College of Performing and Visual Arts Akiko Kitamura Professor Wins Grand Prize at the 20th Japan Dance Forum Award!

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College of Performing and Visual Arts Professor Akiko Kitamura of Theater & Dance Major received the Grand Prize at the 20th Japan Dance Forum Awards.

The Japan Dance Forum Award is presented to individuals or companies that have achieved outstanding results in the field of contemporary dance throughout the year. The award considers performances by domestic composers and international collaborative works, and recipients are selected through voting and discussion based on recommendations from Japan Dance Forum members.

The awards ceremony was held on April 16th (Thursday) at the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse.

This award, which recognizes the outstanding efforts of our faculty members, is a testament to the achievements of our university's education and research. We look forward to their continued success in the future.

■The following are comments from Professor Kitamura

I am deeply grateful to have received the prestigious Japan Dance Forum Award.

Contemporary bodily expression, with its increasing diversity and depth, is nothing more than a "lens" that pierces the facets of human life from every angle. For over 15 years, I have been conducting field research that delves deeply into the lifestyles and cultures of various parts of Asia, and creating dance works that emerge from that research. Resonance with performers from diverse backgrounds forms the core of my creative work.

The award-winning work, "The Long Strong Happy Death," is a culmination of his long-standing, transgressive explorations.

This work is woven from an endless dialogue that begins with the deeply personal experiences of collaborators from Japan, India, and the Philippines, and moves back and forth between their respective realities and social histories. The bodies rooted in the local cultures bear the raw reality of living in opposition to social institutions and the framework of "law." At the same time, they possess the resilience of bodies that slip through existing systems, resist them, and yearn for a different kind of freedom.

By carefully piecing together these fragmented, raw records, the memories of distant lands eventually resonate with each other as a "universal murmur"—that's the moment I wanted to bring to the stage.

Inspired by this award, I intend to continue listening attentively to the "musings of the world" that flow at the boundaries of culture and the body, and to quietly contemplate the abyss of human existence through the expression of dance.

[Faculty Introduction] Professor Akiko KitamuraExternal link

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College of Performing and Visual Arts Akiko Kitamura Professor Wins Grand Prize at the 20th Japan Dance Forum Award!

Main content

Inquiry

J. F. Oberlin University and Affiliated Schools General Planning Department, Public Relations Section

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