“After-school Diversity Dance” which is organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Arts Council Tokyo allows children the opportunity to experience cultural diversity through dance in the run-up to 2020.
The After-school Diversity Dance (ADD) is a project to cultivate children’s understanding of local society and cultures through a dance workshop series by local and professional dance practitioners. The project concludes with the performance of dance pieces choreographed by the participant children. The workshops are currently in progress, having been conducted since September 2019 in three regions of Tokyo; Minato-city, Kunitachi-city and Hinode-town. The three dance performances created in each region will be presented together in a theater in Tokyo during the summer of 2020.
The children will learn various dance styles, ranging from street and contemporary to traditional. The workshops will be led not only by dance professionals, but also by local residents who practice and perform variety of dance in each region.
Professional choreographers active in various dance genres in these regions will support the children perform their ideas and bring attention to the cultural diversity found within the community. To see what kinds of expressions they will create through this project will certainly be one of the highlights for the general audience. Families and community members will also be able to see the progress the children make from the initial dance ideas to the final joint performance.
Although the project is primarily for children, it will also build new relationships between the people in the community. The objective of the project is to establish networks that cross beyond nationality, language, age and gender in local communities.

Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL Special 13
“After-school Diversity Dance”
Schedule:
April 2019: After-school Diversity Dance staff have started researching dance culture in each region.
September 2019-March 2020: Around ten workshops to be held for children selected.
Spring 2020: Children and choreographers to create their original dances.
June-July 2020: Dance performances to be presented at each region.
August 2020: Final performance featuring the dances from the three regions to be held.
Official website: https://addance.net/ (English page coming soon)

Full press release (PDF) is available here.
Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL Special 13 “After-school Diversity Dance” Project Kicks Off

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