WOW unveiled BAKERU, an experiential installation themed around the folk performing arts of Tōhoku, in 2017. The following year, in 2018, WOW launched BAKERU School in partnership with BAKERU collaborator Tateito-Yokoito LLC. and local performing arts groups, giving children across Japan the chance to discover their local folk performing arts through hands-on enjoyment. In fiscal year 2025, the BAKERU School program toured elementary schools in Hokkaido for the first time, in addition to visiting the Tōhoku region. Ainu culture in Hokkaido is said to have had a significant influence on the culture of Tōhoku as well. During this tour, the program encountered “Biratori Ainu Traditional Dance” in Biratori, Hokkaido, and “Nekko Bangaku,” another dramatic dance tradition in the Nekko hamlet of Ani, Akita. What do these two folk performing arts, rooted in such different regions, have in common? To answer this question, Tateito-Yokoito cooperated with both communities to devise an exchange between the folk performing arts of the two regions. WOW captured on film the feelings, the presence, and the common threads shared by the people who continue to protect their local folk performing arts in each of these places.

The Documentary Film “Dance, Sing, Connect” Through its encounters with people who continue to protect the songs and dances passed down in their local communities, WOW has come to understand the meaning of carrying on a culture, along with the many different feelings that lie behind it. Every performing art carries meaning and hopes in its movements and costumes, and through dance, people feel connected to gods and spirits. Through the performing arts and the daily lives of the people who have carried them on in these two regions, the viewer is reminded once again that it is thanks to the hearts of the people who serve as the bridge between generations that these traditions have survived to this day. Dancing is joyful. Through dance, the people of these communities share in the happiness of becoming one with everyone else. This documentary is a record of dance, and at the same time, a record of the moments when people connect with one another.

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Screening Details for the Documentary Film “Dance, Sing, Connect” This film will be screened on Saturday, July 11, at the annual general meeting of the Sapporo University Urespa Club, a general incorporated association whose activities are centered on Ainu scholarship students at Sapporo University. Date: Saturday, July 11, 2026 Time: Doors open at 12:30 PM; program begins at 1:00 PM -Part 1, 1:10 PM–1:55 PM: Documentary film screening (45 minutes) -Part 2, 2:00 PM–2:55 PM: Talk event Venue: Sapporo University PREA HALL Address: 3-1 Nishioka 3-jo 7-chome, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido (1st floor of Sapporo University SUcole) Admission: Free ▶ Application Form Produced by: WOW / Tateito Yokoito Cooperation and performers: Biratori Ainu Culture Preservation Society, Nekkobangaku Preservation Society

The Journey of “BAKERU”—10 Years of Growth and Expansion WOW’s original installation work inspired by Japan’s folk performing arts, BAKERU, premiered in 2017 at sendai mediatheque in Sendai, Miyagi—the city where WOW was established. The work was unveiled to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the company’s founding. Tōhoku is said to be a treasure trove of folk performing arts. The artistic traditions that have been handed down since ancient times contain within them the skills, ideas, and culture that define the region. For WOW, a company founded in Tōhoku, the milestone of its 20th anniversary became an opportunity to confront its own expression, to look anew at the spirituality passed down in local communities, and to relearn the region’s culture. This inspiration became the impetus for the birth of BAKERU. Since 2018, the project has been continuously selected for Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs’ School Touring Performances program, and through this program, as BAKERU School, has toured a total of 43 elementary schools nationwide, with 50 schools expected to be reached in fiscal year 2026. BAKERU School invites people to enjoy the performing arts handed down in each region through BAKERU, while planting seeds of interest and curiosity toward local folk performing arts, design, and technology through hands-on experience. The program also includes co-creation with local folk performing arts groups, as well as programs that parents and children can take part in together. While performing arts groups themselves have come to enjoy the project, it has also brought new people to take an interest in the performing arts. Over the course of about nine years, it has gently spread its ripples from children to adults, and from performers to audiences alike. In 2019, BAKERU also held an exhibition at Japan House Los Angeles, which is operated by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Through a joint performance between the Native American Lakota people and Tokyo Shishi-Odori, it was shown that even across different countries, there is a shared universality in the performing arts and spirituality rooted in the land, and in the daily lives of the people who have sustained them. BAKERU has taken one small step at a time and will soon reach its 10th year. Together with performing arts groups and education professionals throughout Japan, the BAKERU team will continue their efforts to carry the rich spirituality and joy found in folk performing arts into the future. BAKERU will only continue to grow from here, so stay tuned for what is to come! About BAKERU BAKERU is an experiential installation work themed around the folk performing arts long passed down in the Tōhoku region. By wearing a mask, participants can watch their reflection on screen transform, allowing them to interactively experience a video world inspired by the age-old act of “bakeru,” or transformation. ▶ BAKERU