Liberation Through Constraint: Discovering a ‘Dance Self’ Through Kamigatamai

This study focuses on the learning experience of Japanese dance practitioners in relation to well-being. It is based on the researcher’s fieldwork in Kyoto, particularly at the regular classes given by Nao Yoshimura in kamigatamai. The discussion revolves around unstructured accounts of Nao sensei’s (Japanese, female) students concerning their reasons for starting and continuing kamigatamai classes, and how this has changed/enhanced their lives. Supported by observation of the classes, these accounts demonstrate that learning kamigatamai induces pleasure that grows out of experiences such as feeling a sense of achievement in developing new skills, attaining self-awareness and self-efficacy, finding a purpose in life (ikigai), finding a valuable distraction during the difficult time of the pandemic, belonging to a group, being able to express inner experiences through dancing, and getting in touch with one’s own culture. Whereas prior studies on Japanese dance training connected it to different aspects of self-development, this research argues that learning kamigatamai in this specific context involves an affective becoming, which is achieved through the transformation of the students’ bodies, manners, and values in compliance within the strict frame of the tradition in question. Yet this process also brings about a sense of liberation, as it opens up to its students an opportunity to discover a new ‘dance self’ that goes beyond the constraining norms of daily social life and thereby contributes to their well-being.