Table Manners is a performance unit founded in 2023 by Danshiro and Tomomi Tanabe. Their debut piece, Table Manner, was presented through the Tokyo Arts Council’s grant program Tokyo Crisis Plan. Since then, they have continued to present new works annually at the Tatsumi Hijikata and Natsuyuki Nakanishi Memorial Warehouse.
Our focus lies within the everyday and institutional frameworks of gender and family. We endeavour to bring the everyday body – the body that eats, the body that gives birth,ライブストリーミングする身体、などの日常の身体を舞台上にあげ、鑑賞者との新しい関係性を立ち上げることを試みています。
毎月開催しているROUNDTABLEでは、ジェンダーやケアに関する書籍をもとに、参加者とともに思考を深める対話を続けています。パフォーマンスと対話を循環させながら、「家族」「ジェンダー」「身体」に関する問いを社会へと開いていくことが、テーブルマナーズの目指す実践です。
Danshiro
Designer
Graduated from the Master’s program at Nottingham Trent University, with a research focus on garments that transform in relation to gender. Created and performed Un-weaving Shinto (Jun O), and worked as a dramaturge for Esperanza / 希望 by Kenta Shibasaki. Contributed costume and set design for Birdcage by Tomomi Tanabe, presented at Kamaitachi-no-Sato Art Festival and Atelier Dai-Q Geijutsu. Performed solo in Slug Dance at Fukuoka Dance Exchange.Tokyo Arts Council’s grant program Tokyo Crisis Plan "Table Manners". Yumenoshima Park "Itsunomaniyara" Duo performance with Kenta Shibasaki.
Tomomi Tanabe
Butoh dancer / Midwife
Born in Tokyo, she began dancing while at university and, in 1985, joined the training sessions of Tatsumi Hijikata. She studied under Kunisuke Kamiro and Masahide Omori, and has performed in Dance Hakushu and works by Masaki Iwana. Since 1997, she has developed a solo series titled Goldfish Bowl. In 2012, she began performing The Sick Dancer—based on Tatsumi Hijikata’s text Ailing Dancer—in collaboration with Takao Kawaguchi. From 2016 to 2021, she participated in the project Perception of the Body. In May 2022, she presented a trial performance of Bird Cage at Saruhashi Warehouse, and in September performed at the Kamaitachi-no-Sato Art Festival. In May 2023, she presented the solo performance Bird Cage at Atelier Dai-Q Geijutsu. She is also active as a midwife.