Paper short abstract

From a dance dramaturg’s perspective, this paper examines contemporary dance practices in Japan through tensions between absent disciplinary foundations and expectations of shared understanding. It explores rehearsal processes as sites of shifting artistic and bodily orientations.

Paper long abstract

Contemporary dance in Japan is often described as lacking shared disciplinary foundations and formal professional training, allowing diverse artistic backgrounds to coexist without a stable common ground. At the same time, these practices unfold within a social context of implicit homogeneity, where shared norms are often assumed rather than articulated. This produces a tension between the absence of a given common ground and the expectation of shared understanding.

Within this tension, rehearsal processes become a crucial site where artists cultivate distinct approaches: at times orienting toward shared bodily languages, and at others toward their relativisation and the articulation of difference.

Situated within this dynamic, this paper asks what forms of process-oriented dramaturgy emerge in such settings. Drawing on works by Takao Kawaguchi, Akira Kasai, and Akiko Kitamura, it examines how a range of bodily and artistic practices give rise to dramaturgical effects that engage with and support these shifting orientations.