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Title - Shokunin I
Duration - approx. 40 minutes
Choreographer / Dancer - Kai Tomioka Aya Misaki
Music - Andrea Balency-Béarn (original score)
Duration - approx. 40 minutes
Choreographer / Dancer - Kai Tomioka Aya Misaki
Music - Andrea Balency-Béarn (original score)
Shokunin is the Japanese term for craftsperson,
referring not only to technical skill,
but to a lifelong dedication to mastery, precision, humility, and care. This work translates that spirit into contemporary dance, approaching choreography as a dialogue with materials in which transformation emerges through repetition, accumulation, and sustained attention.
It is the first chapter in an ongoing series built around this concept. The work is informed by sensibilities found across practices such as nanba walking, Zen, and the Mono-ha movement:a commitment to listening closely to a material rather than imposing upon it. Within this framework, the body itself becomes a material to be observed, shaped, and understood through experience.
We are interested in how attention can reveal what is already present. Space, time, sound, memory, sensation,
and the subtle movement of the body are treated as
realities to be encountered rather than represented.
referring not only to technical skill,
but to a lifelong dedication to mastery, precision, humility, and care. This work translates that spirit into contemporary dance, approaching choreography as a dialogue with materials in which transformation emerges through repetition, accumulation, and sustained attention.
It is the first chapter in an ongoing series built around this concept. The work is informed by sensibilities found across practices such as nanba walking, Zen, and the Mono-ha movement:a commitment to listening closely to a material rather than imposing upon it. Within this framework, the body itself becomes a material to be observed, shaped, and understood through experience.
We are interested in how attention can reveal what is already present. Space, time, sound, memory, sensation,
and the subtle movement of the body are treated as
realities to be encountered rather than represented.
The work creates conditions in which these elements can be experienced and shared. At its core, Shokunin I explores the relationship between making and being made.
Through repetition, restraint, and deep engagement with process, choreography emerges not as a fixed form but as something continually discovered. The work draws upon artistic experiences in Japan, where an awareness of negative space, tension, presence, and materiality has profoundly influenced the artists' approach. These influences shape not only the aesthetic of the work but its choreographic logic, cultivating a practice of listening, patience, and attentiveness.
Through repetition, restraint, and deep engagement with process, choreography emerges not as a fixed form but as something continually discovered. The work draws upon artistic experiences in Japan, where an awareness of negative space, tension, presence, and materiality has profoundly influenced the artists' approach. These influences shape not only the aesthetic of the work but its choreographic logic, cultivating a practice of listening, patience, and attentiveness.
YUI (結) — 2026
Created for Akiha Dance Festival 2026 in Niigata, YUI (結) is a work that celebrates every stage of life: its beginning, its unfolding, its journey, and its ending.
As the Shinano River flows through Niigata, nourishing the land it touches before finding its way to the Sea of Japan, the work reflects on the journeys and connections that sustain us: the land we stand on, the communities we belong to, and the stories and cultures we inherit.
結 (Yui) means to bind, to tie, to connect, to join together.
Bringing together 31 people from Akiha, Niigata, aged 5 to 73, YUI is an intergenerational work spanning three generations. It explores the space between past, present, and future, and how these are carried through memory, empathy, experience, and dreams.
The work is rooted in the idea that, regardless of age, story, or experience, we are bound together by our capacity to share, to witness, and to belong. Individual stories become part of something larger, as movement passes between people and generations.
Niigata’s landscape and relationship with rice also became an important part of the work. Rice is harvested only once a year, and Niigata is Japan’s leading producer. For farmers, this single moment of harvest is the culmination of an entire year’s labour: months of care, repetition, patience, and devotion. What we see is only a brief moment of something that has been quietly growing for a much longer time.
There is something in this process that feels deeply connected to community. To feed, to nourish, and to grow something sustainable requires time and ongoing care. Much of the work happens quietly, unseen, before eventually coming into the open.
YUI reflects on these cycles of growth, change, and renewal. The dancers move between togetherness and individuality, carrying and responding to one another. Different bodies, ages, and experiences meet within the same space, creating a shared landscape of movement and memory.
Like the river, the work is concerned with movement and continuity: where we come from, what we carry with us, and what we pass on.
YUI is ultimately a celebration of connection. Of the threads that bind us together despite time, age, and distance. Of looking forward with hope and optimism, while also looking back with the warmth of memory.
Perhaps it takes a community to raise a child. Perhaps the same can be said of dance.
Choreography: Kai Tomioka
Performers: 31 dancers and movers from Akiha, Niigata, aged 5–73
In collaboration with: Nephrite Dance Company for Akiha Dance Festival 2026
Year: 2026...
YUI (結) — 2026
Choreography: Kai Tomioka
Performers: 31 dancers and movers from Akiha, Niigata, aged 5–73
In collaboration with: Nephrite Dance Company for Akiha Dance Festival 2026
Created for Akiha Dance Festival 2026 in Niigata, YUI (結) is a work that celebrates every stage of life: its beginning, its unfolding, its journey, and its ending. As the Shinano River flows through Niigata, nourishing the land it touches before finding its way to the Sea of Japan, the work reflects on the journeys and connections that sustain us: the land we stand on, the communities we belong to, and the stories and cultures we inherit. 結 (Yui) means to bind, to tie, to connect, to join together. Bringing together 31 people from Akiha, Niigata, aged 5 to 73, YUI is an intergenerational work spanning three generations. It explores the space between past, present, and future, and how these are carried through memory, empathy, experience, and dreams. The work is rooted in the idea that, regardless of age, story, or experience, we are bound together by our capacity to share, to witness, and to belong. Individual stories become part of something larger, as movement passes between people and generations. Niigata’s landscape and relationship with rice also became an important part of the work. Rice is harvested only once a year, and Niigata is Japan’s leading producer. For farmers, this single moment of harvest is the culmination of an entire year’s labour: months of care, repetition, patience, and devotion. What we see is only a brief moment of something that has been quietly growing for a much longer time. There is something in this process that feels deeply connected to community. To feed, to nourish, and to grow something sustainable requires time and ongoing care. Much of the work happens quietly, unseen, before eventually coming into the open. YUI reflects on these cycles of growth, change, and renewal. The dancers move between togetherness and individuality, carrying and responding to one another. Different bodies, ages, and experiences meet within the same space, creating a shared landscape of movement and memory. Like the river, the work is concerned with movement and continuity: where we come from, what we carry with us, and what we pass on. YUI is ultimately a celebration of connection. Of the threads that bind us together despite time, age, and distance. Of looking forward with hope and optimism, while also looking back with the warmth of memory. Perhaps it takes a community to raise a child. Perhaps the same can be said of dance.
The conceptual foundation of Bohyo originated from the Japanese folktale of Yuki Onna, the snow woman spirit found in Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn. Hearn’s outsider perspective on Japanese culture, as a Westerner deeply influenced by the sensibility of his adopted homeland, resonated with my own position between cultures. The myth of Yuki Onna, a figure of both beauty and danger, tenderness and terror, provided a lens through which to explore femininity, strength, and impermanence. Working with a cast of women, I sought to reclaim and reframe the character’s qualities not as fatal or monstrous, but as powerful and autonomous. The imagery of coldness, breath, and transformation became metaphors for the tension between vulnerability and resilience.
抜け殻 (NUKEGARA)
Choreographed and danced by Kai Tomioka Music composed by Andrea Balency-Béarn
Wearable art created by Mai Suzuki
In loving memory of Molly Ayling.
A shell remains. The shape of a body that was once there, still clinging to the tree. It has already left, yet its presence lingers in the imprint of its former self. To shed is to let go. It is to leave something behind. We don’t only grieve absence; we continue to inhabit the spaces shaped by what once existed. The body we carry holds traces of bodies, places, and selves that are no longer there. There is a moment in the shedding where both bodies exist at once. The one being left behind, and the one still becoming. Neither quite gone, neither fully arrived. The shell is empty because life has moved elsewhere. It is empty to make space for what might come next.
A solo coming to terms with grief.
抜け殻 (NUKEGARA)
振付・出演：富岡櫂
音楽：アンドレア バレンシーバアン
ウェアラブルアート：鈴木舞
モリー エイリング へ、愛を込めて
そこの木の幹にしがみついていた。もう実態は無いが、かつてあった存在は、まだ印象を残している。脱皮する事は、何かを捨てて前に進むこと。不在を悲しむだけで無く、一度は存在したものを軌跡として心に刻んでおくのだ。そして今の存在は次の存在と時を共有している。二つが共に不在では無く、二つが共に存在するわけでも無い。抜け殻は、生命が他に進んだがために空っぽだ。しかしその殻は、次に来るものがそのそれを埋める事を知っている。埋める存在を待ち望んでいるのだ。グリーフと向き合うソロ作品
Choreographed and danced by Kai Tomioka Music composed by Andrea Balency-Béarn
Wearable art created by Mai Suzuki
In loving memory of Molly Ayling.
A shell remains. The shape of a body that was once there, still clinging to the tree. It has already left, yet its presence lingers in the imprint of its former self. To shed is to let go. It is to leave something behind. We don’t only grieve absence; we continue to inhabit the spaces shaped by what once existed. The body we carry holds traces of bodies, places, and selves that are no longer there. There is a moment in the shedding where both bodies exist at once. The one being left behind, and the one still becoming. Neither quite gone, neither fully arrived. The shell is empty because life has moved elsewhere. It is empty to make space for what might come next.
A solo coming to terms with grief.
抜け殻 (NUKEGARA)
振付・出演：富岡櫂
音楽：アンドレア バレンシーバアン
ウェアラブルアート：鈴木舞
モリー エイリング へ、愛を込めて
そこの木の幹にしがみついていた。もう実態は無いが、かつてあった存在は、まだ印象を残している。脱皮する事は、何かを捨てて前に進むこと。不在を悲しむだけで無く、一度は存在したものを軌跡として心に刻んでおくのだ。そして今の存在は次の存在と時を共有している。二つが共に不在では無く、二つが共に存在するわけでも無い。抜け殻は、生命が他に進んだがために空っぽだ。しかしその殻は、次に来るものがそのそれを埋める事を知っている。埋める存在を待ち望んでいるのだ。グリーフと向き合うソロ作品
抜け殻 (NUKEGARA)
Choreographed and danced by Kai Tomioka Music composed by Andrea Balency-Béarn
Wearable art created by Mai Suzuki
In loving memory of Molly Ayling.
Choreographed and danced by Kai Tomioka Music composed by Andrea Balency-Béarn
Wearable art created by Mai Suzuki
In loving memory of Molly Ayling.
Visual Artist Mai Suzki
Movement Direction Kai Tomioka and Paris Fitzpatrick
Photographer Alex Storey
Still Alive, Already Gone
I am afraid of slowly disappearing whilst still being alive. My emotions and desires become numb through adapting to external values and social systems, the feeling of being alive begins to fade. I explore this disconnection between body and emotion through corpse expressions that blur the boundaries between organic and inorganic, human and non-human. The work exists within a threshold where subjectivity and meaning begin to disappear, questioning what it truly means to be alive as the body begins to transform into an object.
Despite my body being alive, I fear that my sense of "self" is slowly disappearing. As I adapt to external values and social systems, my emotions and desires gradually become duller, and my sense of "being alive" fades away. Through body sculptures that blur the boundaries between organic and inorganic matter, between human and non-human, I explore the disconnect between body and life. There, subjectivity and meaning are slowly lost, and the body gradually transforms into something like an object. Within that boundary, I question what it means to "be alive."
CHOREOGRAPHY / PERFORMER: KAI TOMIOKA
FILMMAKING / CINEMATOGRAPHY: AKIHITO OHSAKI
COSTUME : MAI SUZKI
MUSIC COMPOSITION: ANDREA BALENCY - BEARN
“Who am I?” — The Film and First Collaboration (2024)
“Who am I?” marked the beginning of my ongoing collaboration with visual artist Mai Suzuki and composer Andrea. Created over a single week between Tokyo and Shimane, the film explored duality, identity, and cross-cultural connection through dance, sound, and visual design. Filmed in both urban and natural landscapes, the work juxtaposed the intensity of Tokyo with the stillness of rural Japan, reflecting the coexistence of chaos and quiet that defines contemporary existence.
The film was edited collaboratively across Japan, the UK, and Mexico making it a cross-continental creative exchange in both time and space. Mai’s handcrafted costumes, constructed from traditional tatami and Kumiko woodwork, embodied fragility and transformation, while Andrea’s score was built from environmental recordings and material sounds. Presented in black and white, the film stripped away colour to reveal tone, texture, and the equality of all elements in the movement, sound, and image, forming the basis of our shared aesthetic philosophy.
The film was edited collaboratively across Japan, the UK, and Mexico making it a cross-continental creative exchange in both time and space. Mai’s handcrafted costumes, constructed from traditional tatami and Kumiko woodwork, embodied fragility and transformation, while Andrea’s score was built from environmental recordings and material sounds. Presented in black and white, the film stripped away colour to reveal tone, texture, and the equality of all elements in the movement, sound, and image, forming the basis of our shared aesthetic philosophy.
IMA KOKO
A meeting in the now, that will never be the same again.
A world of fantasy.
A glimpse into our garden of imagination.
You can stay as long as you like.
A world built on trust, and safety, and warmth.
A world without limitation.
Our garden. Outdoor space.
Nurture. Feed. Grow. A living thing.
moments of now.
Time is irrelevant.
Performed at Chidoribunka, Osaka
Dancers: Aya Misaki, Yuki Takahashi, Sayo Homma, Kai Tomioka, Tamako Kuramoto
Music by Andrea Balency-Bearn
Photography by Mex Wahab
Performed at Chidoribunka, Osaka
Dancers: Aya Misaki, Yuki Takahashi, Sayo Homma, Kai Tomioka, Tamako Kuramoto
Music by Andrea Balency-Bearn
Photography by Mex Wahab
Performed at Chidoribunka, Osaka
Dancers: Aya Misaki, Yuki Takahashi, Sayo Homma, Kai Tomioka, Tamako Kuramoto
Music by Andrea Balency-Bearn
Photography by Mex Wahab
Performed at Chidoribunka, Osaka
Dancers: Aya Misaki, Yuki Takahashi, Sayo Homma, Kai Tomioka, Tamako Kuramoto
Music by Andrea Balency-Bearn
Photography by Mex Wahab
Performed at Chidoribunka, Osaka
Dancers: Aya Misaki, Yuki Takahashi, Sayo Homma, Kai Tomioka, Tamako Kuramoto
Music by Andrea Balency-Bearn
Photography by Mex Wahab
Performed at Chidoribunka, Osaka
Dancers: Aya Misaki, Yuki Takahashi, Sayo Homma, Kai Tomioka, Tamako Kuramoto
Music by Andrea Balency-Bearn
Photography by Mex Wahab
Performed at Chidoribunka, Osaka
Dancers: Aya Misaki, Yuki Takahashi, Sayo Homma, Kai Tomioka, Tamako Kuramoto
Music by Andrea Balency-Bearn
Photography by Mex Wahab
Bohyo (儚氷) — Creation and Performances in Kansai, Summer 2025
Context and Background
Bohyo (儚氷) was created in the summer of 2025 in Osaka as my first full-length choreographic work. Emerging from a developing relationship with the Kansai region, which began during a 2023 creation period at Kobe Jogakuin University under the guidance of Shimazaki Tohru, the work represented a deepening of artistic and cultural engagement in Japan. The project was realised through collaboration with four dancers: Sayo Homma, Tamako Kuramoto, Misaki Aya, and Yuki Takahashi, and supported by a local facilitator in Kobe. It was self-funded and presented over three performances at Chidori Bunka in Kitakagaya, Osaka, an independent venue known for its cross-disciplinary programming. The title, meaning “ephemeral ice,” encapsulated a poetic duality between stillness and transformation, mirroring both the transient nature of live performance and my personal state of transition from company work to an independent career.
Conceptual Starting Points
The conceptual foundation of Bohyo originated from the Japanese folktale of Yuki Onna, the snow woman spirit found in Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn. Hearn’s outsider perspective on Japanese culture, as a Westerner deeply influenced by the sensibility of his adopted homeland, resonated with my own position between cultures. The myth of Yuki Onna, a figure of both beauty and danger, tenderness and terror, provided a lens through which to explore femininity, strength, and impermanence. Working with a cast of women, I sought to reclaim and reframe the character’s qualities not as fatal or monstrous, but as powerful and autonomous. The imagery of coldness, breath, and transformation became metaphors for the tension between vulnerability and resilience.
Created in the summer of 2024 as part of the MA Choreography programme at Central School of Ballet, Shoji was a commissioned work made for the first-year students. One of the conditions of the commission was a collaboration with composer Andrea, a PhD candidate at the Royal Academy of Music.
This was my first collaboration with an artist from another medium, marking a turning point in my creative process. In previous works, collaboration had always been between dancers, and other elements such as costume, lighting, and sound were secondary due to limited resources. Working with Andrea revealed how naturally I could yield control when trust and shared sensibility are present.
Andrea created an original score entirely from the manipulated sounds of Japanese shōji paper. The concept arose from my interest in the sliding motion of shōji doors and the subtle tension between concealment and revelation. The music, stripped of unnecessary ornamentation, carried a simplicity and clarity that mirrored my choreographic approach. Its percussive climax, echoing taiko rhythms, led the dancers into a moment of collective unison, before dissolving into their counted breath that was rhythmically spoken in Japanese after a conversation with Susan (Kempster, personal communications, 2024) bringing together sound, identity, and presence.
Our shared sensitivity towards stillness, air, and resonance defined the collaboration. Both of us treat sound and movement not merely as sensory experiences but as tangible presences that occupy space. The work also drew upon a mutual reverence for the connection between past and present and using sound as a vessel of memory, and movement as a way of sensing ancestry through the body.
Shoji became a dialogue of duality: sound and movement, between what is seen and what is fe
photography by Jack Thompson
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Contact tomioka.kai@gmail.com