Year 1 project outline
Continuing the legacy of Dance Triennale Tokyo, which has been held in Tokyo’s Aoyama district since 2002, the international dance festival Dance New Air was launched in the autumn of 2014 and will take place every other year. The festival will take another step forward with the addition of a pre-event program ahead of the next festival in the autumn of 2016.

Dance New Air 2016 pre-performance
Site-Specific Series
“distant voices – carry on” ~ Aoyama Shakkei

Date: 10 – 12 October 2015
Venue: Spiral Hall

We are holding pre-performances of site-specific works set against the backdrop of the Tokyo cityscape, which is going to be utterly transformed in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Aimed at people interested in architecture and architectural spaces and people who come to the metropolis from other parts of Japan and the rest of the world in search of Tokyo’s unique appeal, the objective of this program is to show them the joy to be found in each individual’s own perspective mediated by their perceptions and imagination as they experience this intimate performance.
The first event in this series is “distant voices” ~ Aoyama Shakkei, the new work by Heine Avdal and Yukiko Shinozaki, who won tremendous acclaim with their work “Borrowed Landscape-Yokohama,” which utilized Japan’s traditional landscape gardening technique of shakkei (borrowed landscapes) in urban spaces such as show homes and shopping malls. Set against the backdrop of the spaces at the arts and culture complex Spiral (architecture by Fumihiko Maki), which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, this promises to be an entirely new form of performance that will enable each and every visitor to enjoy a variety of perspectives mediated by their perceptions and imagination.

Year 2 project outline
Dance New Air 2016

Date (planned): 27 September – 10 October 2016
Venue: Spiral Hall, DDD Aoyama Cross Theater, Theatre Image Forum, and others

In 2016, Spiral Hall will take over as the main venue following the closure of Aoyama Theatre and Aoyama Round Theatre at the end of March 2015; with the addition of the nearby DDD Aoyama Cross Theater and the gallery space and restaurant bar at Spiral, among other venues, this festival will offer a multifaceted array of encounters with dance, including screenings of films about dance at Theatre Image Forum (a cosponsor since 2009), a book fair at Aoyama Book Center’s main store, outdoor performances, and dance showcases.
Over the last 13 years since 2002, during which time we have held the festival six times, the contemporary dance environment in Japan has changed dramatically. The number of people involved in contemporary dance as a means of expressing themselves has grown, while dance creators have expanded the scope of their activities to plays and TV, and the number of audience members captivated by the joy and fascination of contemporary dance is also increasing. To ensure that this situation continues to improve, we will seek to increase the depth of involvement of children in the festival, with a view to nurturing the creators, performers, and audiences of the future, offering programs that families with children can enjoy and providing childcare facilities during performances. In addition, we will put together programs that will appeal to seniors.
As a forum that enables people of all generations to experience culture and the arts at close quarters, Dance New Air will continue to strive to cultivate an abundantly sensitive creativity and communication skills, thereby ensuring the continued existence of this festival.