A dance performance 

- There is a Square -

This is where we are.

How people perceive a square, restricted space 
depends on their memories and ideas.
But there must also be a common perception.

Is the phenomenon occurring before our eyes real or fictional?
Are they misaligned or normal sensation.

Four creators will showcase their work in their own spaces.

 

Performer: Rakuho Murabayashi, Ain Tominaga,

Mayuko Hiramatsu, Hiroki Mano 

Free admission

2025  June

Fri  27.06   - 19:00       

Sat 28.06  - 18:00      

Sun 29.06  -15:00       

Place: Ev.Brüdergemeine in Rixdorf       Kirchgasse 14      12043 Berlin

https://maps.app.goo.gl/cSAB381U9zNGwFVh8
                                              

This programme will be part of the annual Neukölln 48-Stunden festival. For more details of the programme, here is the link.

https://48-stunden-neukoelln.de/de/festival

 

Performer Profile: 

Ain Tominaga 

She is a Japanese dancer and choreographer currently based in Berlin.

Rooted in classical ballet from a young age, she expanded her practice through training in Canada and France, leading her to participate in a wide range of projects across Japan, Germany, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom. Her artistic journey is driven by a deep exploration of identity and human connection, often navigating the spaces between tradition and contemporary expression.

She performed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony and recently joined Flock Works’ new creation, ANIMA, further broadening her international presence. In Berlin, she initiated "HenoTanz," a site-specific dance project held in a Japanese restaurant, where she curates, choreographs, and performs. Through both collaborative and self-driven projects, she seeks to capture the delicate, shifting layers of daily life and human emotion through movement.

 Dance title - Boundary on G

dance concept: :  Starting from ballet, my body has absorbed colors through encounters with diverse choreographers.
Within the comfort zone, I find freedom. Outside it, I face confusion.
This solo explores the idea that growth doesn’t always mean leaving our comfort-zone, sometimes it means choosing where and how to stay and keep growing inside of it.

Dance: Ain Tominaga

Music: “Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068: II. Air "On a G String" (Arr. for Piano) - Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by Lang Lang

 

Rakuho 

Rakuho Murabayashi was born in Osaka, Japan. She started train classical ballet at Hiro Okamoto ballet school and Mayu Uesugi ballet studio.

Rakuho entered Kobe College in 2013, and trained Contempirary dance, Classical ballet, Martha Graham technique and GAGA by Toru shimazaki, Jan Nuyts, Owen Montague, Allesandra Prosperi and Ayako Kurakake.

After her graduation, she toured through Ukraine with Toru Shimazaki and Emi Hariyama under the direction of Vladimir Malakhov.

Since 2020 to 2023, She has worked at niconomiel:contemporary dance company based in Osaka. She contributed greatly to winning the Encouragement Award at the Osaka Cultural Festival in 2021. She debuted as the company's choreographer in 2023, and released "folia" that received favorable reviews. She also has worked as an assistant teacher of Outreach for elementary and junior high school students.

She moved to Berlin in 2023, and she started project ”Hiza”.  She continues to create dance pieces and perform in Berlin, such as at marameo and Radialsystem Berlin.
As a child, she suffered from selective mutism, which meant she was unable to speak in social situations, but she overcame this through dance. So she is also keen to create dance pieces and activities that relate to people who have difficulty being social.

 Dance title - Vanity

choreography: Rakuho Murabayashi

dance concept: There is another me on the other side of the mirror.
Dance: Ain Tominaga, Rakuho Murabayashi, Hiroki Mano, Mayuko Hiramatsu
Music: “Offering” by Ravi Shankar, Philip Glass

 

Mayuko Hiramatsu

She learned modern dance from an early age and participated in some competitions in Japan.

She graduated from Tamagawa University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Performing Arts. In addition to contemporary dance, she studied a wide range of performing arts including theater, singing, Japanese drumming, Japanese dance, lighting, and directing. While in the university, she performed in a dance competition in Florence, Italy. And since in studies she belonged to a dance company: MAMI DANCE SPACE. Director: Mami Kitamura. Mayuko has worked in Mami's dance works, which utilize the individuality of the dancers. She also worked as a dancer in hall performances by various choreographers and in New National Theatre Opera productions. She also creates her own solo works and presents them in various dance performances, competitions, and events at temples.

In May 2023, she moved to Germany, and participated in dance performance projects by various artists: Boris Charmatz, Nadine Gerspacher, Scott Jennings, Elektro Kagura, as a dancer in Wuppertal and Berlin.

 Dance title - From my room

dance concept:  In my square room, I’m always thinking of a new dance.
But each time—  I’m not here.

I’m on a stage. Or in a kitchen? A wide-open field? A silent church?

I become someone else. A friend? A stranger? Or my past self — or my future self?

New phrases form, born from flashes— a flood of memories.

I’m always thinking, always dancing in my square room.
—Am I, really?

Dance: Ain Tominaga, Rakuho Murabayashi, Hiroki Mano, Mayuko Hiramatsu 

Music: “Which Ever Way Your Nose Bends” - Simon Rackham by Piano Circus

 

 

Hiroki Mano 

 He began his professional career at a commercial photography studio in Tokyo, Japan.
Seeking artistic growth, he moved to Berlin, Germany, where he continued working.
In 1999, he had his first solo photography exhibition, "What is Music?"

In 2000, the young German film director Maria Speth scouted him for her first feature film, The Days Between, in which he played the lead role. The film won the Tiger Award at the 2001 Rotterdam Film Festival.

In 2004, he participated in his first contemporary dance production, Pornostoros, directed by Constanza Macras and Takako Suzuki at the Schaubühne in Berlin.  Since then, he has taken dance classes, focusing especially on Jazz Tap Dance with Brenda Bufalino and Josh Hilberman.

To further his research on musical improvisation, he attended a workshop with cellist Tristan Honsinger. He has since participated in various venues and developed diverse movements and improvisations.

Thus, his activities revolve around the visual and performing arts.

 

Dance title - At my square stated mind 

dance concept:  It is a dance to my self, a confession of oddity and sorrow that I perform in the city square.

Music : Antonio Borghini

'' Lobster Promenade ''  ~ Album from Banquet of Consequene (2023)