Today was the last day of the first week. 10am to 4pm. Amy and Hino sensei focused on connecting and relationship. In Hino sensei's work, the exercise called "Shomen-mukaiai (正面向かい合い)" is considered to be the most fundametal. Shomen means the right side. Mukaiai means facing each other. I usually translate the exercise as Facing. Two humans meet face-to-face. That is where everything begins. It starts out with the simplest format; two people stand facing each other, 1-1.5m ap

A typical day in the studio starts around 10am. Amy does her warm-up and asks a few questions to Hino sensei. Her questions vary, ranging from a simple one "What shall we do today?" to a complex one "How can I teach something radical such as your (Hino sensei's) teaching to someone who has been educated in a way that rejects anything incomprehensible as a threat to his/her identity?" Classical ballet has a long history as a dance form. Its educational system or pedagogical ap

Currently I'm in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. I'm here as a translator/interpreter for my teacher Akira Hino and his wife Kazuko Hino (his personal assistant). They are working with with Amy Raymond, dance teacher and researcher based in Amsterdam. The project is called "Budo Ballet Initiative" where Amy and Hino sensei work together in order to integrate the essence of Japanese classic martial arts, or Hino Budo to be precise, into the system of classical ballet. ("Budo" mean