The Japan-Malaysia collaborative project “Totsu-totsu Dance ~like art, like care” will be held from 2022 between Malaysia and Japan, crossing physical expressions (dance and music) and dementia care.

In this project, Japanese dancer/choreographer Osamu Jareo and sound artist/researcher Kamal Sabran, who has been researching the possibility of music therapy for dementia in Malaysia, will work with people with dementia, care partners, and their families living in Malaysia to create a performance work with dance and music.


【What is Totsu-totsu Dance?】
Since 2009, the previous project “Totsu-totsu Dance” in Japan has brought together dance workshops and dance performances by Osamu Jareo and elderly residents of Graceville Maizuru, a special nursing home for the elderly in Kyoto Prefecture, as well as the facility staffs and local community members. In Japan, it is also attracting attention as a new potential approach to dementia care.
The word “Totsu-totsu” is named after the Japanese words meaning “faltering” and “unsophisticated”, evoking the image of “slowly, wavering and hesitating”. This project is not a “dance” that seeks perfection of sophisticated physical expression, but rather an experimental project of day-to-day bodily communication.

Organized by: Agency for Culture and General Association (Japan), torindo


In cooperation with:
School of The Arts, Universiti Sains Malaysia
C&S Associates Aged Care Consultancy and Training Malaysia
Ipoh International Art Festival
Special Nursing Home for the Elderly, Graceville Maizuru
The Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur