DANCE News & Features
Students of British Ballet Arts dancing in a recent school show, Japan
to study for exams in order to monitor their own improvement, and especially vocational exams, which will help them apply to dance colleges overseas if they are considering a career in teaching. The dance world in Japan is in many ways blossoming and going from strength to strength. The competition world has been thriving for many years and, because Japan is quite far from other major centres for dance in Australia, Europe and the USA, dancers are often more reliant on winning scholarships to worldwide schools and companies. There are now many excellent ballet dancers winning places with major international companies and performing all over the world. I would say that Ballet is still the major dance form here, although other genres such as Tap and Contemporary are certainly on the rise. We are a small school in a very rural area and this can be quite isolating. Therefore, I would advise any local dancers to see as much dance as possible in all its forms, now so readily available on DVD and YouTube, to study English hard as this is the main universal language, to think big, be willing to travel and interact with other cultures as much as possible. To this end, I encourage my students, where possible, to participate in the ISTD awards both in the UK and Malaysia, and also regularly take them to summer schools in the UK or Europe, as this is often their first experience of travel and other cultures. My hopes for the future are that my students will continue their training with me and that those who are serious about a career in dance will go abroad to continue their studies at a vocational college, and go on to become the future generation of dancers and dance educators. For my own school, I am hoping to increase numbers sufficiently to expand on studios and teachers. I would also, in the future, like to be instrumental in providing a full-time vocational course or college domestically, so that more dancers can study to a higher level within Japan if they do not have the means or opportunity to go abroad. THE BALLET GARDEN Interview with Miho Tsurutani When I studied at The Royal Ballet School in London, I was amazed by my mentors’ teaching skill and knowledge. They made me realise that ballet teachers need to learn more formative skills to teach, and I felt that ballet education in Japan is not as advanced as the UK. This experience at The Royal Ballet School led me to study further as a teacher after retirement from the stage, and motivated me to establish my school to pass on what I learnt in the UK. I opened my school in January 2011, teaching mainly the ISTD Cecchetti Classical Ballet. I do advise my students to take dance
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qualifications. Having a goal motivates them, and it is good to work on various skills towards broader qualifications, instead of practising a specific classical solo, which quite often is the case in Japan. There are many ballet competitions in Japan, and lots of our young children have a mindset that only participating in competitions will further their training and lead them to be able to study abroad or become professional dancers. Therefore many young Japanese ballet students stand on pointe from a very young age. However, as a result of having more guest teachers and information from outside our country recently, Japanese people have started realising the importance of anatomical knowledge, safety, and the merits of learning ballet methods such as the Cecchetti Method. In Japan, I feel that we tend to focus too much on the technical aspects when learning ballet. I would like to tell my students that, as well as studying techniques, they must not forget to focus on artistry and musicality. I often recommend that my students go see a ballet performance, so that they can understand and appreciate what they are working for. I am studying towards my Fellowship qualification at the moment. In the future, I wish to establish a formal teachers course, and a professional course for students. I would also like to develop more relations between our school and British and foreign schools, companies and organisations.
The Ballet Garden in Japan