Japan Society to Present NIHON BUYO IN THE 21ST CENTURY: From Kabuki Dance to Boléro

Japan Society will present Nihon Buyo in the 21st Century: From Kabuki Dance to Boléro, with three performances only taking place Wednesday, January 24 through Friday, January 26 at 7:30pm at Japan Society (333 East 47th Street).   

Witness a breathtaking union of Japan’s most talented nihon buyo dancers, featuring the esteemed Hanayagi Motoi and rising young star Azuma Tokuyo (also known as Nakamura Kazutaro in kabuki theater).  Nihon buyo, literally meaning “Japanese dance,” encompasses an animated style that draws from traditional kabuki dance techniques.  The program begins with Toba-e, a kabuki dance accompanied by live music, which depicts a comical manga story from the Edo period. The second half of the program features a piece set to Maurice Ravel’s famous score, Boléro.  Expertly choreographed by Hanayagi Genkuro, this unexpected combination of East and West brilliantly retells a classic Japanese folk tale, with Kazutaro showcasing his exceptional talent in the onnagata (female) role of the heartbroken princess, Kiyohime.  The program also features three standalone music pieces performed live: Matsuri (Festival), (instrumental); Yugiri, the Courtesan (instruments and singing); and Hana (Flowers) (instrumental).  Performed in Japanese with English supertitles. 

Nihon buyo is a traditional performing art from Japan with a 150-year history, based on kabuki dance technique with an even longer history of 400 years.  However, dancers not only inherit classical techniques and repertoire, but also innovate to make nihon buyo a performing art that lives in the present through contemporary influence. This program, featuring some of Japan’s greatest living nihon buyo dancers, displays the charm of Japanese dance through music familiar to European and American audiences alongside “classical works'' featuring the unique stylistic beauty and traditional movements of nihon buyo.  Accordingly, Nihon Buyo in the 21st Century showcases the current appeal and bright future of Japanese dance as a performing art that “lives in the moment,” resonating with audiences around the world.  

About nihon buyo 

Nihon buyo can be translated as "Japanese (nihon) dance (buyo)."  Nihon buyo and kabuki dance share the same technique and training methods, which require their students to begin study from early childhood in order to master the necessary highly stylized body movements. Using traditional kabuki dance techniques, nihon buyo performers have developed a specialized repertoire that consists of adaptations of popular sections from kabuki plays, pieces inspired by classical noh plays and various folktales, as well as unique works written and choreographed from scratch.  

Nihon Buyo in the 21st Century is performed by an expert company of six dancers and six musicians (key artist biographies below). 

Tickets & Information:  

Wednesday, January 24, 7:30pm – Followed by a Private Gathering for Artists and Members

Thursday, January 25, 7:30pm – Followed by an artist Q&A
Friday, January 26, 7:30pm 

For all performances, a pre-performance lecture, led by California State University, San Bernardino Dr. Kirk Kanesaka, begins at 6:30pm.  Open to all ticketholders. 

Tickets are $55 / $44 Japan Society members.    

Tickets can be purchased online at https://japansociety.org/events/nihon-buyo-in-the-21st-century/ or by calling the Box Office at 212-715-1258 (M-F 11:00am – 6:00pm).  Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street, between First and Second Avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 at 42nd Street-Grand Central Station or the E at Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street).  For more information, call 212-832-1155 or visit http://www.japansociety.org 

About Japan Society 

This season, Performing Arts programs span the disciplines of music, theater and dance.  Winter/Spring 2024 begins with the New York premiere of Hamlet | Toilet written and directed by Yu Murai and performed by the acclaimed theater company Kaimaku Pennant Race (KPR) (January 10 – 13, part of Under the Radar Festival 2024) and continues with this presentation of Nihon Buyo in the 21st Century (January 24 – 26).  The season rounds out with the annual Play Reading Series, this year featuring the fantasy/sci-fi The Good Story Murders, written by Aya Takaha and directed by Tai Thompson (March 18); and a boundary-pushing double-bill of ballet and hip-hop titled Beyond Ballet, Beyond Hip-Hop, featuring leading prima ballerina Hana Sakai and the all femaledance group MWMW, led by award-winning dancer Moto Takahashi (May 10 – 11).  Earlier this season, Japan Society presented New York's first-ever John Cage series focusing on Japan’s influence on this significantly influential 20th century composer with John Cage’s Japan.  The series kicked off with Paul Lazar’s Cage Shuffle, a solo performance of spoken texts that demonstrate Cage’s strong connection to Japan.  Further ascertaining Cage’s inspiration taken from Japan, the festival continued with a series of innovative concerts curated byTomomi Adachi, composer/musician and internationally recognized Cage expert, collaborating with the International Contemporary Ensemble, America’s leading performers of new work, as well as various international guest performers.   

Japan Society is the premier organization connecting Japanese arts, culture, business, and society with audiences in NYC and around the world.  In over 100 years of work, the Society has inspired generations by establishing itself as a pioneer in supporting international exchanges in arts and culture, business and policy, as well as education between Japan and the U.S.  This year, Japan Society is celebrating its heritage through the 50th anniversary of its our landmark building, designed by the late architect Junzo Yoshimura, with the launch of a new distinct modern logo and visual identity.   

Since the inception of Japan Society Performing Arts Program, the Program has brought 1000+ productions of and inspired by Japan to audiences in NYC and beyond through North American tours organized by Japan Society. Programs range from the traditional arts to contemporary theater, dance and music.  Since the establishment of the Performing Arts Endowment in 2005, the Society also commissions non-Japanese artists to create Japan-related new works through fostering cross-cultural collaboration that has become part of its important mission. 

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Lead Artist Biographies: 

Hanayagi Genkurou (Choreographer) was born in Nara prefecture and began training in nihon buyo under his father Hanayagi Tomohito and subsequently under Grand Master Hanayagi Juou II.  Genkurou made his stage debut in 1990 with Ayatsuri Sanbaso, and in 1998 received his stage name Hanayagi Genkurou.  Majoring in nihon buyo, he graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2003, where he was awarded both the Ataka and Jokan Scholarships.  In 2013, he received the Newcomer Award from the Japan Dance Critics Association for his performance of a new nihon buyo piece entitled Run Melos, Run. Genkurou performed at Japan Society in November 2014 as part of The Shamisen Sessions, Vol. 3—A Salute to Tradition together with Living National Treasure shamisen player Takemoto Komanosuke, and again in March 2017, leading the program entitled Nihon Buyo Dance & Music with Geimaruza.  In 2018, he performed in Paris as part of the Japonismes 2018 festival, an extensive showcase of Japanese arts and culture organized by the Japanese government.  In 2020, Genkurou performed with kabuki star Namura Ichitaro and Onoe Ukon for ART Kabuki, a new production created during the pandemic featuring a lavish Kabuki dance, made available via online streaming. In addition to being an active performer of traditional nihon buyo dance, Genkurou has choreographed for TV and other media platforms.  In 2021, he choreographed Bolero ~The Legend of Anchin and Kiyohime, which was premiered at Edo-Tokyo Museum and was selected to be featured in the Stage Beyond Borders series, an international streaming platform operated by The Japan Foundation.  Genkurou's other recent choreographic work includes: Utsuriyuku Toki for the dancer Onoe Ukon (2021); Puppeteer Hisa for the butoh dancer Akaji Maro (2022); and Galaxy Express 999 (2022), commissioned by the Japan NIHONBUYO Association. 

Hanayagi Motoi (Dancer) trained under his mother, Hide Hanayagi, from the age of two, and under Living National Treasure (a rare honor designated by the Japanese government) Jugaku Hanayagi from the age of six.  Motoi has performed in numerous productions presented by The NIHONBUYO Association and The National Theatre, and has also made many appearances on TV programs.  Motoi has performed internationally in Europe and East Asia, including as part of Japonismes 2018 in Paris and within the closing ceremonies of Culture City of East Asia 2019, held in Toshima Ward, Japan; Incheon, South Korea; and Xi'an, China.  Through the Motoi-no-Kai Association, which he leads, he studies classical works centered on Hanayagi-ryu School works, and develops new works of original choreography to nurture the future of Japanese nihon buyo dance.  Motoi is the recipient of several prestigious awards such as the Medal with Purple Ribbon, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Award and Newcomer's Award, the Tokyo Shimbun Dance Arts Award, the Juou Hanayagi Award for Newcomers, the Minister of Education's Encouragement Award at the New Year Dance Convention organized by the NIHONBUYO Association, the Dance Critics Association Award and Newcomer's Award, the Matsuo Performing Arts Awards’ Newcomer’s Award, the Agency for Cultural Affairs Art Festival Excellence Award (Kono-kai Association) and many others.  Motoi is Director of the Hanayagi-ryu School, the Hanayagi-kai Association, and Councilor of the Toshima Mirai Cultural Foundation.  He teaches at Nihon University College of Art’s Department of Drama. 

Azuma Tokuyo (Dancer), also known as Nakamura Kazutaro for his appearances in kabuki theater, was born in Tokyo in 1990 as the grandson of the late legendary kabuki actor and Living National Treasure Nakamura Ganjiro IV, and the first son of Azuma Tokuho, the third headmaster of Azuma-ryu School.  He made his stage debut in a kabuki production of Komochi Yamamba as Nakamura Kazutaro I in January 1995 at the Naka-za Theater in Osaka.  In March 2010, he played the role of Ohatsu in Sonezaki Shinju at the age of 19.  In September 2014, he assumed the role of seventh head of the Azuma-ryu School of nihon buyo dance with the stage name Azuma Tokuyo.  In August 2016, he appeared in Sandaime Richard, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Richard III written by Hideki Noda and directed by Ong Keng Sen.  While devoted to kabuki, mainly as an onnagata, he has also expanded his activities to film and television.  In 2016, he choreographed the shrine maiden dance scene animated in the blockbuster film Your Name.  In 2020, he created ART Kabuki, a new kabuki endeavor created during the pandemic to showcase lavish Kabuki dance via online streaming.  In 2021, he played the lead role in the theatrical version of the popular novel and animated film The Night is Short, Walk On Girl.  Earlier this year, to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Azuma-ryu School, Tokuyo revived a nihon buyo production that was featured as the first major tour by Azuma Tokuho across Japan from 1954 to 1956.  

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