the result of influences from other practices as well as the ballet practitioners in the acadenlia.

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