Table Manners is a performance unit formed by Danshiro and Tomomi Tanabe. The unit presented its debut work, Table Manners, supported by Arts Council Tokyo's "Tokyo Crisis Plan" grant program. Since then, they have presented new works annually at the Hijikata Tatsumi & Nakanishi Natsuyuki Memorial Warehouse.
Our interest lies in the everyday yet institutional frameworks of gender and family. By bringing everyday bodies into the theatrical space—such as the eating body, acts surrounding childbirth and child-rearing, and the live-streaming body—we attempt to cultivate new forms of relationship with the audience.
In our monthly "ROUNDTABLE" sessions, we engage in ongoing dialogue and deep reflection with participants, referencing literature on gender and care. By creating a continuous loop between performance and dialogue, Table Manners aims to open questions surrounding "family," "gender," and "the body" to wider society.
History
2023: Danshiro and Tomomi Tanabe began joint artistic activities and research. Presented their debut performance, Table Manners, supported by Arts Council Tokyo’s "Tokyo Crisis Plan."
2024–2025: Based at the Hijikata Tatsumi & Nakanishi Natsuyuki Memorial Warehouse, presented and evaluated work-in-progress performances and open dialogues on an annual basis.
2026: Following years of research and trial performances, officially established as an independent collective.
Danshiro
Designer
Graduated with a Master’s degree from Nottingham Trent University. Conducted research on garments that change according to gender. Key credits include: performance and costume design for Jun O’s Un-weaving Shinto; dramaturgy for Kenta Shibasaki’s Esperanza / Hope; costume and stage design for Tomomi Tanabe’s Birdcage (presented at Kamaitachi no Sato Art Festival and Atelier Dai-Q Geijutsu); and a solo dance performance, Slug Dance, at Fukuoka Dance Exchange. Other notable works include: Table Manners, supported by Arts Council Tokyo’s "Tokyo Crisis Plan" grant program; ITSUNOMANIYARA (co-performed with Kenta Shibasaki) at Yumenoshima Park; and the performance We are the children of you at YAU (Yurakucho Art Urbanism).
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.