Japan Society Will Present HIROAKI UMEDA: ASSIMILATING AND MOVING STATE 1 This March
The evening-length program begins with Moving State 1, performed by four female protégées from Umeda’s Somatic Field Project.
By: Stephi Wild Feb. 12, 2026
Japan Society will present a double-bill of the latest cutting-edge dance works by choreographic mastermind Hiroaki Umeda: assimilating and Moving State 1. The evening-length program begins with Moving State 1, performed by four female protégées from Umeda’s Somatic Field Project, who embody Umeda’s fluid movements. Next, Umeda himself performs assimilating, an electrifying solo performance. Hiroaki Umeda: assimilating and Moving State 1 will have two performances only, Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21 at 7:30 pm at Japan Society (333 East 47th Street). These works arrive in a North American premiere as part of a five-city tour produced and organized by Japan Society, with additional stops including Amherst, MA (March 11), Philadelphia, PA (March 14 & 15), Washington, D.C. (March 17 & 18) and Nashville, TN (March 26 – 28). Performance runs approximately 55 minutes.
Choreographer, digital designer and dancer Hiroaki Umeda returns to New York City for the first time since 2013 with a double billing of new works that encapsulate his signature provocative, fluid and interdisciplinary style. Umeda’s Kinetic Force Method of movement, which seeks to discover underlying kinetic principles that become constitutive elements of a movement system transcending all dance styles, employs an almost liquid-like, mercurial flow of bodies — a style which has distinguished Umeda internationally as a singular artist in contemporary dance, now entirely absorbed and fully embodied by the four dancing protégées of his Somatic Field Project. Melding technology and movement as a single holistic choreographic arc, Umeda’s assimilating and Moving State 1 synthesize ultramodern video, dramatic lighting and crackling soundscapes (all designed by Umeda) as interlocking components interacting with moving bodies on stage.
Moving State 1, performed by Somatic Field Project dancers Takara Nakamura, Yuki Nakamura, Ikumi Otsukaand Yu Suzuki, is a cinematic group work defined by a dance aesthetic where refined physicality merges with visual art and sound. Developing a flow of movement using surrounding natural forces, where the mover doesn't defy gravity but strives to harness energy through a fluid and kinetic connection with the surrounding environment, the four bodies on stage become vehicles for emotional expression through natural and forceful movements. Umeda’s digital design in Moving State 1 employs stark and striking divisions between light and dark, accentuating the sharp tension of the choreography.
assimilating is a high-octane spectacle performed by Hiroaki Umeda himself, featuring highly plastic and visual choreography in which Umeda’s body organically coalesces with a bursting, glitching and vitally urgent backdrop of light and sound. Using rapid muscle contractions and relaxations to create a "pop" effect in the body, Umeda’s own movements extend into thousands of light particles in constant movement against a black background, with lighting being a key component of his choreography. Umeda’s driving philosophy of movement is rooted in post-anthropocentrism, where humans, objects and nature are essentially the same—without our linguistic codes or belief systems, we are all made up of particles of light and matter. As his movements flow seamlessly into explosive and electric waves, assimilating showcases Umeda’s philosophy in its purest sense, fully merging human physicality with digital/natural environments.
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