"Two-toed" dancing. Not to be confused with two-toed sloth.
Independent: Nihon Buyo, Japan's venerable two-toed art form, arrives in London
Japan's oldest traditional dance form, Nihon Buyo, is coming to Britain. "It is a slow and subtle dance combined with vigorous stamping and turning movements," says You-Ri Yamanaka, who is acting as the UK co-ordinator for the Nihon Buyo company's UK debut..."In Nihon Buyo, the weight is grounded; they don't really ever jump up as in Western dance. For the solo work, a comical dance of a servant who has mislaid his master in a red-light district, the dancer wears bright purple socks and flip-flops. In a kimono, you can't see how the dancers use their body, but they are using a lot of muscles and twisting their bodies. They try not to show their hard work directly to the audience as in Western ballet, where you see all the beautiful shapes. We contain our movement and the feeling inside ourselves, and then express it less obviously."
