Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mayu Nakaya. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mayu, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

It was around 17 years old I met many of Japan’s leading contemporary dancers and choreographers who had dedicated their lives to dance, admired them, listened to their stories, and narrowed my daily choices and life choices to a lifelong commitment to the arts. And when I graduated from college and I decided to move to New York City, one thick my way was already in place, but I decided to enjoy living this way.
I have met and been influenced by many artists and have become a part of who I am today, but I would like to tell you about two dancers who have influenced me to make a big change in my heart.
The first is Kaori Kagaya, one of represent Japan’s contemporary dancers and choreographers. She dances fabulous, with thick and strong energy, based on a solid basis and technique. On the other hand, she also has the ability to express with delicacy and fragility, dominating the space.
I met her when I was 16 years old as a teacher of one of the many dance classes I went to in Tokyo. When I saw her dance in oIt was around 17 years old I met many of Japan’s leading contemporary dancers and choreographers who had dedicated their lives to dance, admired them, listened to their stories, and narrowed my daily choices and life choices to a lifelong commitment to the arts.
And when I graduated from college and I decided to move to New York City, one thick my way was already in place, but I decided to enjoy living this way.
I have met and been influenced by many artists and have become a part of who I am today, but I would like to tell you about two dancers who have influenced me to make a big change in my heart.
The first is Kaori Kagaya, one of represent Japan’s contemporary dancers and choreographers. She dances fabulous, with thick and strong energy, based on a solid basis and technique. On the other hand, she also has the ability to express with delicacy and fragility, dominating the space.
I met her when I was 16 years old as a teacher of one of the many dance classes I went to in Tokyo. When I saw her dance in one of her choreographed pieces at one of her performances, I was moved to tears, my heart trembled, and I forgot to blink and watched only her dance. I still remember that feeling.
At that time, I was shocked by the great potential of contemporary dance expression, and at the same time, I had a strong yearning to dance like her and to dance in a way that would bring people’s hearts through dance.
The other dancer is Toshihiko Tsujimoto, a former Cirque Du Soleil dancer whose roots are in street dance. I took one of the few workshops he sometimes taught, and I was strongly inspired by his interest in movement and the way he danced, and the words that “there is something that comes out when you keep focusing on what you want to pursue and this makes it more interesting and what attracts me to watch”.
The next time I met him was when I won first prize for a solo piece at a competition in Japan, he was one of the judges. After that he told me he was moved to tears when he saw my dance.
I was really very, very happy to hear those words, and I hope to work with him someday. Although realizing this hope is not all of my goals, he is the reason I have come to face dance and movement with the interest of dancing with my belief and wanting to see myself beyond it.ne of her choreographed pieces at one of her performances, I was moved to tears, my heart trembled, and I forgot to blink and watched only her dance. I still remember that feeling.
At that time, I was shocked by the great potential of contemporary dance expression, and at the same time, I had a strong yearning to dance like her and to dance in a way that would bring people’s hearts through dance.
The other dancer is Toshihiko Tsujimoto, a former Cirque Du Soleil dancer whose roots are in street dance. I took one of the few workshops he sometimes taught, and I was strongly inspired by his interest in movement and the way he danced, and the words that “there is something that comes out when you keep focusing on what you want to pursue and this makes it more interesting and what attracts me to watch”.
The next time I met him was when I won first prize for a solo piece at a competition in Japan, he was one of the judges. After that he told me he was moved to tears when he saw my dance.
I was really very, very happy to hear those words, and I hope to work with him someday. Although realizing this hope is not all of my goals, he is the reason I have come to face dance and movement with the interest of dancing with my belief and wanting to see myself beyond it.

Mayu, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a dancer and choreographer born and raised in Japan and moving to New York City in 2019. I have made a career out of “what I love” and “what I can do”. This is dance.
I am currently creating my choreographed works, presenting solo and group works at several festivals, and also I am a member of Helen Simoneau Danse, iKADA Dance Company, sarAika Movement Collective, and Rogue Wave and Yu.S. Artistry and dances in several other project-based productions.
Since moving to New York City as a Japanese, I have had the opportunity to experience and think about diversity, freedom, personal responsibility, and communication in this city.
I think that all my life experiences directly connect to my work of art and expression. So I aim to bring my work through the sensitivity and experiences I have experienced to the hearts and minds of as many people as possible through dance.

Audiences who see my solo choreographic works often asked me about the roots of my dance technique and movement.
I tell them that my dance is derived from the research of movement through improvisation, based on the movements of my body’s experiences memories, thoughts, and images.

Let me explain a little about my dance roots.
I started learning ballet class at the age of three and went to a ballet studio every day after school to become a ballet dancer.
I entered the performing arts department of the Tokyo Metropolitan High School of Arts and Sciences in Japan, where I met contemporary dance in the contemporary dance course. After that, I met many professional dancers and I was so fascinated by them that I devoted myself to practicing contemporary dance every day.
By the turn of fate, I entered the University of Tsukuba, I got many opportunities to learn choreography. During the process, I began to think about what my dance style was like, what I was interested in, and what I wanted to express.
After graduating from college, I came to New York City and learned again the basic techniques of Horton, Graham, Dunham, etc. at The Ailey School, and then resumed my creative activities again.

This is something important for me and I have been doing since I was in high school, when I take dance classes or dance other choreographers’ work, I don’t just memorize the movement and dance it, I masticate the physical memory I got there over and over until I incorporate it into a drawer that expands the possibilities of my movement. I always want to evolve, and I don’t repeat the same thing too much.
Thankful that I have met with various styles of artists and contemporary dancers, taking their classes or working with them, I think have been able to create dances that no one else can imitate my dance. I believe this is my unique color.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The keywords of my creative journey are “connection with people” and “physical”. First of all, I love to dance and this has been unchanged for 23 years since I was 3 years old and I still dance. I am also very interested in the way of the body moves, and there is endless to my pursuit of physical expressive possibilities.
Through dance, which is most of my life, I have met many different people and environments, and I have learned and realized a lot not only dance. All of this has been an interesting and fruitful time and has been the driving force that has kept me going.

The world is huge with many different cultures, ways of growing up, ways of thinking, and ways of living; it is natural that 10 people have 10 different colors, but they are all the same human beings. We all have different emotions, but the sensations we feel in our bodies are almost always the same. If we are injured, blood flows, and if we feel tired, we get sick.
Most of my works are based on the concept of human psychology and physical sensation. I always try to create movement with physical challenges and am inspired by the sensation. And I hope that the people who see these works will be just moved by the movement of the body, or that they will be inspired to think about something.

I believe that art, not only dance, has the power to temporarily forget and transcend various difficult barriers such as national borders, race, language, gender, age, and time period, and to connect people with each other in their hearts.

When I came to New York City, I could not speak English well, but I was able to connect with people through dance, also I witnessed many times that when music was playing everywhere in the city, everyone there was riding the rhythm in their own style and praising each other for it. There were always smiles there. I realized I love the positive vibes and energy of people in these moments.

This is my goal for the future, I would like to use something I gain through activities such as presenting my work through dance, to help form an ideal world where people can meet, get to know each other, and enrich their imaginations without hurt someone.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I would like to present to you the book “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban”. I read this book when I was 17 years old, to get to know her because she was the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner and a timely topic at that time, and for the piece that I dance in the Japan competition.
Malala was 11 years old, and she was a woman who fought for her rights to education, who at one time lived and died, and who was resurrected and continues to fight today, unafraid of the horrors of military force.
What is it that a girl almost the same age as me, facing the fear of life and death and the armed forces, still continues to fight, why does she fight so hard? I still remember that when I read her memoir, even though I am safe and educated as a matter of course, I felt closer to the world she was seeing and I got goosebumps.

Her words, “Education is necessary for peace, and they are afraid of change and try to suppress it because they don’t know,” really resonated with me, even though I had no real experience.
I had a conversation with my friend who met in New York City.
I told her I know that black people have different environments and cultures in different areas, but to be honest, I cannot tell the difference just by looking at their faces. Then my friend said that she can tell the difference, but from her point of view, all Asians look the same and she cannot tell who is Japanese and who is from a different country. As a Japanese, I can tell a little bit just by looking at their faces. After all, our conversation led to our conclusion that we know the country, its culture, and its history, so we can distinguish the faces as a basis for notice, and we actually talk to them, so we know who they are.
Crime will never go away in any country, but when I heard about hate crimes in New York City, I was reminded of the story of Malala.
I believe that knowing, and in knowing, learning to imagine, is a stopper to hurting others.
An education that gives us the opportunity to teach is a valuable asset when we are young, and everyone is entitled to it equally and freely.
I am not going to argue that this is the way it should be, but I always keep that in the back of my mind when I create my work.　I also seek to do what I can to make my work support something in the field of education.
I was fortunate enough to grow up in a privileged environment, and if I only thought about myself, I probably wouldn’t have thought about it. But I met through dance her actions and words at least influenced my way of thinking.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mayundancecontact.wixsite.com/my-site
• Instagram: mayudance157
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mayu.nakaya.35
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@May.u.n.akayar
• Linktree (Ticket links for the upcoming shows I will be attending are listed.) https://linktr.ee/MayuDaNce157

Image Credits
Becca Vision, Nir Arieli, Alexander Sargent, Ai Toyoshima, Jordan Ryder, N. Ikegami, 梁丞佑