Japanese Studies

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Japanese Ballet Dancers: Routes of Mobility and

the Body

Nicolas Sternsdorff-Cisterna

To cite this article: Nicolas Sternsdorff-Cisterna (2018) Japanese Ballet Dancers: Routes of
Mobility and the Body, Japanese Studies, 38:1, 75-91, DOI: 10.1080/10371397.2018.1448973

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Published online: 04 Apr 2018.

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JAPANESE STUDIES, 2018
VOL. 38, NO. 1, 75–91
https://doi.org/10.1080/10371397.2018.1448973

ARTICLE

Japanese Ballet Dancers: Routes of Mobility and the Body

Nicolas Sternsdorff-Cisterna
Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA

ABSTRACT
Since the 1980s, Japanese dancers have won top prizes at some of the most demanding
international dance competitions, and several have been promoted to the top ranks of major
dance companies around the world. In this article, I explore the interplay between Japanese
dancers and Western centers of dance, focusing on the paths and decisions dancers took as
they went abroad to further their careers. As part of this movement, Japanese dancers are
sometimes identified as such though their numbers have grown and they have become part of
a globalized dance scene. At the same time, the paper explores the relationship between the
development of a bodily habitus necessary to become a dancer and the artistry involved in
communicating a message or emotion through the body. I argue that dancers understand their
movement and growth as artists in relationship to their technique and artistry.

Introduction
Misa Kuranaga is a principal dancer with the Boston Ballet. She hails from Osaka and as a
teenager won an apprenticeship at the Prix de Lausanne, one of the world’s most demanding
ballet competitions for aspiring young dancers. In 2015, she was featured in a television
commercial for the cosmetics company SK-II. The scene begins with Misa Kuranaga
attempting a number of ballet exercises and failing to perform them correctly. At the
start, there are no clues as to who she is or her position in the ballet world. Kuranaga’s
voice-over states: ‘My DNA is a funny little dictator.’ She explains that her DNA dictates that
she sees the world through brown eyes; that her hips are narrow and do not allow for a full
range of motion; that her features are too flat to show emotion; that her legs are not long
enough; and that she is too petite to stand out. During this narration, we see her struggling
with the ballet exercises. Then, we see her waiting in the wings of a theater, and we hear her
say that her DNA also tells her not to listen to ‘little dictators.’ She gracefully enters the stage
and performs a flawless routine. At the end of the advertisement, the copy on the screen
reads ‘Misa Kuranaga was the first Asian ever to be appointed principal ballerina at the
Boston Ballet.’
The advertisement is part of SK-II’s ‘Change Destiny’ campaign, a series of corporate
branding commercials that highlight empowered women who have overcome challenges to
reach their goals. This particular narrative suggests that tenacity and hard work allowed
Kuranaga to ascend to the highest levels in the world of professional ballet, despite
biological limitations. The advertisement also brings attention to her ethnicity as part of
her singular accomplishments, drawing a contrast between the practice of ballet as rooted in
the West and the representation of Kuranaga as an outsider to that tradition.

CONTACT Nicolas Sternsdorff-Cisterna nsternsdorff@smu.edu

© 2018 Japanese Studies Association of Australia
76 N. STERNSDORFF-CISTERNA

Yet Kuranaga is part of a larger movement of dancers from Japan employed by

Western dance companies. Since the postwar period, ballet has become a popular
pastime for many in Japan. Ballet emerged as a desirable and aspirational activity
(okēkogoto) for children, especially girls, from the middle and upper classes.1 Adults
also partake in ballet, and there are thousands of studios offering classes that range from
the beginner to the advanced and pre-professional levels. According to a 2012 survey,
an estimated 400,000 students take ballet lessons each year at one of 4,360 ballet schools
throughout Japan.2 This culture of amateur dance has fostered the careers of numerous
notable Japanese dancers. For example, Japanese dancers have won numerous prizes at
the Prix de Lausanne since the 1980s.3 Given this profile, dance companies around the
world employ Japanese dancers, and a few – such as Misa Kuranaga, Miyako Yoshida
and Tetsuya Kumakawa – have become international stars.
In this article, I look at the ways in which ballet has developed in Japan, with a focus
on the relationship between Japanese professional dancers and Western centers of
dance (in this article, I use the term ‘West’ to refer to Europe and North America).
As Helena Wulff notes, in European and American ballet companies, dancers and
students are still predominantly white, but Japanese dancers were among the earliest
non-white foreign dancers employed by them.4 I explore the experiences of Japanese
dancers as they moved abroad and found employment in professional companies. There
was a sense among the people I met that it was necessary to leave Japan and dance
abroad in order to forge and assert one’s credentials. Even if the Japanese domestic
dance scene had grown substantially and they could build a career domestically, the
dancers expressed a recognition that the emblematic dance companies and top chor-
eographers were located in the West and one needed to go there to access the upper
echelons of dance. In my discussions with dancers, a related theme we explored
centered on the physicality of this art form. When considering the uses of the body,
we discussed the relationship between mastery of technique and the artistic aspirations
of dance. In contrast to some of the papers in this special issue that focus on
competitive sports, dance is usually considered part of the arts, though the training
regime dancers follow shares similarities with those of athletes. In the last section of the
article, I explore the relationship between the trained body and the artistic aspirations
of dance and show that the dancers understood their mastery of technique to be a skill
that enabled them to embody the artistry of this art form.
The research for this project comprised nine in-depth interviews with Japanese
dancers and choreographers conducted between 2016 and 2017.5 My interviews focused
on professional dancers; there are many who dance as a serious hobby but their
perspectives fall outside the scope of this paper. The dancers I spoke with had won
major domestic and/or international dance competitions, danced professionally with
1
Ono, Ballet as Liberation.
2
Yomiuri Shimbun, ‘Ballet Popularity.’
3
This organization awards six to eight prizes annually that consist of scholarships to study at a ballet school or an
apprenticeship at a ballet company. Save for a few years, Japanese dancers have won at least one prize per year and
as a national pool of dancers they are the most successful by a substantial margin (‘Prix de Lausanne, Prize Winners’).
4
Wulff, Ballet across Borders,162. It is important to note, however, that in 2015 Misty Copeland became the first African-
American dancer to be promoted to principal ballerina at the American Ballet Theatre, one of the more prominent
companies in the United States.
5
To protect my interviewees’ privacy as per research ethics requirements, I will refer to them without identifying
information.
 JAPANESE STUDIES 77

companies in North America, Japan, and Europe, and, for those who worked as choreo-
graphers, presented their works internationally or guest-choreographed for established
companies. The older dancers began their careers in the early 1980s and had retired from
performing, while younger interviewees were active on stage. I also conducted participant
observation at dance studios in Japan and overseas. In addition, I analyzed secondary
sources in Japanese and English and viewed dance performances in video archives as well
as live performances in Japan and North America. Finally, I am an enthusiastic, if not
always graceful, amateur dancer; I have studied ballet and contemporary dance for more
than a decade and participated in classes in Japan, North America, and Europe.

Dance and Its Movements

Ballet’s globalization has occurred within a historical context of various encounters and
exchanges that have taken place between Japan and the West, especially since Japan opened
its borders in 1868.6 Scholars such as Katarzyna Cwiertka have noted how Western practices,
such as dress styles and foods, came to symbolize modernity and cosmopolitanism in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, though the encounter also raised the prospect of
military confrontation. It was during this time, for example, that beef consumption was
promoted to build stronger bodies that could compete despite the perceived gap in strength
between Japanese and Western armies.7 Attention to exchanges between Japan and the West
continues, with a number of recent studies examining the adoption of Western cultural
practices in Japan as well as the globalization of Japanese food and pop culture abroad.8
There is also a body of literature exploring the adoption of foreign dance traditions
in Japan. Salsa, hip-hop, tango, flamenco, and other foreign dance forms have been
incorporated into the local dance scene; there are numerous studios where students can
take lessons, and some Japanese dancers have become accomplished at international
levels. In his book Babylon East, Marvin Sterling introduces readers to the world of
Jamaican dancehall in Japan and notes that in the early 2000s, for the first time, a
Japanese dancer was awarded a trophy at the pinnacle event in Kingston, Jamaica.9
Likewise, Japanese dancers have won hip-hop dance competitions in the United States,
and the country is known for its vibrant tango scene.
A theme that emerges in this literature on foreign dance in Japan is how the encounter
of difference is negotiated by the dancers and the kinds of possibilities that arise by
practicing a dance form that uses the body differently. Nana Okura Gagné notes that one
does not usually touch strangers in Japan.10 In contrast, in the salsa clubs that she studied,
it was not uncommon for people to dance with strangers, and the close proximity of their
bodies allowed for sensuality to emerge in a way that stood in contrast to everyday life.
Marta Savigliano suggested in her study of tango in Japan that the perceived sensuality
associated with this dance form created a space for passion; however, she also felt that the
passion exhibited by Japanese dancers was more akin to an imitation and less authentic in
6
Gordon, A Modern History of Japan, 73–5.
7
Cwiertka, Modern Japanese Cuisine, 31–3.
8
The literature on globalization and exchanges includes studies of food (Ohnuki-Tierny, ‘McDonald’s’; Bestor, ‘How Sushi
Went Global’), popular culture (Allison, Millenial Monsters; Condry, Hip Hop Japan; Lukacs, ‘Iron Chef’; Yano, Pink
Globalization), and migration (Kelsky, Women on the Verge).
9
Sterling, Babylon East.
10
Okura Gagné, ‘Romance and Sexuality.’
78 N. STERNSDORFF-CISTERNA

her eyes than the ‘truer’ passion displayed by Argentinean tango dancers.11 One of the
best-known examples of the transformation of the self that becomes available through
dance is the movie Shall We Dance,12 released in Japan in 1996. The main character is a
salary man who, dissatisfied with his life, stumbles into the world of ballroom dance. He
initially keeps his new hobby a secret from his family, but as his skills improve, his sense
of his life’s purpose is reinvigorated. In addition to the main character’s transformation,
there are several side characters who also find a sense of freedom in ballroom dance, and
in the studio they experience respite from regular societal expectations. With reference to
ballet, Sayako Ono’s ethnographic study of amateur ballet dancers in Japan reveals that
the adult women who participated in these classes used ballet to access an imagined West,
a place where they could find a temporary break from the gender hierarchies that
dominated their lives.13 At the same time, it also allowed them to playfully engage in
the fantasy of embodying a ballerina, a dream which entails an association with Western
sophistication and the acquisition of cultural capital. These studies suggest that amateur
dancers in Japan interpret their practice as an opportunity to use their bodies differently,
to explore new possibilities of self-expression, and to engage with images of the West. The
dance studio thus becomes an alternate space in contrast to their everyday lives.
Like ballet, Western classical music has also been widely practiced and consumed in
Japan.14 In fact, when I asked one of my interviewees about early generations of Japanese
dancers in Western dance companies, he noted that I should keep in mind that before they
rose through the ranks, musicians of Asian origin had already found employment and were
now mainstay members in the orchestras that performed with ballet companies. Mari
Yoshihara has examined the introduction and spread of classical music in Japan and the
place of Asian musicians in Western orchestras.15 She argues that the introduction of
Western classical music after the Meiji Restoration should be understood as part of a
hierarchical relationship with the West, where Western cultural forms were perceived to
have higher cultural caché. Piano and violin lessons in particular became part of an
emerging middle-class ideology for fostering a child’s development, and musical training
spread throughout Japan, fostering a group of elite Japanese musicians who went on to
become international stars. In the same way as elite ballet dancers, Yoshihara argues that
musicians of Asian origin have claimed a role in the industry and become an integral part of
a globalized circuit of classical musicians; yet within that world they are sometimes still
identified by audiences and fellow musicians as Asians performing a Western art form,
which suggests that in spite of the globalization of classical music, there are still lingering
notions of a primary association with the West.

Ballet’s History in Japan

Ballet’s history can be traced back to the Renaissance in Italy, was then developed in France,
and its progression continued in Russia.16 Ballet was introduced to Japan at the beginning of
11
Savigliano, Tango and the Political Economy of Passion.
12
Goldstein-Gidoni and Daliot-Bul, ‘Shall We Dansu?’
13
Ono, ‘Ballet in Japan.’
14
I thank one of the anonymous reviewers for highlighting this connection.
15
Yoshihara, Musicians from a Different Shore.
16
Lee, Ballet in Western Culture.
 JAPANESE STUDIES 79

the twentieth century, and Eliana Pavlova was a central figure to the history of ballet in Japan.
She trained in ballet in her native Russia and arrived in Japan in 1919 while escaping the
Russian Revolution. After her arrival, she staged several performances and went on to open a
dance studio in 1925 where an initial generation of Japanese ballet dancers trained. Kyoko
Kawashima describes Eliana Pavlova as the mother of Japanese ballet and notes her influence
in setting the necessary foundations for ballet to emerge and flourish in the country.17
Nevertheless, Kawashima notes that Pavlova did not operate in a vacuum. There were
other places where ballet gained entry in Japan, such as the opera department at the
Imperial Theater in Tokyo; there, Giovani Vittorio Rosi, an Italian ballet dancer, was invited
by the opera department to teach ballet in 1912, and some of his students went on to become
pioneers in a burgeoning modern dance movement.18 Olga Sapphire was another Russian
connection to Japan. She married a Japanese diplomat and trained at the Imperial Ballet
School in St. Petersburg; she moved to Japan in 1936 and performed excerpts of Swan Lake
and other works that introduced Japanese audiences to ballet’s classical repertoire.19 In 1946,
right after the end of World War II and with limited resources, some of Pavlova’s students
staged Swan Lake at the Imperial Theater in Tokyo, their first full-fledged ballet
performance.20 The ballet was well received by the public; reeling from the end of the war,
ballet came to symbolize a place where one could temporarily escape the dire conditions faced
by the country.21 Several of Pavlova’s students went on to open their own dance schools, and
ballet training began to spread throughout Japan, creating an early ballet ‘boom.’ After the
first run of Swan Lake, the now established Tokyo Ballet and shortly thereafter the
Matsuyama Ballet (established in 1948) began introducing Japanese audiences to famous
ballets such as Coppelia, Cinderella, Giselle, and The Nutcracker.22 Over the next decade,
momentum built and foreign companies began performing in Japan; in 1957, the Bolshoi
Ballet toured for the first time, followed the next year by the New York City Ballet. In the
world of modern dance, which initially developed in opposition to ballet but is now an
influence on the style of contemporary ballet,23 Martha Graham visited and offered demon-
strations in 1955. She was followed by the Alvin Ailey Company in 1962 as well as teachers
who introduced modern dance technique as it was being developed in the United States.24
The 1980s are considered a domestic ballet ‘boom,’ coinciding with the period of high
economic growth; ballet was a desirable extra-curricular activity, especially for young girls.
The spread of ballet in popular culture can be seen by the appearance of manga and soap
operas featuring stories about ballerinas,25 which often emphasized the cosmopolitan allure
of ballet. Monden’s study of ballet manga in the postwar period, for example, shows that ballet

17
Kawashima, Eriana Paburoba.
18
Shiba, ‘Modern Dance in Japan.’
19
Monden, ‘Layers of the Ethereal,’ 258.
20
Japan Ballet Association, A Short History.
21
Monden, ‘Layers of the Ethereal,’ 258.
22
Dance Magazine, ‘Nihon Barēshi.’
23
Modern dance initially developed as a response to ballet’s perceived rigid structure. Pioneer figures, such as Martha
Graham and Isadora Duncan, created choreography that broke with the conventions of classical ballet; for example,
dancers performed barefoot or flexed their feet rather than dancing with a traditionally pointed foot. Contemporary
ballet has been influenced by modern dance technique, and ballet companies often perform a combination of
classical and contemporary choreography. Dancers who aspire to a professional career in a ballet company must be
proficient in both styles. As an example, at the Prix de Lausanne participants prepare a classical ballet variation and a
contemporary piece to present to the judges.
24
Shiba, ‘Modern Dance in Japan,’ 123.
25
Ono, ‘Ballet in Japan,’ 4.
80 N. STERNSDORFF-CISTERNA

was often depicted as a glamorous activity involving international travel, which contributed
to its cosmopolitan image.26 Japanese dancers also looked to expand their horizons and went
abroad to further their training. An early generation of Japanese modern dancers went to
Europe and the United States before World War II, and figures such as Michio Itō combined
elements of traditional Japanese movement with modern dance technique.27 In 1952, Ayako
Ogawa became the first Japanese student to enroll in England’s Royal Ballet School.28 After a
career dancing with the New York Metropolitan Opera Ballet, she returned to Tokyo and
opened a dance school modeled after the New York City studios where dancers could take
drop-in lessons, and she offered students performance opportunities. The Prix de Lausanne
developed concurrently with this postwar ballet ‘boom’ in Japan and together they worked to
promote the art form. The Prix was established in Switzerland in 1973, and in 1978 the first
Japanese dancer won one of the top prizes. Numerous Japanese dancers have since won this
and other accolades such as the Youth America Grand Prix, and there has been a sustained
engagement between the Prix de Lausanne and Japan, demonstrated by Tokyo’s hosting the
finals in 1989, NHK broadcasts of their competitions, and the participation of Prince
Takamado, seventh in line for Japan’s Imperial Throne, as the guest of honor at the finals
in 1996.29
Many dancers, regardless of their national origin, begin their training at a young age,
and it is a grueling process to develop the flexibility, musicality, and strength required.
Ballet classes are usually structured by a sequence of exercises repeated, with some varia-
tions, class after class; warm up exercises are done while holding a barre, and dancers later
move to the dance floor, where they practice slow sequences of movement (adagio), turns
(pirouettes), and progressively bigger jumps (petite and grand allegro). These exercises are
designed to develop strength, balance, and flexibility, and to introduce new steps into the
dancer’s vocabulary of movement. Teachers correct students on their leg, arm, foot, and
head positions, as well as on the direction of their gaze, musicality, and their technique for
turns and jumps. In addition, dancers may also take partnering or character dance30
lessons. There are internationally recognized training methods (Vaganova, for example)
and national ballet styles,31 though when I asked teachers in Tokyo if they adhered to a
particular method, they said that they rarely followed one exclusively and instead combined
elements from many. Contemporary and modern dance classes are more varied – there are
those rooted in a particular technique (such as Graham or Horton), while others are
determined by the teacher’s approach. Dancers continue taking lessons at the professional
level; many companies start their day with class, and dancers keep up with their training
constantly. This long and constant training regimen allows dancers to develop a bodily
habitus with which to perform ballet (a topic to which I will return later in the paper).
Ballet is rooted in European tradition, but famous ballets such as The Nutcracker or
Swan Lake are staged across the world, and the elite community of dance is fairly
cosmopolitan, with dancers and choreographers circulating internationally within a
community of peers. Joann Kealiinohomoku, writing in 1970, has called attention to

26
Monden ‘Layers of the Ethereal,’ 270.
27
Shiba, ‘Modern Dance in Japan,’ 119–20
28
Dance Magazine, ‘Nihon Barēshi,’ 183.
29
‘Prix de Lausanne, Our History.’
30
Character dance refers to folk and national dances, primarily from Europe, that have been incorporated into ballet.
31
See Wulff, Ballet across Borders,’ 41–4.
 JAPANESE STUDIES 81

the juxtaposition that arises between ballet’s global reach and its embeddedness in
European traditions. 32 She suggests that ballet can be analyzed as a form of ethnic
dance, with a history and rootedness in place, rather than as global high art. The specific
history of ballet can be seen in the portrayal of meaning and the stories told. Classical
ballets and their storylines come from specific places and rely on shared knowledge of
movement and storytelling. Dancers usually do not speak in classical ballets (although
they sometimes do in contemporary works), so they must communicate through move-
ment, and the audience must be aware of the meaning of certain moves or narrative
conventions in order for communication to succeed (for example, knowing that a
wedding is taking place or that someone is declaring their love for another character).
Despite Kealiinohomoku’s suggestion that ballet should be analyzed as grounded in
Europe, this dance practice has been adopted in many other parts of the world,
including Japan, and is associated with an image of high culture and cosmopolitanism.
As part of the globalization of ballet, Japan has become home to numerous ballet
schools, domestic dance companies, and dance competitions, and the country is a
common destination for foreign companies on tour. The practice of ballet retains an
association with images of the West and cultural caché. For some, it also carries upper-
class connotations and has status as an aspirational activity, exemplified by the involve-
ment of members of the imperial family in its promotion. Even the technical language
used in ballet classes is French, which contributes to its cosmopolitan image.33 At the
same time, while ballet retains an association with the West, it has become engrained in
the local landscape, familiar enough that it is not considered an odd or exotic endeavor.
An example of the integration of ballet in the local landscape was seen during the ‘This
is Japan’ campaign by the Isetan Mitsukoshi group. In 2017, they cast ballet dancer
Hannah O’Neill as the public face of their corporate branding campaign that sought to
celebrate Japanese tradition and values while looking towards the future. Hannah
O’Neill is an interesting choice for a brand representative, as she was born in Tokyo
to a Japanese mother and a father from New Zealand. She later moved to New Zealand,
where she continued her dance training, and she currently dances with the Paris Opera
Ballet. This campaign made a statement as the Mitsukoshi Department Store in the
Ginza district of Tokyo deployed a banner covering most of the façade of their building
of Hannah O’Neill wearing pointe shoes, dance attire, and striking an elegant ballet
pose, with the phrase ‘This is Japan’ above her.

Routes of Mobility and Dancing Abroad

In my conversations with dancers about how they sought opportunities to move
abroad, many spoke about their goals to be closer to centers of dance or to have a
32
Kealiinohomoku, ‘An Anthropologist Looks.’
33
Linguistic barriers in the practice of ballet can be overcome by a shared vocabulary of movement that dancers follow
and familiarity with the French vocabulary used to describe movement. This became clear to me when I attended an
advanced ballet lesson at a studio in Tokyo. The French roots of ballet are reflected in the universal practice of using
French terms to describe steps: for example, plié (bending the knees), pirouette (turn), or to hold an arabesque (a
position where one leg is extended behind the body). At the class I observed, a foreign teacher taught the Japanese
students in English with the standard French terms. He pantomimed the movement (usually referred to as marking),
but he did not need to demonstrate the exercises in their full expression because students were familiar with the
specialized vocabulary of ballet. The class proceeded with increasingly more complicated combinations without
linguistic barriers obstructing the flow of class.
82 N. STERNSDORFF-CISTERNA

chance to work with choreographers they admired. As Helena Wulff notes, the decision
to go abroad must be seen in context, one where there are emblematic centers of dance
that attract dancers from around the world, and Japanese dancers are no exception to
this model.34 Much like the pull of Buenos Aires on those serious about advancing in
the world of tango, which Savigliano speaks of,35 schools such as the Royal Ballet School
or the John Crancko School are very competitive and thus are alluring to aspiring ballet
dancers. After they have completed their training, graduates might audition for famous
dance companies such as the Paris Opera Ballet, or the Nederlans Dans Theatre for
those interested in contemporary work.
Apart from formal training, ballet competitions figured prominently in my interviewees’
accounts of the initial stages of their dancing careers, as they gave them an opportunity to
test themselves and polish a piece of choreography for presentation. Success at prestigious
competitions is often a gateway to a professional career, and professional dancers’ profiles
often included mention of their accolades, indicating the prestige associated with them.
Furthermore, in my interviews with them, some dancers expressed the excitement they felt
at entering international competitions. One dancer related a sense of anticipation, but also
trepidation, she felt when she traveled abroad as a teenager to participate in a competition.
This was her first time outside Japan on her own, and she was thrilled to find herself in a
new environment and competing with dancers from many other parts of the world.36 This
international practice of ballet competition has also been adopted in Japan; there are
numerous dance competitions and some are considered prestigious due to the rigorous
standards and the level of the competitors. Japanese ballet studios prepare students to enter
these competitions, and those with a winning track record often feature their successes
when recruiting new students.
Success at high-profile international competitions gave dancers exposure and the
chance to find opportunities to venture abroad for further training, scholarships, or job
opportunities. Dancers who win a top prize at the Prix de Lausanne, for example,
receive a scholarship or apprenticeship to continue their training with dance companies
and schools primarily located in North America or Europe. Though this is one of the
most highly regarded competitions, it is not the only avenue. One dancer recounted
earning second place at a dance competition in Australia; a teacher who saw her
performance was so impressed that the dancer received an invitation to continue her
training with them in Canada.
There are also ways of furthering one’s training aside from competitions: one
individual who has worked both as dancer and choreographer received a scholarship
from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs to train in the arts, and spent two years in
Europe studying dance. Some were supported by scholarships to train abroad, but
some, especially as the Japanese economy became more affluent, could rely on the
support of their families or their own savings to fund their studies. The ability to cover
tuition fees is linked to support for visas that enabled long-term residence abroad
during training. For example, some dance studios offer intensive dance programs and

34
Wulff, Ballet across Borders.
35
Savigliano, The Political Economy of Passion.
36
In spite of the prominent role competitions played in the careers of the dancers I interviewed, some also voiced
critical opinions about them. One dancer who had served as a judge explained that competitions did not always
guarantee success for a young dancer.
 JAPANESE STUDIES 83

will sponsor student visas for foreign dancers to train in their programs. The presence
of numerous aspiring Japanese dancers at some New York studios that offer visa
sponsorship became apparent to me when I observed resident teachers who had
memorized basic commands in Japanese so they could issue corrections to students
who did not speak sufficient English.
A few of the dancers I met mentioned that going abroad (or at least moving within Japan)
helped them to ‘graduate’ from the strong ties that bound them to their school mentors and
proceed with their own independent careers. They explained that the training path in their
studios was structured in a way that resembled the dynamic in traditional Japanese arts,
where there is a strong personal and hierarchical relationship between student and teacher.37
These dancers worried that the strong bonds that they had established in training with their
teachers might hold them back in their goals. One dancer explained that his teacher had
insisted that he was not ready to move on, even though he felt that he was at his physical best.
He worried that if he continued under the tutelage of this teacher, it could take several more
years before his teacher deemed him ready, and by then he would be past his physical peak.
Instead, he quietly applied for a scholarship to continue his training abroad, and his success
allowed him to move forward. It also resulted in a rupture with his mentor, which was a risky
move with potential repercussions for his networks in the local dance community. Another
dancer recounted that because he had done well in local and national dance competitions, he
was confident enough to set his sights on moving abroad and a career in Europe. His teacher
also believed he was not ready, so when the student departed, it resulted in a break with his
mentor. I should note that the close relationship between dance teachers and their students is
not a phenomenon unique to Japan; there are studios in the West where teachers resist the
departure of their best students and the transition is marked by anxiety on both sides.
However, when these stories were narrated to me, my interviewees drew a parallel with the
Japanese traditional arts to explain the dynamics involved and noted the similarities in
training methods. This anxiety did not extend to all the dancers; some shared stories of
mentors who were supportive of their aspirations, suggesting that ‘graduating’ from one’s
school was not always a fraught experience. However, for a few of the people I met, pursuing
further training abroad assisted them in moving past their home studios.
When I asked whether it was necessary for dancers trained in Japan to go abroad to
further their careers, opinions were largely in agreement that international exposure
was desirable. One interviewee – a dancer and choreographer who worked in Europe
for almost a decade – thought it was absolutely necessary to go abroad to become an
accomplished dancer. He explained that there have been homegrown dancers who go
on to do excellent work and choreograph interesting pieces, especially since the mid
2000s. He acknowledged the work of companies such as Noism (based in Niigata), for
example, but he also thought that to grow as artists it was necessary for Japanese
dancers to travel and be exposed to new ideas, to different dancers, and to choreogra-
phers who see the world differently.38 International exposure can initially come through
training, but it is a grueling and competitive process to get a job – he likened this to a
‘war.’ However, for those able to make the transition from student to employed dancer,

37
See the paper by Christensen (this issue) for a discussion of training methods in baseball and the development of a
patterned form of movement, or kata, that emerges from targeted training.
38
See also Kanzaki Sooudi, Japanese New York, for an ethnographic account of Japanese artists who move to New York
City to expand their horizons.
84 N. STERNSDORFF-CISTERNA

an international move created conditions where they could grow as artists. In addition
to financial benefits, he explained that a professional position overseas meant access to a
new community of rehearsal partners, the opportunity to work with new and some-
times acclaimed choreographers, and an intimate look at the process of creating and
staging new and established works. His own time overseas was a formative experience
for him that later influenced his career in Japan, where he established his dance
company and created new choreography. Another dancer, who worked in North
America for most of his career, still felt that the top dance companies were in Europe
and North America. He thought that the dance scene was sufficiently well developed in
Japan to support a professional dancer community, but he worried that this could
create the conditions for complacency if Japanese dancers did not try to pursue bigger
challenges. Going abroad meant that dancers would have to distinguish themselves
within a larger pool of dancers from around the world. This could be a grueling process,
but he explained that international exposure allowed Japanese dancers to experience the
forefront of the dance world. He wished that more of his colleagues would go abroad so
they could gain an appreciation for the latest developments and aspire to perform at
those levels.
Even for those who spent comparatively less time dancing abroad, the overseas
experience could serve as an opportunity to accrue cultural capital. One choreographer
spent time early in his career in Europe; his professional profile in studio brochures and
performance programs often included this point. During our interview, he seemed more
eager to emphasize other moments in his career as pivotal, especially the establishment of
his dance company, over his time abroad, but the inclusion of his time in Europe in his
public profile was significant because it served as a marker of his training. The cultural
capital gained abroad could also be seen in subtler ways in dance studios, such as dancers
wearing clothing bearing the logos of overseas schools or companies they have visited in
their travels, signaling the breadth of their experiences. Even if these small displays are
primarily symbolic and without major ramifications for a dancer’s career, they are one
way in which international experience is communicated.
I asked dancers who continued training abroad if anything had changed about their
movement once they began training in Europe or North America. One interviewee,
who became a principal dancer with her company in Canada, told me she felt as if she
had to learn to dance again. She explained that in Canada she became more aware of
the limitations of the training she had received in Japan. In particular, she found her
turnout39 and turning technique would have to change as her leg placement needed
improvement. She also made another small discovery, something she claimed heralded
a transformation in how she moved on stage. She explained that the studios where she
trained in Japan were small, meaning that several people took to the floor at one time,
so they had to be mindful of their spacing lest they crowd the other dancers off the
floor. The new studios where she continued her training in Canada were bigger, and she
found it initially challenging to maximize her movements to cover more space with the
same steps. She had to learn to make her body bigger and assert her presence on the
dance floor. The quality of her movement changed as she learned to utilize the space

39
Turnout refers to the outward rotation of the leg at the hips, a technique that allows for a full range of movement,
especially sideways, and is part of the aesthetics of ballet.
 JAPANESE STUDIES 85

available to her. Another dancer who received a scholarship to study in the United
States told me that when he arrived, he realized that his training had been thorough; his
technique was well developed and he could execute demanding steps. During his
American training, however, he was introduced to Balanchine technique, a style devel-
oped by George Balanchine at the New York City Ballet that requires precise musicality
and speed. He realized upon training in this style that he needed further work on his
musicality and focused on learning how to meld his movements with the music. His
knowledge of the piano helped, but it took him some time to understand the nuances of
various rhythms and the ways in which he could embody and work with them in his
dancing.
In addition to the appeals of a career abroad, a few dancers noted other aspects of the
Japanese dance scene that impeded their development. They explained that Tokyo is home
to several ballet companies and numerous smaller groups, which all vie for a limited
audience; these circumstances often resulted in conservative programming choices that
favored well-known ballets that could attract an audience over newer works. One choreo-
grapher also lamented that currently there were many performance spaces in Tokyo,
creating an oversupply of productions, which made it difficult to sell tickets. In fact, she
explained that tickets to her last show (a contemporary and somewhat experimental work)
did not sell well, and she worried she would need to present more recognizable themes to
attract future audiences. A particularly difficult aspect for dancers in Japanese studios was
the pay-to-perform model. Many studios hold recitals where students must pay a fee to be
able to perform in them; in addition, they are responsible for selling a set number of tickets.
This model extends to some professional companies and performances, where dancers are
responsible for selling a quota (noruma) of tickets. If dancers are unable to mobilize their
social networks to purchase their noruma (and the quotas can be rather large for leading
roles), this practice can restrict their participation in performances, which may in turn
hinder the development of their craft. In fact, one dancer asked me after our interview to
check with her before buying tickets to a show in case she knew a dancer in the cast she
could introduce me to who needed to sell tickets. Even though work insecurity in dance is
not uncommon in other countries, and there are a few companies in Japan with more
stable working conditions, economic pressures on smaller companies meant that for those
with potential, a career abroad in a company with better work conditions was appealing.
One dancer, for example, noted that she was considered a full employee during her tenure
at a city ballet in Germany, with union representation, pension, and insurance.40
Japanese dancers who traveled abroad in the 1980s noted that they were often among
the first Asian dancers to reach the top levels of Western dance companies, and they were
cognizant of their groundbreaking position as such. One dancer who began her career in
Europe in the 1980s told me she was the first Asian woman to be promoted to the rank of
principal in her company. She spoke of the Japanese dancers in her generation who had
made names for themselves in Europe and how they felt the pressure not to squander
their chances. Even though her own experience was not negative, she had heard rumors
that some choreographers disliked Japanese dancers, so she felt she had to set a good
example for other Japanese and even Asian dancers in the future.

40
This observation corresponds with descriptions of working conditions at established ballet companies in Europe made
by Wulff in Ballet across Borders.
86 N. STERNSDORFF-CISTERNA

According to a former male principal dancer who rose through the ranks in the
1980s, there was a stereotype that Japanese male bodies were not as strong as those of
Western dancers. Thus, it had been necessary for male dancers of his generation to
demonstrate that they were equally capable. These assumptions about his physical
abilities doubled his determination to master the more demanding steps. He recounted
that he felt self-conscious about his body’s size and strength, but he was determined to
overcome others’ preconceived notions about his skills. Eventually the perception of
male Japanese dancers being weaker was shattered, he explained, but only because
dancers in his generation proved themselves. He felt his generation’s work had forged a
new path for future dancers who would not be faced with similar objections, and there
was some truth to this statement; in fact, younger male dancers who danced abroad did
not recount to me any perceived doubts based on national origin.
Expectations about national origin sometimes extended to those who worked as
choreographers. As a parallel example, Yoshihara found that Asian musicians working
in Western orchestras were sometimes called to play traditional Asian music even
though they were trained in Western classical music. While some were familiar with
these musical conventions, many had limited knowledge of traditional Asian music.41
Similarly, an informant who had worked as both choreographer and dancer told me of
a time when she toured South America presenting contemporary works with a Japanese
contemporary dance company. She later learned that the audience was disappointed
when they could not identify elements of Japanese culture in the choreography. They
had expected to learn something about Japan through the performance, but the
choreographer told me that they thought of themselves primarily as contemporary
dancers and she wished that the audience could have enjoyed their performance in
those terms. I asked another Japanese choreographer about his work’s relationship to
Japan, and he replied that he did not believe his work could be classified as ‘Japanese.’
As in Yoshihara’s ethnography of classical musicians, Asian musicians considered
themselves musicians first, and their ethnic background was secondary; this choreo-
grapher explained that he was primarily motivated by his interest in neoclassical ballet
and drew inspiration from what he saw as universal themes, such as birth, death,
happiness, and love. His creative process focused on the universal rather than the
particular aspects of these themes, and he avoided Japanese references that would not
be familiar to the audience when creating new choreography. Others, however, some-
times included more explicit Japanese themes; one performance I viewed, for example,
combined contemporary dance with themes from the kabuki theater, while another
choreographer referenced Japan in a personal way by using rhymes and children’s
games that reached back to his childhood memories. The creative process is unique to
each choreographer. The same choreographers who incorporated Japanese themes in
their works have also created pieces inspired by other sources that would not necessa-
rily register as ‘Japanese.’ Similar to the musicians cited earlier, these choreographers’
primary relationship was to dance. Their creative process sometimes intersected with
their knowledge and experience of Japan but did not always do so.
One of the experienced dancers I interviewed, described above as one of the first
Asian principal dancers in the 1980s, felt that as Japanese dancers overseas have grown

41
Yoshihara, Musicians from a Different Shore.
 JAPANESE STUDIES 87

in numbers, their presence in Western companies is no longer as noteworthy.

Furthermore, they have also been joined by Asian-American and Asian-European
dancers, as well as more recently by dancers from South Korea and China. As such,
the presence of Japanese dancers has become more accepted, which has contributed to
affirming the place of dancers of Asian origin in Western companies. This change
extended, she felt, to the expectations Japanese audiences had regarding Western dance
companies. She recalled touring Japan two decades ago as part of a European ballet
company, and at the time, the company presented itself to Japanese audiences as a
Western institution; even though they had Japanese dancers in their cast, they featured
them less prominently on stage compared to their performances in Europe. Nowadays,
Japanese dancers in foreign companies are prominently featured in advertising material
when these companies tour Japan. These dancers, especially those in the top ranks of
famous companies, are known to Japanese audiences since the Japanese media reports
on their accomplishments, and their name recognition helps to promote ticket sales.
Indeed, in 2016 the British Royal Ballet promoted two Japanese dancers to the rank of
principals, and when they announced their summer tour of Japan, they took special care
to highlight the Japanese dancers in their company.

The Dancing Body

Marcel Mauss, in his article on ‘Techniques of the Body,’ calls attention to the ways in
which our bodies become of a certain place and culture.42 The ways we sit, walk, sleep,
use the toilet, or are intimate with others are influenced by culturally appropriate ways
to carry the body, thereby developing our bodily habitus. Within a larger body of
literature on the body43 and embodiment,44 scholars have focused on the processes at
play in becoming an athlete and the bodily habitus that comes with the necessary
training. The athletic body is sometimes linked to class, as Bourdieu discusses in his
distinction between sports practiced by the lower classes where athletes gamble with
their bodies, and sports for the upper classes that cultivate a body for others.45 In their
review of the anthropology of sports, however, Besnier and Brownell note that bodily
habitus is constituted by class as well as national sporting cultures, which themselves
intersect with transnational circuits of movement for athletes.46 While these national
cultures have emerged in certain sports, such as soccer, Maguire and Nakayama note
that there is often a tension between national adaptations of sporting cultures and the
globalization of sports itself that ‘also promotes sameness and homogeneity,’47 with
athletes able to circulate within communities of practice across countries (see the papers
by Edwards and Christensen in this issue for the transnational movement of athletes).
Louis Wacquant, in his book Body & Soul, gives a close account of the production of a
bodily habitus as his own body was transformed by the rigors of boxing; he became
stronger, faster, and better able to withstand the punches thrown at him.48 At the same
42
Mauss, ‘Techniques of the Body.’
43
Lock and Farquhar, Beyond the Body Proper.
44
Csordas, Embodiment and Experience.
45
Bourdieu, ‘How Can One Be a Sports Fan?’
46
Besnier and Brownell, ‘Sport, Modernity, and the Body.’
47
Maguire and Nakayama, Japan, Sport, and Society, 2.
48
Wacquant, Body & Soul.
88 N. STERNSDORFF-CISTERNA

time, the transformations to Wacquant’s body enabled him to think of his body as a
‘boxing body,’ and he experienced the world differently through it. One example of this
is Wacquant’s reference to boxing as ‘the sweet science of bruising;’49 he explained how
one could lose oneself in the ring as the body became fully enmeshed in their practice.50
Many of the dancers’ stories I heard demonstrated a process that echoes the discus-
sions of the production of a bodily habitus; they told of how it takes years of training
and maintenance to develop the body and learn the technique required to perform
classical and contemporary ballet at a professional level. The development of a trained
body was primarily constituted through the mastery of ballet technique; the goal was to
become proficient in the practice of ballet and did not include attempts to develop a
unique Japanese national style of ballet. However, the trained body was not simply an
object of display but rather a tool with which they could grow as artists. While certain
physical aspects of dance resemble training for sports, dance is a malleable category that
fluctuates between physicality and art. Unlike the articles in this issue that focus on
competitive sports, the practice of dance does not usually involve pitting oneself against
opposing athletes in a match of skill (except in the case of dance competitions). Ballet is
usually considered an art rather than a sport. Indeed, in my reading of the literature on
sports in Japan, I rarely found mentions of dance, excepting Spielvogel’s study of
aerobics.51 The Japanese government, however, introduced dance lessons in 2012 as
part of the physical education curriculum for junior high schools (which led to some
commentary on whether older teachers would be able to teach dance).52 Another
example of the crossover between ballet and sports was seen when one of the choreo-
graphers I met told me she had an appointment in the physical education department
of a local university teaching dance.
At the same time, the Japanese dancers I spoke with resisted the perception that
dancing was primarily a physical pursuit.53 Dance, they explained, should not be seen
just as a form of exercise, even though some students in Japan and abroad approach it
that way. In several classes I participated in Japan, a common correction was not to
repeat our movements mechanically; it looked to the teacher as if we were working out
similar to an aerobics class. Our teacher explained that this was not exercise. The
movement was not an end in itself but rather a medium of expression that would
unlock the artistry of dance. Constant repetition, training, and reinforcement are
necessary steps to develop a dancing body, but the purpose of the training is meant
to enable the dancer to grow as an artist. Dance requires a training regimen to prepare
the body in a way that resembles sports, but this preparation is meant to equip the
dancer with the skills to perform an embodied art form, a way of visualizing and
interacting with music, of communicating a story, emotion, or message through the
body. As dancers grow as artists, they gain a better appreciation for the artistic qualities
of dance, though as they become senior dancers, this also coincides with a decline in
bodily strength. Tetsuya ‘Teddy’ Kumakawa – an acclaimed former principal dancer

49
Ibid., x.
50
Dance can also be a fully embodied experience; some dancers told me how they were so absorbed on stage that they
had no memory of the performance itself. This was difficult to put into words afterwards.
51
Spielvogel, Working Out in Japan.
52
Fukue, ‘Teachers with Two Left Feet.’
53
See also Royce, Anthropology of the Performing Arts, especially chapter 4, for a discussion of artistry in ballet.
 JAPANESE STUDIES 89

with the British Royal Ballet – explained that as he grew older, he became less focused
on his turning and jumping skills and grew more interested in artistry and how to meld
with the music.54
Recalling Edwards’ article in this special issue, a Japanese dancer who performed
professionally in Europe for over a decade drew an analogy to soccer to explain his
understanding of the difference between dance and exercise. The example he related
was as follows: during a corner kick, the attacking player jumps as high as possible to
outmaneuver the defense and head the ball towards the goal. Perhaps the player is a
jumping specialist, but the height of the leap is not made to impress the audience but to
increase the chances of overcoming the defense and scoring. The jump has a functional
importance beyond its visual impact; a player would not increase the height of the jump
simply to display their skills if it did not contribute to enhancing their scoring chances.
Similarly, my interviewee said that a dancer who performs jumping tricks or other
physical feats on stage should not do them simply to satisfy an audience and demon-
strate their physical skills; rather, these complex movements need to come from within
the artistry of choreography and are performed in order to advance the story or to
evoke a certain feeling. The dancer leaps high into the air because the choreography
requires those steps to succeed in its goal to create a connection with the audience, a
moment where a message or feeling can be transmitted to others via the dancer’s body.
The physical skills are not an end in themselves; rather, they are a means by which
dancers reach for artistic goals. The dancing body, as they explained, was constituted
primarily by its relationship to dance technique and individual artistry. Even if at times
the audience’s gaze recognized them as performers of Asian origin, they saw themselves
as practitioners and artists of an art form that they had mastered and embodied through
rigorous training.

Conclusion
Ballet training shares with globalized sports such as soccer or baseball a common
vocabulary of movement. Proficient in their technique, dancers can change locations
and adapt relatively quickly to further their training or work with new companies.
The dancers and choreographers I met reflected on the contingent ways in which
their careers developed, which were affected by the historical and structural legacies
that exerted a pull on them to move to other parts of the world. These dancers set
their sights on moving abroad so that they could access the companies, studios, and
choreographers that exist in these centers of dance; some remained and developed
extended careers in the West while others eventually returned to Japan, taking those
experiences with them. While the presence of Japanese dancers in Western dance
companies is now relatively common, dancers in earlier generations recounted
having to prove themselves; this was particularly the case for male dancers. At the
same time, they recognized themselves as part of a global community of professional
dancers with whom they shared their mastery of technique and performance experi-
ence. Returning to the advertisement featuring Misa Kuranaga discussed in the
introduction, dancers of Asian origin who work in the West are still identified as
54
Bradley and Satonobu, ‘Ballet Star.’
90 N. STERNSDORFF-CISTERNA

such both overseas and at home during their careers. Dancers like Kuranaga are
highlighted for their groundbreaking status as outsiders who have succeeded in the
ballet world. However, even if the audience’s gaze recognized them as coming from
Japan, and their profiles included this information, their dancing bodies were
primarily constituted through their training and development of technique and
artistry just like any other dancer. They sought to push themselves to the edge of
their capability, to perform works that would communicate with the audience, and to
move in a way that connected and transmitted a message. As professional companies
have become more diverse, this also allows for a wider range of interpretations and a
recognition that professional dancers from varied backgrounds can successfully per-
form classical and contemporary works.

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank William Kelly, Paul Christensen, Abigail Grose, Chiaki Nishijima, and Eric
Cunningham for their comments. I would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers and
journal editors for their suggestions. I presented an earlier version of this paper at the 2016
American Anthropological Association conference, where I benefitted from the feedback I
received from my fellow panelists and audience.

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