Choreography & performance: Kenji Shinohe
Co-production: Tanz Station – Barmer Bahnhof (Wuppertal / GERMANY)
Photo: Anja Feßer

Kenji Shinoe is a Japanese dancer, performer and choreographer who recently premiered “Action Briquette” in Wuppertal at the end of his artist-residence (“Residenz Plus”, a collaboration between the Tanzstation Barmer-Bahnhof and Ada/Insel e.V.). The piece is formally based on Japanese anime culture and in particular on the particular style of manga. Shinoe focuses on prejudices he has experienced in Europe towards Japanese culture.

The Japanese manga comic has various means of expression. For example, the use of sound-painting words such as “boom” to depict the sound of an explosion. In manga, this sound-painting visualises language. Shinoe was looking for a way to transfer these cartoon expressions to dance. While these sounds and expressions are familiar and familiar to many Japanese, for people from other countries, they represent a new way of representation and thus, at first, only a dance performance. By processing the sound aspects and pouring them into a dance form, “Action Briquette” opens up a new potential for dance.