This project involves dancer/choreographer Hiroaki Umeda and young Japanese dancers working together to explore and experiment with their own respective physicality, developed according to Umeda’s movement method, “Kinetic Force Method.”
The project’s aim is to explore and practice new methods for nurturing the next generation of dancers and conducting creative activities. In cooperation primarily with Tokyo University of the Arts and dance organizations in France and Singapore, the project focuses on collaborations with other genres and overseas artists. In addition to performances in metropolitan Tokyo, Umeda has his sights set on the overseas market, working to develop his creative activities on an international scale.

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【First year】
(1) Performances in Taiwan
Details: This will be Somatic Field Project’s first overseas performance. A new work will be unveiled at a festival taking place at the National Taichung Theater in Taichung City, Taiwan. Project organizers hope the festival, which will play host to a large number of largely Asian performing arts-related professionals, will boost awareness of the project, and lead to further overseas performances going forward.
Date: April 14 — 15, 2018
Venue: National Taichung Theater (Taichung, Taiwan)

(2) Kinetic Force Method research, workshops
Details: These are classes aimed at basic improvement to the Kinetic Force Method, and research on movement. By holding Kinetic Force Method-based classes in workshop form for dancers outside the project/non-dancers as well as dancers, the aim is to promulgate the Method and improve its precision as a method.
Date: Year-round (1 to 3 times per month)
Venue: Dance studios in Tokyo and the suburbs

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【Second year】
(1) Organized performances
Details: There will be performances presenting the fruits of the dancers’ training, and unveiling new dance pieces. The aim is that the dancers, by creating performing opportunities and showing their work by themselves, are not only trained but provided with opportunities to perform in Japan and overseas, based on their works. Inviting guest dancers from overseas in the second year will create opportunities for the dancers to experience a more realistic and professional creative environment.
Date: June 2019 (scheduled for 15 — 16)
Venue: OWLSPOT THEATER
(2) Overseas networking and performance
Details: Following their participation in overseas performing arts fairs, and with the cooperation of [H]ikari Production from France and Singapore’s CultureLink organization, the dancers will conduct overseas performances of work they produced in the first year. Initially concentrating the performances in Asia will increase opportunities for exposure in other overseas markets. These initial performances will also help stabilize the project’s operating structure, propelling the project forward.
Date: Possibly October — November 2019
Venue: Hong Kong (scheduled)

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【Third year】
(1) Organized performances
Details: Invited choreographers will help the dancers to create new works in a different form than before. Changing choreographers means that the necessary skills and approaches will also change, enabling both dancers and project organizers to improve techniques enabling them to respond more flexibly to a variety of situations.
Date: Scheduled for June 2006
Venue: In Tokyo

(2) Overseas performances and international co-production
Details: With the continuing cooperation of [H]ikari Production and CultureLink, the trainees will simultaneously conduct an overseas tour as well as a co-production with an overseas theater or festival and local artists. By this time they will have acquired the skills to oversee an operating structure that does not rely on subsidies.
Date: Several overseas performances throughout the year, and a co-production scheduled for late 2020
Venue: TBC