What we do

Dance Performance “IN OUT”

  • Organization : Nao Usui
  • Section : Artistic and creative activity in Tokyo
  • Type of Grant Program : Single Individual
  • Art Forms : Dance

Outline

An in-person performance of around 50 minutes tied in with a video work, involving the performance picking up where the unfinished video work left off. The aim was to get a wide range of people interested through social media. Under the overarching theme of “the discrepancy between the body and thought,” parts of the body and the language move in unintended directions and rewind, inducing phenomena that create movement. Usui is attempting to create a production in which sound and light cooperate with parts of the body to express character. Without the use of lighting equipment and only using light from the set design, the scenes unfold as the performer adjusts the light on stage. Going in and out of the door of her memory, Usui has created “a landscape that can be felt if not seen” with her musician and set designer, and challenged herself to a performance in which sound, light, and physicality work as a trinity.

Profile

Nao Usui
A dancer, choreographer and actor, Usui graduated from Japan Women’s College of Physical Education Dance, having majored in dance. Her activities revolve around stage work including dance performances, plays and musicals. In 2017 she joined HIDALI choreography Company, engaging in both on and off stage work. In the same year she also became a member of Borboccho Company. While playing a variety of roles, Usui organized a dance theater production as part of the “Odoruboccho” extra performance series. She explores the fusion of physical expression and language to discover new possibilities. In 2020 she released the self-produced video work “50/50” (Cheer for art! Support Program for Arts and Culture) which she filmed, edited, and appeared in. In June 2022 she released the video work “Steal Me,” the unfinished story of which is played out in the on-stage performance of her dance production “IN OUT.”

Venues

3331 Arts Chiyoda B104