On the Sloppiness of Alternative Dance: A Review of “Faintly Here” by Moto Takahashi
Dance Base Yokohama×Aichi Prefectural Art Theater×Menicon Theater Aoi Performing Arts Selection 2025 Festival Edition｜Moto Takahashi “Faintly Here”
Aichi Prefectural Art Theater／©︎HATORI Naoshi
Moto Takahashi, the leader of MWMW, has inspired a ghost story in his new work, “Faintly Here”. However, while there is certainly a horror-like atmosphere in many places, the overall image that emerges is dominated by a light-hearted sense of humor.
For example, at the beginning of the work, a woman standing on one leg in the dark blue light of the stage catches the eye. The floating leg has its shoe off and is wearing a pair of tights that are stretched out. Then, a shoe with only one foot glides across the stage like a boat, but the woman is unaware of it. This scene can be seen as a symbolic, dramatic, and emotional scene. The woman’s tights are so stretched out that they obscure the shape of her legs, making it seem as if one of her legs has become invisible. Has she become a ghost with only half of her body? Such a mysterious image is evoked. But even so, the way this story begins is unusual.
A woman wearing tights with only one leg stretched out. This is an image of a body that is too sloppy to appear at the beginning of a dance work, is it not? If we look at the work honestly, the woman is an unworldly thing that has lost one of its legs. But if we look at it more honestly, the woman is a person who wears tights all over the place. The charm of “Imoto” lies in the dazzling images that are created while the horrifying and the slack-jawed coexist without hesitation.
Dance Base Yokohama×Aichi Prefectural Art Theater×Menicon Theater Aoi Performing Arts Selection 2025 Festival Edition｜Moto Takahashi “Faintly Here”
Aichi Prefectural Art Theater／©︎HATORI Naoshi
Under the name of “alternative dance,” Takahashi has pursued a unique style that combines the physicality of classical ballet, which he has acquired since childhood, with the freedom of street dance. In fact, his dance is a mixture of sharp, intelligent, and neat gestures and large, powerful gestures that seem to be blurring together. Takahashi’s strength lies in his ability to expand his poetic, yet somewhat off-kilter, imagination in abundance, as his body moves around with this duality.
Prior to creating the stage production, Takahashi wrote a poetic story, “Faintly Here,” and used the text as the basis for the piece. ¹ The work is not based on a specific ghost story, but rather on an original ghost story invented by Takahashi himself. The plot, which depicts a fleeting encounter and separation from a strange apparition in an unworldly place, can be interpreted as a play of initiation experienced by a young girl. The scenario, which seems to have been written with Takahashi’s unique physical senses, is spun in a very abstract and sensuous language, as one would expect from a “poetic narrative”. However, there is little sentimentality in the stage that emerges. The gestures and images on the stage were too loose and yet powerful to be labeled as “girls”.
The use of sound was also unique. Take, for example, the sound of rubbing. The rustling sound of the scraping must surely be suitable for a ghost story in terms of arousing people’s anxiety, but it is too lifelike to be played at high volume in a theater. Then there is the voice of someone saying “Hitotsume, Futatsume, Mitsume, Yotsume,” which is played in a scene that probably corresponds to a chapter in Takahashi’s original story, “From the Nine Rivendelles. Needless to say, the act of counting up is accompanied by the image of witchcraft, which is eerie, but for some reason Takahashi assigns the voice of an uncle as the master of this strange phenomenon. In the horrifying atmosphere, the man’s voice, which is repeated with great vigor, is muffled and unintelligible.
Dance Base Yokohama×Aichi Prefectural Art Theater×Menicon Theater Aoi Performing Arts Selection 2025 Festival Edition｜Moto Takahashi “Faintly Here”
Aichi Prefectural Art Theater／©︎HATORI Naoshi
Again, this kind of sloppiness is definitely a positive or positive expression in this work, “Faintly Here”. To begin with, it is funny to give this cool and powerful tale of a strange phenomenon the title of “Faintly Here(Honobono),” and this funnyness must be subjective. And this hilarity must have been conscious. In fact, this expression is free from the stiffness associated with the word “ghost story,” and is somewhat absentminded, unrelated to girlish sensibilities, yet still playful, and thus stirs up strange feelings in the viewer that cannot be described in any other way. What must be reaffirmed here is that the bipolar gestures of alternative dance, which move easily between neatness and sloppiness, delicacy and boldness, also serve to reach the void of the senses that would be missed if we tried to put it into words simply. Takahashi’s choice of subject matter, an encounter with an invisible apparition, and the delicate choice of words in the original story by Takahashi, clearly show his refusal to let go of a feeling or presence that is difficult to name. The sloppiness of alternative dance can be seen as an inventive attitude that puts a stop to such oversights.
April 23, 2026
Sakuya Uemura
Mentor: Takao Norikoshi (writer and dance critic)
◆Profile
Sakuya Uemura
Critic, born December 22, 1998.
His past writings include “Yukio Shiba: Theory of Theatre Production,” “The Theatre is Under the Hand of the Theatre” (on the website “The Strongest Theory of Theatre-ing”), “The Pitfall of Questions or the Age of Transparency” (on the official website of Space Not Blank), etc. At PARA, he has held “Reading Drucker to Create a Performance and Group” and “The Dramaturg, Today” (on the international magazine “Sound Stage Screen,” English, 2021). Participated in “The Dramaturg, Today” (published in the international magazine Sound Stage Screen, English, 2021) at PARA, and participated in the first phase of DaBY ProLab’s “Dance Critics [Training → Dispatch] Program” by Takao Norikoshi. Participated in “Spring Forward” and was dispatched to Darmstadt (Germany), the host city, for Spring Forward coverage.
Takao Norikoshi
Writer and Yasagure dance critic. Representative of Japan Dance Plug Inc. Currently active as an advisor and juror for theaters, foundations, and festivals in Japan and abroad. He is the author of the book “How to See the Stage in its Entirety: An Illustrated Guide! An Introduction to Contemporary Dance” (Shinshokan), “A Thorough Guide to Contemporary Dance HYPER” (Sakuhinsha), “You don’t watch dance anyway, do you? (NTT Publishing), “Dance Bible” (Kawade Shobo Shinsha), “Dancing All Life: The Story of Saburo Nakagawa” (Shueisha), “Alice: The Story of Fumiko Kawabata, a genius dancer who charmed Broadway” (Kodansha), and many others.
She is currently writing a series of articles in “Buraabo” magazine. She is a mentor for the Dance Critics [Training to Dispatch] Program. She is the leader of the online “Dance Private School.
◆“Wings”: International Dance Project
by Dance Base Yokohama for Emerging Creators
Dance Base Yokohama (DaBY) has launched a new project, “Dance Base Yokohama International Dance Project “Wings”: International Dance Project by Dance Base Yokohama for Emerging Creators”.
The project aims to increase the international presence of Japanese creators, nurture leading Japanese artists, producers, dramaturges and critics, and create opportunities for overseas performances and further revivals of their works.
The project is named “Wings,” and the 12 creators will experience the process of planning, creation, premiere, overseas presentation, and re-staging of their works through a series of training programs including dialogues with mentors and instructors, overseas visits, and presentations at trade fairs. The 12 creators experience the process of planning, creation, first performance, overseas presentation, and re-staging.
In addition to these activities, the project expresses the desire to create an environment in which DaBY can make a leap forward internationally, and to broaden the scope of creators’ activities.
This project is one of the three projects* selected by the Agency for Cultural Affairs under the “Dance Division” of the Creator/Artist Development Program of the Fund for Strengthening the Foundations of Cultural and Artistic Activities (*), with flexible and continuous support over three years based on an activity plan of about five years.
Fund for Strengthening the Foundations of Cultural and Artistic Activities
The Fund for Strengthening the Foundations of Cultural and Artistic Activities has been established at the Japan Arts Council to implement projects for fostering creators and artists and for adding value to cultural facilities through subsidies provided by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in its supplementary budget for fiscal 2023.
The Fund supports the challenge and development of the next generation of creators and artists, and provides flexible, multi-year support for strengthening the functions of cultural facilities that serve as venues for their activities and activities.
*Other recipients are the New National Theatre Foundation and the Japan Performing Arts Foundation (Tokyo Ballet Company).
