Hop, Lock, Spin: Learning the moves from Kentaro!!

Kentaro!!

It was an ideal Sunday morning for all hip hop buffs -  three groovy hours of non-stop learning the moves from Kentaro!! in a dance workshop at Japan Foundation. The music seeped into everyone's bones and the moves that Kentaro!! taught thrilled the dance lovers who learnt each step with diligence and performed it with passion. 

After the participants of the workshop had learnt a short routine Kentaro!! did a demonstration that displayed his immense command over locking and popping moves. His audience cheered for him and marveled at his fluid movements.

In a question-answer round that followed, the participants asked him questions such as what part of his dancing comes from his training and which bits come naturally to him. To this question, Kentaro!! responded saying, "I started from training but invented my own unique style of performance gradually." Another curious student wanted to know how the hip hop dancer first got interested in dance. "I used to love watching and copying Michael Jackson and Madonna in elementary school- my introduction to dancing," replied Kentaro!!

The participants thanked Kentaro!! for his tutorial in hip-hop and clicked pictures with him. Merril, a participant said she had learnt salsa and said she liked to watch contemporary dance. She said it was tough to memorize the steps that Kentaro!! taught, at first, but it eased out gradually and was a very interesting experience all in all. Rajan Rathod who is a be-boying instructor found Kentaro's style to be different from his own style. Rajan considers Kentaro's style a lot more lyrical and soft that his own style which contains more aggressive dancing. Kentaro!! himself was pleased with his students' dedication and seriousness towards learning the dance. 

Enamored by Kenatro's suave moves and having spent a perfect Sunday morning, the participants walked with a "hop" in their step.

Interview with Kentaro!!

Kentaro!!

When did you start dancing?
At the age of 13. I grew up watching Michael Jackson and Madonna during my high school days who were my major inspiration then.

You combine lots of styles in your dance. What style do you identify with most?
Hiphop. At 23 I started choreographing my own pieces. I didn't have any formal training in jazz or contemporary but everything became a part of my dance vocabulary from my experience in watching.

How are hip hop and contemporary dance received in Japan?
Very few people watch contemporary dance in Japan. Hip-hop, however, is very popular among youngsters who usually perform and learn it in dance studios. There are hardly any street performances of hip hop. There are many night club street dance competitions in Japan. I used to participate in hip hop dance competitions in the night clubs before I started choreographing in a serious way.

You are a dancer who also sings. What is the recurring theme, if any, in your songs?
My songs are very depressing. Mostly all of them being about a broken heart.

Do you see any influences of Japanese traditional performance forms in your dance?
No, I do not see any influences of Kabuki or Noh in my dance.

Who would you say has been your greatest influence or inspiration?
The German dancer and choreographer, Pina Bausch whose work inspired me to produce something of my own.

Kentaro Dance Workshop

Kentaro!!

This is your opportunity to learn how to groove from the Japanese hip hop dancer Kentaro!!

The details are as follows:

Date: Sunday, 18 March 2012
Time: 10am to 2pm
Venue: The Japan Foundation, Basement Gallery, 5-A, Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar IV, New Delhi-24
Workshop Contribution: Rs. 500

Dance Exclamation: A Review of Kentaro's performance

Born in 1980, Kentaro!! is one of the most promising young contemporary dancers in Japan. Deeply impressed by street dance culture as a child, he then discovered contemporary dance and its improvisational aspects. He started to work on pieces combining street dance techniques and dramatic elements of contemporary dance. His performances are lyrical, reflecting the experiences of young people living in modern Japanese society.

Kentaro!! in After Rain it Will be Sunny at the Chinmaya Mission, New Delhi, on the 16th of March, performed hope post the tragedy of the earthquake in Japan. His swift and lucid movements set an optimistic tone for the future that will bring about brightness and joy even though the mood be gray and melancholic now. 

He adopts a fused style of  hip-hop and  contemporary that combine everyday movement and emotions. Kentaro's expression has a very personal and sensitive tone, which resonates among the audience with his own story lines and self-composed music. His music is all self-composed and he breaks the performance into two to sing a song of a broken heart. In his free-flowing and unstylized performance Kentaro!! articulates anger, joy and fatigue with performing a repetitive motion. 

The performance itself keep changing hue and texture and Kentaro!! added an interactive moment with the audience when he spoke to the audience directly like a singer in a live performance would. He touches the audience with his simplicity and directness and practices a complete absence of pretense in his performance and his attitude.

KENTARO!!

Japanese Contemporary dancer, KENTARO!! is coming to India.


About the artist:

Kentaro!! mixes hip-hop with a sort of Japanese spirituality. He adapts rap motifs and moves into the dance without ever losing sight of who he is. Very acute musically, with faultless technique, he projects his body into the mix. Electro, pop rock, hip-hop, he doesn’t simply use the beats as a canvas; his moves are extreme and penetrate the music like a needle on the record.

Performance date, time and venue:
March 16, 2012 (Chinmaya Mission, New Delhi), 7pm
March 20, 2012 (National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai), 7pm
March 24, 2012 (Attakkalari Studio, Bangalore), 6pm