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.

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

Animation Workshop

The Japan Foundation organized a 3 day workshop on Animation from 26th to 28th February, 2012 at The Japan Foundation. The workshop was conducted by filmmaker, Maya Yonesho. The workshop was aimed towards creating animation in and about one's local settings. Participants at the workshop engaged in all aspects of animation production, from storyboard creation to filming and special effects, using unique techniques for shooting hand-drawn animation in a real-life setting. The finished product created will synchronize sound, speech and settings.         

The participants were told to draw images that they associated with their city- buildings, food, transport, roads or other things quintessentially Delhi. After drawing their story board and then doing their sketches on small pieces of paper they took photographs of these against the background of what they had sketched. This workshop is part of Maya Yonesho's project called Daumenreise which has traveled to  Taiwan, Norway, Croatia, Israel and Poland. The filmmaker would like to one day want to take this project to the moon. 

About Maya Yonesho:

Maya Yonesho, who is active in Japan and overseas in the field of art animation. She has won the Excellence Award of the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 1998 for “believe in it,” which synchronizes speech and sound. Part of her film “Üks Uks,” produced in 2005, was used in the trailer for the Tricky Women International Female Animation Festival in Austria. The film has also been exhibited and screened at the Kunsthalle Dusseldorf modern museum of art in Germany and the Design Museum in Estonia, among others. Thereafter, she produced “Wiener Wuast,” by filming hand-drawn animation with Vienna as the background. Workshops using the same technique have been held in Taiwan, Norway, Croatia, Israel, Poland and other countries.  

Learning the Art of Folding: Origami Workshop at Lotus Temple

Photographs by Manjari Kaul

ORIGAMI workshop at                              

      the LOTUS TEMPLE on 28.01.12

Theatre Workshop by Madoka Okada

By Manjari Kaul

On the 23rd of January, the Kaden Theatrical Art Company in association with Japan Foundation, New Delhi organized a workshop on Japanese theatrical techniques and stylistics. Madoka Okada, the co-director of the play 'Looking In & Out', staged at the 14th Bharat Rang Mahotsav conducted the workshop with two others from his theatre company.

The team displayed certain standard stances and movements of the classical Japanese dramas, Noh and Kabuki. The importance of channelizing the energy inside our bodies to observe those stances during performance was also discussed.

"It is important to make our bodies still. Stillness brings silence," said Okada.

The discussion on energy reminded me of a book by theatre researcher, Eugenio Barba, called A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology: The Secret Art of the Performer in which the writer points out that in Noh, the term energy can be translated as 'ki-hai' which means the profound agreement (hai) of the spirit (ki) with the body. Spirit here is used in the sense of spirit as 'pnema', breath. The Sanskrit word, 'prana', points out Barba, is equivalent to 'ki-hai'.

That movement as well as stillness can be a visible form of language, was discussed. A gesture can be way of communicating a feeling, a mood or words. The performers presented snippets from their play 'Looking In & Out' to illustrate the concept of movement as visible language.

Emphasis was laid on concentration during performance. The mind should be able to concentrate in such a way that it can look at the body from outside it. To achieve balance in one's posture during dance and performance it is important to concentrate on the body's centre.

The Japanese tradition of voice control in a modern day context was discussed. Okada also spoke about how he deploys light as an element in his production that not just sets the mood and alters the perception of the scene but acts as a co actor in the play.

The informative and educative workshop culminated in the participants learning a few basic stances and movements of Classical Japanese theatre. The participants shared performance space with the experts to learn how to establish a well balanced yet fluid body during performance. 

Folding is fun: Origami Workshops and Demostrations

Origami is the traditional Japanese art or technique of folding paper into forms of animals, plants, everyday items, and more. It is often done just for fun, but can also incorporate religious and ceremonial dimensions. In recent years, the artistic side of origami has been reassessed, giving rise to many exceptional works and new folding styles. Research is being done into the mathematics behind the geometric forms, as well.

In the coming days workshops will be conducted in different cities across India, in which three origami artists will teach the basics of folding to beginners and, at some venues, more advanced techniques to those at intermediate and advanced levels. Along with demonstrations, the artists will also introduce their own work and some relevant history.

Dates/Venues : 

• January 21, 2012 (Oxford Bookstore, Kolkata) *Demonstration only
• January 25, 2012 (ABK-AOTS DOSOKAI,Tamilnadu Centre, Chennai)
• January 28, 2012 (Lotus Temple, New Delhi)*Registration is necessary to participate in the workshop

Admission:

Free

Tel:

011-2644-2967 (The Japan Foundation, New Delhi)