ADD Minato City
Project nickname
"Hôkago Dance x Dance remix"
Area
Minato City
Minato City, located in the center of Tokyo, has a population of about 146,000. In addition to the media, IT companies, and foreign-affiliated companies, about half of the 140 embassies of countries around the world in Japan are concentrated here, and people of diverse origins live together. The ADD Minato City program was based at the Minato-ku Azabu Kids-to-Teens Hall, where a variety of workshops were held, including traditional dances from Afghanistan, China, and Brazil, and contemporary dance, as well as bon dance that is very popular in the community.
Iikura Intersection.
Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park.
Tokyo Tower.
Base
Minato-ku Azabu Kids-to-Teens Hall
6-7, Minami-Azabu 4-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Azabu Kids-to-Teens Hall is a public space for children from babies to high school age. It has a variety of facilities such as a children's hall, school children's club, childcare room, playroom, creative activity room, music room, study room, arena (gymnasium), and rollerblading rink on the roof, and various events are planned for each generation. Located near the nature-rich Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park, the building houses Minato-ku Honmura Nursery School on the first floor and Minato-ku Arisu Iki-iki Plaza (a welfare facility for the elderly) on the third floor.
https://azabu-plaza.jp/
Structure
Dispatched Dance Expert
Kikunojo Onoe
Classical Japanese Dancer and Choreographer
Researcher
Mari Fukutome
Dancer and Choreographer
ⓒbozzo
Choreography Assistant
Mikico Suto
Choreographer
Production Managers: Kanako Iwanaka and Kiaru Ichikawa
Co-organized by Minato City Azabu Region City Office
Supported by Public Interest Incorporated Foundation for Child Well-being and Minato-ku Azabu Kids-to-Teens Hall
Document of the Research and Workshops Mari Fukutome, Mikico Suto and Daisuke Muto
1. Research
With embassies of many countries and many foreigners, Minato City is like having the whole world in Tokyo. We walked around Azabu, where the ADD Minato City's base, the Azabu Kids-to-Teens Hall, is located, and through the cooperation and connections of many people, we were able to find a variety of dances.
Research2. Workshop
The base of the ADD Minato City is the "Azabu Kids-to-Teens Hall". Children of all ages and nationalities gather here after school, creating a lively atmosphere. There are facilities for play, sports, and games, as well as a wide variety of events and club activities. ADD's workshop "Hôkago Dance x Dance remix" was held here among them. Not only those who signed up in advance, but also many children who were passing by and were interested in what we were doing joined the workshop.
Workshop3. Workshop (Resumed)
After the seventh workshop in Minato City, we were forced to suspend the program due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After a one-year and four-month hiatus, we restarted the program with a four-day short-term program and invited children to participate. Of the six children who gathered, four were participating for the first time.
Workshop (Resumed)4. Showing
The stage and audience were set up in the gymnasium (arena) in the plaza, and the children performed the dances they had learned one by one with their instructors, inviting their parents and other related people to join the audience. At the beginning of the performance, the children used sign language to express the title, "Minato-ku Choju-Giga".
ShowingReflecting on the ADD Minato City Project
"Experience is Definitely Accumulated"
Dispatched Dance Expert
Kikunojo Onoe
Researcher
Mari Fukutome
Choreography Assistant
Mikico Suto
Experienced Locals Dance Instructors for ADD Minato City Workshop
Yukiko Kitajima
Uni mama
Izumi Kojima
Sayaka Masaki
Satoru Hirashima
Takahiro Iwai
M. Ashraf Baburi
Mastana / Nanako Kamimura
Ryu Shirahase
Voices of ADD Participants
"It was fun getting to know the dance from different countries."
"I enjoyed the bird dance from China the most. My shoulders were tired, but I thought it was pretty."
"I want to do it again."
Children
"Because the instructors communicated with the children very casually, I think they purely enjoyed playing, rather than learning. That's why they could absorb all the different dances and expressions naturally. It was a great experience for the children to be able to digest what they learned, and output it in their own way. Though it was mostly a playful experience, the children had a stage to perform in a serious setting at the end. We've already heard that they want to do it again. So we're hoping to respond to those voices, giving the children more opportunities like this in the future."
Hiroyuki Yamamoto
(Azabu Kids-to-Teens Hall)
"Because I usually work in an office, I rarely had the opportunity to do anything with children. But this experience helped me gain the confidence in being able to dance with kids (lol)." (Ashraf Baburi)
"One might have a scary, dark image of Afghanistan, but I hope this opportunity helped look at the beautiful culture, and the cute, lovely, happy moments they have in their lives, not only the difficulties they face." (Nanako Kamimura)
M. Ashraf Baburi,
Nanako Kamimura
"It was really impressive to see the children working on the activities so seriously, unlike the way they usually play. I even had a girl, a rhythmic gymnast, tell me she got hooked on Capoeira."
Chisato Watanabe
(Azabu Kids-to-Teens Hall)
"ADD was a valuable experience for me, as I was able to have a conversation through dance with the local children. This exchange in the popping that I taught was the sharing of movements through imagery and words, rather than the dance technique, to dance. I was very happy to be able to experience up close the process of its fruition and development into a working communication. I also felt the beauty of connection between people through the sense of local community and dance cultures. It was great."
Takahiro Iwai
"Not just the children, but I too, had a great experience in getting to know the different dances and cultures from all over the world."
Kanako Aso
(Azabu Kids-to-Teens Hall)
Project Overview
The ADD Minato City logo designed by Aokid
Venue: Minato-ku Azabu Kids-to-Teens Hall and Minato-ku Arisu Iki-iki Plaza
Participants: Children at Ages of Elementary to High School Student (Membership of Minato-ku Azabu Kids-to-Teens Hall required)
Tuition: Free (Pre-signup required)
Call for Participants:
"Hôkago (After-school) Dance x Dance remix" is a workshop series for kids and young people, giving them a chance to learn diverse dance styles from around the world.Professional dance experts, local dancers and special instructors will introduce many different dance styles, from cool to graceful, traditional, or super-eccentric. And the final chapter of the course might be their own dance creation!
Flyer calling for workshop participants
Research
From April to September, 2019
Workshop
#1 Friday, November 29, 2019
Instructors: Mari Fukutome (Contemporary Dance) and Yukiko Kitajima (Bon Dance)
#2 Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Instructors: Uni mama (Body Work) and lzumi Kojima (Sign Language)
#3 Thursday, December 19, 2019
Instructors: Kikunojo Onoe (Classical Japanese Dance) and Sayaka Masaki (Flamenco) with Satoru Hirashima (Cajón)
#4 Saturday, January 11, 2020
Instructors: Kikunojo Onoe (Classical Japanese Dance) and Takahiro Iwai (Popping)
#5 Monday, January 20, 2020
Instructors: Kikunojo Onoe (Classical Japanese Dance) and Mari Fukutome (Contemporary Dance)
#6 Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Instructors: Kikunojo Onoe (Classical Japanese Dance) and M. Ashraf Baburi with Nanako Kamimura a.k.a. Mastana (Afghan Dance)
#7 Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Instructors: Kikunojo Onoe (Classical Japanese Dance) and Ryu Shirahase (Capoeira)
#8 [Cancelled] Friday, February 28, 2020
Instructor: Keisuke Oka (Butoh)
#9 [Cancelled] Sunday, March 8, 2020
Instructors: Hiromi Hamada (Ryukyuan Dance) and Lei Huang (Classical Chinese Dance)
#10 [Cancelled] Sunday, March 22, 2020
Instructor: Naoto Kawakami (Break Dance)
Workshop Resumed
#1 Tuesday, June 1, 2021
Instructors: Kikunojo Onoe (Classical Japanese Dance) and Sayaka Masaki (Flamenco)
#2 Sunday, June 6, 2021
Instructors: Kikunojo Onoe (Classical Japanese Dance), Lei Huang (Classical Chinese Dance), and Ryu Shirahase (Capoeira)
#3 Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Instructors: Kikunojo Onoe (Classical Japanese Dance) and lzumi Kojima (Sign Language)
#4 Sunday, June 13, 2021 Private Showing
Instructors: Kikunojo Onoe (Classical Japanese Dance), Izumi Kojima (Sign Language), Sayaka Masaki (Flamenco), Ryu Shirahase (Capoeira) and Lei Huang (Classical Chinese Dance)
Dispatched Dance Expert
Kikunojo Onoe
Classical Japanese Dancer and Choreographer
Kikunojo Onoe III has been the fourth head of the Once school of classical Japanese dance since 2011. He organizes and co-organizes the recital stage of the school called Onoe-kai, a duo group called Issei-kai with kyogen actor Ippei Shigeyama, and an online event of classical performing arts called K2 THEATRE with Kanjuro Fujima. He also wrote the script and directed the first classical Japanese dance film Chi-sui-ka-fu-ku soshite odori, and directed an iceskaters' show LUXE. His works as choreographer for new kabuki pieces include Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Super Kabuki II One Piece among others.
Researcher
Mari Fukutome
Dancer and Choreographer
Mari Fukutome has been experimenting in dance since she founded a 155cm tall dance duo "Ho Ho-Do" with Mika Arashiki in 2001. She started her own solo work in 2014. Presenting works in theatre, giving performance and workshop in various spaces such as riverside, park, gallery, and street, and collaborating with artists from other fields,she focuses on sensations, ideas and motions developed from multiple relationships and negotiations. In 2019, she started collaboration with BONUS (Satoru Kimura) on the project "Secret Body Recipe", which distributes small instructions for the body via SNS. She is a member of Whenever Wherever Festival and Dance Strategy Meeting She has received a Saison Fellow I grant from the Saison Foundation in 2020 and 2021. She has lived in Yamaguchi Prefecture since 2020.
ⓒbozzo
Choreography Assistant
Mikico Suto
Choreographer
Mikico Suto graduated from Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music, Drama Major. Under the motto "Collaboration between you and me", she has choreographed for films, music videos, and festivals. She has presented many collaborative works with artists of different genres and the general public. She has held workshops on the subject of human relationships and encounters at elementary and junior high schools, special support schools, universities, and community projects throughout Japan. She was selected as a finalist at TOYOTA CHOREOGRAPHY AWARD 2010. and the winner of the excellence award at the 4th Kids Workshop Awards.
Yukiko Kitajima
Yukiko Kitajima is the representative of the "Bon-Odori Executive Committee that Cheers up the People and the Community", a board member and the head of the women’s division of the Kasumi-cho association, Nishi-Azabu, and the tourism ambassador for Minato City. Since 2015, she has been organizing a bon dance festival co-hosted by Minato City while researching, preserving, and passing on old local bon dance songs in Minato City. Also she creates local bon dance songs and holds practice sessions in order to build relationships that will lead to mutual and cooperative assistance in the event of a major earthquake disaster, and to prevent dementia.
Uni mama
A unit of three active mothers, Mayuko Zen, Aya Oshima and Kiaru Ichikawa. In order to "get along with your body", they teach children how to understand their body and how to make their body feel comfortable through correct posture and fun exercises.
Izumi Kojima
Izumi Kojima started learning sign language when she was a high school student upon being invited to a class by a friend. After finishing her child-rearing, she sought out and attended a sign language class held at the Minato Council of Social Welfare five years ago. She participated in beginner, intermediate, advanced, and training courses for four years. Then she joined the sign language circle "Te", which meets every Tuesday afternoon at a welfare center for the disabled in Tamachi. She aspires to help and communicate with the deaf, and wants as many people as possible to know sign language.
Sayaka Masaki
Born in Hiroshima, Sayaka Masaki learned classical ballet from her childhood. Discovering flamenco in a class at college, she traveled to Spain from 2003 to 2005 to study. She won a prize at the newcomer’s show of the Asociatión Nipona de Flamenco, and the 3rd place and a special prize at Maruwa Foundation’s CAF Competition. Currently she runs her own dance classes, and also teaches at Tsukuba Kokusai Bigakuin. She leads Los Ojillos Negros, a flamenco street-performance group.
Satoru Hirashima
Flamenco cajón player. He is also active internationally as a percussionist in various concerts, recordings, as a musician for theater and oral storytelling, and as a dance accompanist (contemporary dance, modern ballet, Horton Technique classes, and butoh).
Takahiro Iwai
Takahiro Iwai is a member of the dance team called Rhythmalism. He also runs, both domestically and internationally, medical clinics for dancers. As a member of the Carecle company, he is providing electronic medical record services and bringing IT to the industry. And as a component of "Medicine Box for the Artist", he organizes the medical team with doctors to provide artists with healthcare.
M. Ashraf Baburi
In March 2009, M. Ashraf Baburi came to Japan from Afghanistan to study Japanese language and culture, and in July 2011, he joined the Afghan Embassy in Japan, where he worked in various fields. He is currently in charge of the finance and general affairs department at the embassy. Since around 2017, he has been teaching and performing an Afghan traditional dance called attan with Japanese people in cultural events at the embassy and international festivals.
Mastana / Nanako Kamimura
Nanako Kamimura aka Mastana is a painter and a dancer. She is specialized in improvisation with live music and has performed with various artists. Her interest in and understanding of Afghan dance was sparked when she performed with Chalpasah, the only Afghan music unit in Japan.
Ryu Shirahase
He is the representative director and instructor of NPO Capoeira Gerais. He often travels to Brazil to train, and once stayed there for a year. He has been teaching Capoeira classes in Akasaka and Akihabara since 2015. He is fluent in English and Portuguese.
Lei Huang
Lei Huang graduated from the People's Liberation Army Academy of Art, majoring in Chinese dance. She has learned a variety of Chinese classical and traditional dances. After graduation, she performed in large-scale cultural and artistic performances in China as a national dancer, and participated in overseas visits as a representative of her country. Since she moved to Japan In 2009, she has participated in various Japan-China friendship events. She has held a Chinese dance class in association with Studio Gem Garage in Tokyo since 2019.
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