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Artist’s Note
The double bill program for this American tour aims to fully reflect my approach to dance-making, expressing it through both my own body and through a method of movement that transcends myself.
This method focuses on the “forces” that naturally act on the body, rather than on the “shape” or “posture” of the dancer’s body. With the goal of freeing the dancer’s body from conventional “shape” or “posture,” I have improved this method together with my dancers. We deliberately treat the body as an undefined natural object, through which we explore the possibilities of the body and dance even deeper. In Moving State 1, the dancers perform as amorphous organisms, expressing their behavior through dance. The work explores the individuality, social interactions and environment of these undefined beings.
In creating my solo work assimilating, I returned to the way I worked in the early stages of my career — that is, making all aspects of the piece by myself, from choreography to lighting, movement and video. I always create dance pieces from the perspective that the human body is a natural object. Through the interaction of natural objects and projected images generated by CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) technology, space itself behaves as a physical body, and the body becomes spatial. I aim to create a phenomenon where space becomes the body and the body becomes space, making the two integral to each other. My belief is that every “thing,” or medium, can be an object to choreograph on the common ground of force and movement. Based on this concept, I assemble the body/bodies and space as intertwined chorographic components. A space inhabited by a body composed of force and movement may possess expression, emotion and even consciousness. I believe that consciousness and emotions are not exclusive to humans but are present in all things that exist.
I am extremely grateful to have this opportunity to perform in the United States again after more than a dozen years. With my belief that there must be a common value that can transcend national borders and cultural boundaries through the very primal medium of the human body, we will present ourselves on stage to American audiences. I hope that you will witness my work simply as part of a natural entity that transcends cultural and societal boundaries.
— Hiroaki Umeda, March 2026
Program
Moving State 1
Choreography/Sound Design/Visual Design & Programming: Hiroaki Umeda
Performed by:
Somatic Field Project
Takara Nakamura
Yuki Nakamura
Ikumi Otsuka
Yu Suzuki
assimilating
Choreography/Sound Design/Visual Design & Programming: Hiroaki Umeda
Performed by:
Hiroaki Umeda
—
Production: S20
Producer: Suzuko Tanoiri
About the Artists
Hiroaki Umeda
(Choreographer, designer, dancer) is a choreographer and a multidisciplinary artist recognized as one of the leading figures of the Japanese avant- garde art scene. Since the launch of his company S20, his subtle yet uncompromising dance pieces have toured around the world with performances in over 150 cities in 40 countries, receiving acclaim from critics and international audiences alike. His work is acknowledged for its highly holistic artistic methodology with a strong focus on digital design, which considers not only physical elements as dance, but also optical, sensorial and, above all, spatiotemporal components as part of the choreography. Based on his profound interest in manipulating and intertwining time and space itself, Umeda has spread his talent not only as a choreographer and dancer, but also as a composer, lighting designer, scenographer and visual artist. He explores kinetic languages by tuning into the subtle voices of the surrounding environment that could only be perceived by an acute sensorial receptor called a “dancer.”
Drawing from his now signature style of mixing digital imagery, minimal soundscape and extremely potent corporeality, Umeda’s other solo works such as Adapting for Distortion (2008), Haptic (2008), Holistic Strata (2011) and split flow (2013) have transfixed the audience in major festivals and theatres worldwide. In 2009, Umeda commenced his ten-year choreographic project Superkinesis, working with dancers of distinct physical backgrounds. GötenborgsOperans Danskompani in Sweden commissioned Umeda’s choreography piece, Interfacial Scale (2013). His choreographic work Peripheral Stream (2014) was premiered at Théâtre Châtelet in 2014, commissioned by the L.A Dance Project led by Benjamin Millepied.
In order to extend his interest in providing previously unknown sensorial experiences to the audience, Umeda has been working on a series of installations since 2010, which mainly focus on optical illusion and physical immersion. His string of works combining visual and physical sensation was awarded Ars Electronica’s Prix Ars Electronica Award, Honorary Mention, in 2010 (Linz, Austria). In 2018 his video installation was presented at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHTs exhibition AUDIO ARCHITECTURE (Tokyo, Japan). The fulldome installation Intensional Particle Dome Installation has also been presented in festivals around the world, and received awards at the Fulldome Festival (Jena, Germany) and the Macon Film Festival (Georgia, USA). Between 2022 and 2024, Umeda was the house choreographer for Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No.1, recognized as one of Japan’s leading international venues for contemporary dance.
Somatic Field Project is an initiative launched in 2014 by choreographer Hiroaki Umeda with the aim of nurturing young Japanese dancers and further developing his own movement methodology, the “Doutai (Kinetic) Method.” Based on the training in this robust method, the project sets out to cultivate individual physical techniques and develop movements that utilize each dancer’s unique physicality, engaging in creative experimentation using those movements.
Takara Nakamura
(Dancer) began learning modern dance at the age of five under Naoko Kaneda, and studied contemporary dance at the Japan Women’s College of
Physical Education. She has since danced professionally in a wide variety of performances and music videos, including the Opening Ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo
Olympics. Nakamura has been a member of Hiroaki Umeda’s Somatic Field Project since 2014. She is currently based in Tokyo, active as a dancer and instructor.
Yuki Nakamura
(Dancer) started classical ballet at the age of three. She graduated from the dance department at the Japan Women’s College of Physical Education. Since 2014, she has been involved with Hiroaki Umeda’s “Somatic Field Project” and has performed as a dancer not only in Japan but also in Greece, Taiwan, Korea and Spain.
She has also performed in works by many choreographers, mainly in contemporary dance and classical ballet. She has also expanded the scope of her activities beyond stage performance into other mediums, appearing in productions and events such as the film Arc, directed by Kei Ishikawa, the music video Hikari for RADWIMPS, the Jeep Plug-in Hybrid Renegade 4xe Launch Event, choreographed by Hiroaki Umeda and the Closing Ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Ikumi Otsuka
(Dancer) graduated from the dance department at Nihon University College of Arts. While in university, she started participating in the works of Emi Shibata, where she discovered the world of contemporary dance. Otsuka’s own choreographic work received the Audience Award in the Dance Ga Mitai! 15 Festival. She also performed her solo work in Vietnam as part of an event held by the Japan Foundation. She now performs as a member of Hiroaki Umeda’s “Somatic Field Project.”
Yu Suzuki
(Dancer) was born in Chiba, Japan and studied classical ballet under Mikiko Tani. After studying dance at the Arts Umbrella arts center in Canada, she joined the
Coastal City Ballet. After returning to Japan, she became a member of Noism Company Niigata’s Noism2 until 2019. She is currently based in Tokyo and works as a freelance performer. She has danced in works by various choreographers, including the “Somatic Field Project” led by Hiroaki Umeda and within the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. Her solo work won the Jury Prize and Choreography Prize at the Washington International Dance Festival. She also won the Jury Prize at the SAI DANCE FESTIVAL 2025 COMPETITION. She has also expanded her range of expression by serving as an advertising model for the skincare brands AHRES and Pacific Consultants Co., Ltd.