◆Outline

Creation workshops by director/choreographer Romance Hashimoto are being held at the first floor studio of Dance Base Yokohama (DaBY), which opened in August 2025, from September 2025.
For details, click here.

This project is based on the theme of Yokohama’s complex history (oppression, genocide, dance, fashion, and the interaction of diverse people), and using each participant’s body and its history as a starting point, we have explored “what we should look for, what we have to talk about, and what we want to prove “ with our guests by visiting actual sites and other places. We have been exploring the theme “what we/we should look for, what we/we are compelled to talk about, and what we/we want to prove,” through workshops at actual sites with our guests.

As the final stage of this exploration, this page will guide you through the “Open Rehearsal” and “Showing,” which are open to all.

◆Artist Comments

This project started with a desire to learn more about Yokohama, together with Dance Base Yokohama (DaBY). I then conveyed to DaBY my belief that it is important to trace the context of Yokohama and carefully reconsider the meaning of expression in the “here and now” at a time when various lines of exclusion are being drawn and the footsteps of war seem to be drawing nearer, and I invited guests to participate in the project, which was not originally planned. I also included in this project, which was not originally planned, a walking tour of various former sites and actual locations with invited guests.

Kioku Han no Kioku: The Massacre of Koreans in Yokohama.
〈No Identity: The People of Overseas Chinese in Yokohama’s Chinatown〉
〈Bread and Roses: Yokohama’s Blue Line Zone.

What constitutes a society? And what is its structure? Aren’t there some entities that are hidden and obscured within that structure? In the midst of these questions, we walked around actual places with our guests and used testimonies and documents to learn about the past and present, in line with the above three themes.

The more we walk, the more we know, the less we know how to output this. This was the response of the participants. By learning about various contexts and becoming aware of their own privilege, they become stuck. I think this is a very natural and sincere reaction. Expression, for better or worse, is an influential force, and depending on how it is used, it can be terribly violent. Knowing the danger, we should think about what we can do “here and now. I believe that this process itself is the most important thing in this attempt.

Therefore, this “showing” may not be something that is intended to be “presented” to an audience. I feel that it will be something that “opens” the traces of what each of the participants in this project, with their different backgrounds and thoughts, have known, learned, worried, and tried. I hope that what has been opened will become a new opportunity for someone who comes into contact with it, that this seed will be carried somewhere, and that it will one day grow roots.
I would be happy if you could come and touch this attempt as a seed before it is carried away.

Rom Hashimoto

◆Schedule

Open Rehearsal: Saturday, December 13, 2025, 13:00-17:00
Showing: Sunday, December 21, 2025, 15:00-16:30 (doors open 14:30)
*The event will last 90 minutes.

◆Venue

Dance Base Yokohama 1F

◆Rates

free

◆Application

Application Form

Registration as a DaBY member (free of charge) is required to apply. Please register here in advance.
*We also provide support for visitors in wheelchairs and those who need information security.
If you need any support, please contact us at the following e-mail address:
contact@dancebase.yokohama
[e.g.] Written communication support for the deaf or hard of hearing, cases where a blind person participates with a carer, etc.

Venue Facilities

• • • Changing space: If you need to change your clothes, please use the changing space in the studio on the 3rd floor.
    • All-gender toilets and showers: There are all-gender toilets and shower rooms on the third floor that anyone can use.
    • Multipurpose Restroom: There is a wheelchair accessible multipurpose restroom next to the supermarket across from the venue.

   

  Profile

   

  

  Rom Hashimoto (they/them)

  Born in 1995, Tokyo. they/them. director, choreographer, curator. They/them is a director, choreographer, and curator. They/them is a director, choreographer, curator, and performer of highly contemporaneous performing arts productions, art events, and projects that explore themes such as minority politics, queer activism, and decolonialism, and that aim to connect the work with society and the city as a means of generating resistance and noise. The company’s style is characterized by site-specific spatial design and a multifaceted approach to themes, presenting new assumptions about the subject matter. He regards his own works as devices for performers/collaborators to confront the subject matter of the work, and often collaborates with people who have a stake in the work rather than physical skills. He is working to dismantle existing media categories and systems of majority-centrism and academia-centrism by applying gradations.

   

  Main Directed and Choreographed Works

  • • • 2024 “Feast/SYMPOSION” organized by Setagaya Public Theatre, Setagaya Public Theatre Main Theatre
      • 2023 “Slow Hertz” organized by Slow Label, ZOU-NO-HANA Terrace
      • 2023 “Pan” (Recreation version) Presented by Aichi Prefectural Art Theater, Aichi Prefectural Art Theater, Small Hall
      • 2022 “2020” Presented by Parco Produce, directed by Akira Shirai, starring Issei Takahashi, Parco Theatre, etc.
      • 2021 “Etan Guma” presented by Dance Base Yokohama × Aichi Prefectural Art Theater, KAAT Naka Studio
      • 2021 “Pan” organized by Dance New Air, Spiral Hall
      • 2021 “Devil Dance” organized by Yokohama Dance Collection, Noge Shale

  Awards

  • • • 2024 THEATRE ARTS Best Stage 1st Place
      • 2024 Best Dance Performance of the Year by Asahi Shimbun
      • 2024 Selected as the best dance performance of the year by Yomiuri Shimbun
      • 2021 Japan Dance Forum Award
      • 2021 Best Dance Performance of the Year by Asahi Shimbun
      • 2020 Yokohama Dance Collection Best New Choreographer Award
      • 2019 SICF20 Grand Prix in the PLAY category

   

  ◆Credit
  

   

  Organized by: Hashimoto Romance, Dance Base Yokohama
  Research cooperation: uhi, Blue Sword, Azusa Karai