Koutei Sennin: The Robot Dancing Sage Of Japan
How One Man’s Fixation Took Dancing Beyond Human Limits
by Mamiko Nakano
Japanese people are known for trying to be incredibly precise in everything they do, and street-style dancing is no exception.
Koutei Sennin is a Japanese dance artist/choreographer whose fixation with the essence and particulars of robot and animation dancing is taking the two American art forms to brand new heights. There are many YouTube videos of the artist dancing either solo or with teams, and in each one, he moves like a highly precise machine. Even Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank approached him with an offer to help SoftBank develop the movements of their “Pepper” robot, after he saw Koutei Sennin dance.
But how is Koutei Sennin able to move so precisely? What is his motivation? We’ve asked the artist with the enigmatic name “Sennin” (lit. sage/hermit) about his fixation with dance and living true to himself.
An Injury Pushes Koutei Sennin To Develop His Upper Body Movements
Everything about Koutei Sennin is mysterious, starting with his name. But if you look closely at the characters he uses to write his name, things become even more mysterious. The name “Koutei” comes from the Japanese name for Huangdi, the legendary Yellow Emperor of China who eschewed his social status and became a seeker of truth. “Sennin,” on the other hand, can mean “hermit.”“I love living and moving mysteriously like no other human out there,” said Koutei Sennin who’s been using his current name for a while now. However, ever since he first decided to keep calling himself that forever, he’s started writing it differently, putting his “heart,” or at least the Japanese character for it, between “Koutei” and “Sennin.” But because you can never read a person’s heart, the extra character remains silent. So even though the number of characters in his name has changed over time, he’s still “Koutei Sennin.”
Koutei Sennin first got serious about dancing after starting university. He had been obsessed with becoming a professional soccer player since he was a kid, but after suffering a splintered bone fracture to his leg in high school, he had no choice but to abandon the sport altogether. That’s when street dancing started calling him: “I loved street culture, so I thought I would give dancing a go, but I was injured and couldn’t move the lower part of my body properly.” Therefore, Koutei Sennin decided to forget about his legs, and concentrated on moving his upper body.There is a warm-up exercise in street dancing called “isolation” where a dancer only moves one part of their body. Koutei Sennin chose to practice the lowering and raising of his chest. That’s how he developed his signature dance move where his chest moves in impossible ways, expanding and compressing beyond human limits, turning a simple warm-up exercise into an amazing performance. Everyone who saw it could hardly believe their eyes. That’s how Koutei Sennin started getting recognized as a pro dancer.
As for his other moves, if you look at them one by one, they don’t seem like much in the beginning. But the more you look at them, the more stunned you become at just how precise they are. Because of that, Koutei Sennin’s movements seem virtually effortless when compared with other street dances. In a way, they bring to mind the reserved movements of Japan’s traditional dance-dramas like Noh and Kabuki. When asked if he consciously tries to make his dancing and choreography feel “Japanese,” the artist answered that he does. However, Koutei Sennin’s “Japanese” accents don’t include samurai, traditional Japanese aesthetics, or anything visual for that matter. Instead, his style simply conveys the Japanese way of thinking.
“My art includes fundamental elements of being Japanese that usually don’t rise to the surface. Things like our delicate nature and sensitivity. If we just embraced one of those qualities, which would require reevaluating our artisan pride that doesn’t tolerate imperfection, then we could maybe become famous for that out in the world.”
The Sunglasses Stay On
Koutei Sennin is fixated not only on perfecting his movements, but also on his style. That’s why he usually has a pair of sunglasses on.
The dancer first started to be noticed by foreign media in 2006 after starring in and choreographing the “MIX PLAY” ad campaign for UNIQLO, a Japanese casual wear retailer. Later, he starred in and choreographed the “UNIQLOCK” ads which won the Grand Prix award at the Cannes International Advertising Festival.
After the “MIX PLAY” video was seen by Grammy-winning singer Missy Elliott, Koutei Sennin received an offer to appear in one of her music videos. During the shoot, there was an incident when the director told Koutei Sennin to take off his sunglasses, but he refused because he simply wanted to maintain the style that he’d chosen for himself. Thankfully his agent negotiated with the staff on his behalf, and with a few directing tricks, the shoot ended without any problems. Currently, that music video has over 36 million views on YouTube.
Koutei Sennin always has to be true to himself. The same precision that he applies to his dancing also influences other important parts of his life. “Compromises stress me out. There’s just nothing good about them. I hate doing things that I don’t fully believe in,” he said while also talking about how he sympathizes with animation director Hayao Miyazaki who’s also steadily refused to compromise his vision. “A director can’t create something good if they worry about production time, deadlines, or their staff’s feelings. You might end up making some people angry but if you manage to create something good, then everyone will be happy in the end. They’ll understand why you were so unreasonable. If you start thinking about getting it all done in one take because you don’t want to inconvenience others, you’ve already lost. All you’ll get from that are half-assed results.”
Koutei Sennin doesn’t plan to let go of his fixation anytime soon. When asked about his plans for the future, he said “Movies and music. My dancing is going to win me an Oscar and a Grammy.” He then added “Though that’s still a long way away,” and laughed. Still, you can’t ignore the fact that Koutei Sennin has been gaining more and more fans abroad. In 2013, his dance team “Time Machine” placed second at the Los Angeles VIBE DANCE COMPETITION, the most prestigious dance choreography contest in the world. Then in 2015, Koutei Sennin caught the world’s attention when he won the first Golden Buzzer in the history of Asia’s Got Talent.
A final message from Koutei Sennin to his fans: “Take what you love, and fixate on it. Never let other people’s ideas keep you down.”
(photo: Towa Hiyoshi translation: Cezary Jan Strusiewicz)
Originally published at ignition.co.
