Japanese traditional dance master Sengiku Bando conducted a one-week workshop at TNUA starting from December 12. The Department of Theatre Arts arranged the workshop to help students improve their bodily expressions and introduce them to different performance cultures.

Japanese traditional dance has its unique skills and rich repertorie of body expressions. Known for its dancer's acute awareness of the subtle differences in the body expressions, the Japanese traditional dance provides very good training for actors.

The master in the very first class of the workshop showed the students the history of Japanese traditional dance and its contemporary development. Illustrating her talk with video clips, she explained different types of Noh plays and Bunraku theatre, as well as Kabuki dance performances. 

She also explained the characteristics of the Bando-ryu School, to which she belongs.

During the week-long workshop, the master taught the students the basic moves and principles of the Japanese traditional dance. She started by showing them the basic walk of Noh, and then guided them in practicing the steps and turns of the traditional Japanese dance.

The master stressed the importance of breathing and the moments of stops between continuous movements. The students learned to understand and release the energy through breathing control.

The repeated practice of the body movements also allowed the students to better understand the subtle differences in body expressions and to buid up their own repertoires of body movements.