New Content “HARARKI” Incorporating Ainu Culture

For our first performance in Hokkaido, we created “HARARKI,” themed around “Hararki,” a Biratori Ainu traditional dance. Created under the supervision of the Biratori Ainu Culture Preservation Society and local museums, the work includes dances that express red-crowned cranes dancing in marshlands and soaring through the sky. Its philosophy of “dancing together joyfully” resonates with “BAKERU’s” concept. “HARARKI” was created by incorporating WOW’s interpretation of the landscapes and stories passed down through Biratori Ainu culture. The work features backgrounds inspired by Mount Horobetsu and Mount Totsutabetsu as seen from Biratori, red-crowned crane avatars with Ainu patterns and colors, and a story reflecting feelings toward Kamuy (deities). This work has already been debuted at Compulsory Education School Ani Gakuen in Kitaakita City, Akita Prefecture, and is scheduled to be performed at Nibutani Elementary School in Biratori, Hokkaido. Read about the making of BAKERU School – HARARKI Volume 1

Exchange Between Traditional Performing Arts from Different Regions

This year’s “BAKERU School” is also working to create spaces where performing arts from different regions can meet and resonate with one another’s philosophies and sensibilities. Performers gain fresh perspectives on their own traditional performing arts through the reactions of audiences from other regions, while audiences rediscover the unique character rooted in their own communities by experiencing performing arts from elsewhere. These reciprocal experiences serve as cultural mirrors, offering opportunities for new insights when we reassess our own heritage. Universal human activities emerge from the gestures, thoughts, and forms of prayer common to performing arts nurtured in different regions—revealing an image of Japan that has built up rich cultural layers over time through mutual resonance. For this exchange, we collaborated with the Biratori Ainu Culture Preservation Society in Biratori, Hokkaido, and the Nekkobangaku Preservation Society in Kitaakita City, Akita Prefecture. The exchange has been recorded on film, and a documentary work is currently in production (scheduled for release in 2026). We hope you look forward to it.

A Perspective That Connects People and Place

In addition to “HARARKI” and traditional performing arts exchanges, we continue to present performances of regional performing arts and host mask-making workshops. In some regions, traditional performing arts are taught in schools as part of the curriculum. In cooperation with these educational settings, “BAKERU School” is actively working to connect not only intellectual understanding but also embodied experience—moving beyond simply “knowing” to truly “feeling” through the body. The culture, climate, and history woven over long periods of time in each region—the unique character of a place that emerges through people’s perspectives can deepen pride in one’s homeland, strengthen connections with others, and become a cultural asset for that region. This perspective then turns inward: by reflecting on one’s own roots, identity is nurtured, holding the potential to cultivate the strength to live authentically in the future. “BAKERU School” fosters perspectives that connect children with their land, creating spaces where sensibility and intention resonate with one another. Please continue to follow this rich learning journey.