Dates: December 5(Fri)-10(Wed)
Venue: Dance Base Yokohama 1F/3F, Forum Minami Ota

Dance Base Yokohama (DaBY) is both a creative residency for artists from Japan and abroad and a hub for community engagement through workshops and experimental tryouts.
 In August, DaBY opened a new studio on the first floor, complementing its existing third-floor space. This year, we are delighted to welcome YPAM participants into both studios.
The diverse program, co-produced with Aichi Prefectural Art Theater, spans a wide spectrum of movement styles—from butoh to hip hop—and also includes family-friendly works.
The artists are supported through two dedicated initiatives:, the “Wings” project, led by Dance Base Yokohama and the “Constellation” project, led by Aichi Prefectural Art Theater. Both initiatives are made possible through multi-year funding from the Japan Creator Support Fund, which is designed to foster the creation of new works and enable opportunities for international touring.

◆Performances

Dance Base Yokohama International Dance Project “Wings” for Emerging Creators
・Conan Amok R/evolution(s)
・Teita Iwabuchi The Great Afternoon：the soft machine xxx
・Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Spacenotblank Dance Piece No. 3: Naoya Shiga “At Kinosaki”
・Mariko Kakizaki hopee
・Ryu Suzuki TAMA
・Moto Takahashi Faintly Here

Constellation～Connecting Worlds with Aichi Prefectural Art Theater Dance Project〜
・Null LiMBO
・Ruri Mito Michiru – Brimming

Artistic Director: Eri Karatsu (Aichi Prefectural Art Theater / Dance Base Yokohama)

◆Schedule

◆Outline of work

Conan Amok R/evolution(s) [Wings]

After studying sculpture at an art college and gaining many years of experience with the Dairakudakan butoh company, Ame has been working on the theme of “reinterpretation of physical sensation in the modern age” using his original butoh method “Multi Layered Body” based on phenomenological and sculptural perspectives. In this work, he began his creation with the double meaning of “revolution” as a starting point: “revolution” and “transformation. Focusing on the immediacy of the body, she projects “permanence and rupture,” “replacement,” “movement,” and “transformation” onto the body from the event of “revolution,” and creates solid, well-honed movement. Collaborating with dancers from diverse backgrounds other than butoh, they present new budding possibilities for butoh.

Direction / Choreography / Senography: Conan AMOK
Performance: Moeka OSADA, Kaya TSURUMI, Mano HATANAKA, Yuki MATSUKURA
Music: Hurleyzone AMIDA, Kohsetsu NARUKAMI

▶︎Work details

Teita Iwabuchi The Great Afternoon: the soft machine xxx [Wings]

Teita Iwabuchi has developed a performative methodology he calls “Kōkotsu Body Theory,” inspired by butoh, martial arts, and the writings of Laozi, and his creative practice has been deeply shaped by the lasting influence of performing in productions by the late butoh artist Ko Murobushi. His research began from the idea that “this body might be a soft machine endowed with a rich and intricate mechanism that contemporary technology is still unable to fully reproduce.” Drawing on Hong Kong–born philosopher Yuk Hui’s concept of “cosmotechnics,” he unravels “butoh,” “martial arts,” “ancient relics,” and “art from across times and cultures,” regarding technique not as a mere tool but as a specific way of relating to the world within a given culture. In doing so, he seeks to recover a “plurality of technics” from within a globalized, unified view of technology. From this body—where multiple techniques and sensations are entangled (local, hyper-local!)—emerge dances of “soft machines.” They are at once wild and refined, savage and elegant.

Direction / Choreography / Performance: Teita IWABUCHI
Performance: Kaho KOGURE, Naoyuki SAKAI
Understudy: Yu OTSUKI
Music: Takashi SUGAWA
Costume: Kyoko FUJITANI
Dramaturg: Haruto NIWA (Dance Base Yokohama)

▶︎Work details

Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Spacenotblank Dance Piece No.3: Naoya Shiga “At Kinosaki” [Wings]

Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Spacenotblank is a performing arts collective who have explored all the values of the performing arts and developed a new movement mechanism for the body called “physical catharsis. This work is the third in a series of dance works that seek to establish artistic practices emerging from this mechanism. For this creative process, they draw inspiration from Naoya Shiga’s novel At Kinosaki, conducting research and creative development during a residency at the Kinosaki International Art Center. While engaging with the novel’s content, the circumstances of its writing, and the writer’s process of transforming personal experience into expression, they explore new forms of embodiment and “expression” for those living in the present age.

Inspired by Naoya Shiga At Kinosaki (1917)
(References: Naoya Shiga, At Kinosaki, Annotated At Kinosaki. NPO Books and Onsen, 2013)
Choreography and Direction: Ayaka ONO & Akira NAKAZAWA
Creation and Performance with : Hokuto KODAMA, Ayako SAITOH, Sayaka TATEYAMA
Rehearsal Director: Shizuka YAMAGUCHI
Music: mmm
Production Cooperated by Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Spacenotblank

*Trigger Warning
This dance work is based on the novel In Kinosaki by Naoya Shiga. The original text contains descriptions of a train accident, imagining human death, the deaths of insects and animals, and animal cruelty. These may evoke painful memories or discomfort for some individuals. While this work does not directly depict these scenes, we advise those who may be sensitive to such content to exercise caution when engaging with the original novel.

▶︎Work details

Mariko Kakizaki hopee [Wings]
hopee is a pop and stylish dance work created with the aim of allowing parents and children to enjoy watching together, based on Kakizaki’s own parenting experience. Created by layering images of vibrant, playful parks and dizzying playground equipment, this work is enjoyable for both children and adults. It asks the audience which they would rather keep in their hearts: the expectation that swells again and again, or the loneliness that is lost each time. As the pure gaze of children reflects and spreads across the stage, the children of the past will remember the vastness of the world.

*Play time will be scheduled after the show.

Direction / Choreography / Performance: Mariko KAKIZAKI
Assistant Choreography: Haruka SUZUKI
Performance: Nagisa YOSHIDA, Liel FIBAK
Music: ICHI
Senography: Maki NAGAMINE
Costume: Shinya WATANABE

*Please check before viewing
・Free entry and exit.
・Please respect the seating area to ensure the safety of children and dancers.
・Children are welcome to talk and laugh. Please forget about being a parent and enjoy yourself.

▶︎Work details

Moto Takahashi Faintly Here [Wings]

Exploring a style that fuses hip-hop and classical ballet, Moto Takahashi toured abroad for the first time in two U.S. cities last year with his dance company MWMW. Inspired by a Japanese ghost story, Takahashi wrote a poetic tale from scratch as the core of this dance work, which is composed through physical expression that transcends words. The space changes its form from moment to moment, and time and space flow with their own breath. Memories that you have shared with someone else, moments that you may have shared with someone else. To touch it without averting the eyes and ears. A touch. The approaching presence tests the extent to which one’s senses are open. This work depicts a ghost story for the sake of a small communion with the things that appear in the world around us.

Direction / Choreography / Performance / Music: Moto TAKAHASHI
Performance: Yuria ONISHI, Yuki NAKATANI
Performance Vision Enabler: Chieko ITO

▶︎Work details

Ryu Suzuki TAMA [Wings]


Kendama is a traditional toy beloved by many Japanese people, and for Suzuki, its physicality and rhythm have been deeply ingrained since childhood. This work TAMA takes inspiration from the word that means both “ball” and “soul,” and is an attempt to approach the essence of the self through the repetitive movements of kendama. The continuous simple movements gradually create a hypnotic state, blurring the boundaries between self and body, and consciousness. Through the decomposition of body and sound, this experimental self-portrait work depicts the uncertainty of the existence called “I” and the gap in sensations surrounding the self.

Direction / Choreography / Performance: Ryu SUZUKI
Performance: Yu OKAMOTO
Music: Fumiya OTONASHI, tatsukiamano
Costume: Kyoko FUJITANI

▶︎Work details

Null LiMBO  [Constellation]

Null is a contemporary dance duo consisting of Reina Okada and Yu Kuroda. This work depicts the complex anxieties and hopes in modern society, such as “self-defense” and “isolation,” “reassurance through imitation” and “loss of individuality,” with sharp physical sensibilities. Three cubes constantly change their meaning and symbolism as shelters, boundaries, towers, etc., questioning the audience about “their own position.”
Premiere scheduled for May 2026 at Aichi Prefectural Art Theater.
*This is a work in progress.

Choreography / Performance: Reina OKADA, Yu KURODA
Performance: Kotaro SENGOKU

▶︎Work details

Ruri Mito Michiru – Brimming [Constellation]

Ruri Mito, a choreographer who has continued to explore the fundamental movements of the body and the subtle expression of emotions in her numerous works, will present Michiru – Brimming, her first creation since becoming a dance artist at Aichi Prefectural Art Theater in April 2025. Focusing on the body and senses in the present, this work quietly accompanies the viewer’s breath and body, and presents the richness of simply “being. Under the live performance of Akira Uchida, who plays the delicate tones of the clavichord, the prototype of the piano, four dancers will attempt to see the invisible, valuing invisible wind, smells, and sensations that touch the skin, among others.

Direction / Choreography: Ruri MITO
Performance: Sotaro ITO, Konami SAKATA、Mariko SHIBATA、Maho TAKAHASHI、Risa MAKINO
Music / Performance: Akira UCHIDA
Costume: Tomoko INAMURA

▶︎Work details

◆Accessibility

＊We provide support for wheelchair users and visitors who require information assistance. If you need any specific support, please feel free to contact us at:
contact@dancebase.yokohama

【Examples of Support】
・Note-taking support for people who are deaf or hard of hearing
・Participation with an accompanying assistant for people who are blind or visually impaired

＊Accessible Restrooms
Each venue has multipurpose restrooms that are wheelchair-friendly.
・Dance Base Yokohama: Next to the supermarket across from the venue
・Forum Minami Ota: On the 1st floor of the venue

◆Credit

Organized by: Dance Base Yokohama
Planned and co-produced by: Dance Base Yokohama, Aichi Prefectural Art Theater
Subsidized by Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan｜Japan Arts Council
*Creator & Artist Development Support Program: Conan Amok R/evolution(s), Teita Iwabuchi The Great Afternoon: the soft machine xxx, Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Spacenotblank Dance Piece No. 3: Naoya Shiga “At Kinosaki”, Mariko Kakizaki hopee, Ryu Suzuki TAMA, Moto Takahashi Faintly Here
*Support Program for Cultural Facilities Function Enhancement: Null New Work, Ruri Mito Michiru – Brimming