Inclusive & Cross-Industry Collaboration Dance Workshop Tour
“CAT-A-TAC's Asobiba Work” Tokyo

＜Workshop for parents and children with developmental disabilities＞
CAT-A-TAC (dance) x Akane no kai (development support)
-New play of “welfare” and dance created through dialogue-

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dates‍

2023/12/3 (Sun) 14:00-15:30

venues

Toyohashi No. 2 Elementary School Gymnasium
2-16-1, Toyosakiage, Nerima-ku, Tokyo 176-0011

object

‍Everyone involved in the social welfare corporation Akane no Kai and the Toyotama Daini Elementary School special needs class (elementary school to middle school students)

lecturers

‍Fujita Yoshihiro (president of CAT-A-TAC, Condors member/choreographer/director/dancer/goods designer)

assistants

‍Daiki Sakai (dancer, exercise therapy training), Miyu Watanabe (dancer)

What is the summaryHere

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The venue for this time is a public elementary school gymnasium located a 2-minute walk from Sakuradai Station on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line. It seems that they don't usually rent it out as an external venue, but since it's a project for children with developmental disabilities, children in the special needs class at the same school can also participate, it seems that it was specially opened.

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This project, which is also a collaboration with everyone at the “Social Welfare Corporation Akane no Kai,” which is working to support development, was the first test for CAT-A-TAC, so the lecturer Fujita was also slightly nervous before it started.
However, once it started, the children were well excited together with the dancer team, and it was a fun party from beginning to end.

The first step is to relax the body, so the parent and child form a pair, lightly tap and rub each other's bodies, and touch each other's bodies. Gradually, several types of so-called stretches are performed, such as bending forward and holding hands to pull each other, and participants relax their body as well as their mind.

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Next, the work “stiffens” the firm and softened body, and now it's time. Even when it comes to stiffness, there is a rule that the movable parts can be moved, and parents and children liken each other to dolls, move possible parts (limbs, etc.), and make them do various poses. In the end, there was a reflection about showing each other the poses they liked the most, and around this point, it seemed like the children were already completely engrossed in the workshop.

After spending a small amount of time to stay hydrated, the next thing I did was work using paper. They use normal copy paper, drop it softly from a high place, and catch it fluttering. The child picks up what the parent dropped, and vice versa. It's a simple game, but it was a work that showed basic physical abilities, such as determining timing and moving the body instantaneously. Next, work where you run around putting this copy paper on your body or hand so as not to drop it. The children were also working on this with great pleasure.

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It's a simple game that can also be played on a daily basis, but when I thought about it again, I realized that it was a very good work to be aware of the relationship between the body and things. Also, I felt that the children's expression of joy when they did well is more than physical sense, and that it is a very important opportunity for a small successful experience.

Finally, we will solicit words related to Christmas from children, arrange movements associated with those keywords, and create an original dance. They are played very easily in the order of Santa, Reindeer, Cake, Chicken, and Tree, and after a few repetitions, they all dance to music at the end. There were times when parents and children participated, so everyone didn't feel ashamed, and everyone enjoyed dancing.

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Choreography was born from keywords that came out of our own, and we were able to embody the form of a minimal dance performance where everyone memorizes and presents them, and the collaboration between dance and different industries, which is also the theme of this project, has been firmly completed.

After all of the programs were over, due to strong requests from parents, a serious dance was suddenly performed by Mr. Fujita and the two support members. Inspired by this performance, I was able to enjoy cool professional dance while thinking that it would be great if children surpassed their disabilities and woke up to dancing in the future.

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Report: Fukunaga Mitsuhiro