Making a Break For It
How Dancer/Choreographer Take Ueyama Moved from Dancing in the Streets to Rocking the Stage
Choreographer Take Ueyama studied at New York’s prestigious Juilliard School, danced for eight years with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, and started his own modern dance troupe in 2004. But, Ueyama did not start moving in a studio; he did not start on stage. As a teenager in Tokyo, Japan, Ueyama was hard at work preparing to play professional baseball.
“It seemed like a good career—a lot of money,” he grins. In fact, he received sports scholarships from a number of universities. “That was my dream,” Ueyama admits, “to play baseball.” But at 17, when a shoulder injury put a dent in his plans, he had to leave that dream behind.
“When I got hurt, I said, ‘I’m not going to do anything.’ I started bartending, mixing drinks for rich people. And one day, I was watching television, and here comes Michael Jackson doing ‘Billie Jean.’ And I’m like, ‘Wow.’ I practiced the moonwalk right after that,” he says. Ueyama’s passion for movement was renewed, and this time it was for dance.
“I started break dancing with my friends,” Ueyama says. Inspired by ‘80s hip hop films like “Breakin’” and “Beat Street,” he and his friends worked on emulating the moves of the dancers onscreen and practiced them on the Tokyo streets. “We would watch and watch and try to copy,” he says. But, because the hip hop scene had not yet caught on in Japan, Ueyama and his pals had to get creative. “We would invent things. We didn’t have a lot to go off of, so we would make up moves and teach them to each other,” he says.
Ueyama’s skills and passion were growing, but he needed more training. Then, one afternoon Ueyama was walking down the street and happened to see a flyer for a dance school. He started taking break dancing classes and then branched out to jazz. One of his teachers, a Julliard graduate living in Tokyo, encouraged him to broaden his horizons even more. He suggested Ueyama take modern dance and ballet, and Ueyama reluctantly took his advice. “I go, ‘Are you kidding me?’” he says. But, he jumped in anyway. “I wore tights, and started with classical ballet. It was horrible. I was awful. And that’s how I started.”
A few years into his training, Ueyama met a choreographer and teacher who would become an important mentor, former member of the Martha Graham Dance Company Kazuko Hirabayashi. The two crossed paths when Hirabayashi traveled to Japan to teach a modern dance workshop. “Her style is a mix of contemporary work with Graham. So, there was lots of footwork, and I loved it. It was the first time I loved modern dance,” says Ueyama. “I was 22.” But Hirabayashi left, and Ueyama, feeling his options were limited, began to question whether he would continue dancing. When Hirabayashi returned the following year, Ueyama told his mentor how he was feeling. She asked him to think about coming to Juilliard. “I told my parents that day that I was going to go to New York,” he says.
At age 24, Ueyama left for the Big Apple, auditioned for Juilliard, and was accepted. He spent four years there, taking class every day and performing classic works. “Everything was great. I know lots of people sometimes struggle thinking they should have gone to some other school… I had a great time,” he says. “I learned so much history… I performed Agnes DeMille’s ‘Rodeo,’ Martha Graham’s ‘Diversion of Angels,’ Taylor’s ‘Esplanade,’ [José] Limón’s ‘Missa Brevis.’ There was a story. I was coached by these old dancers—they tell you what the dance is about. That was an amazing experience,” says Ueyama. “I got the idea that every thing we do on stage—every movement means something.”
Upon graduation, he was offered jobs with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and the Graham Ensemble before accepting an invitation from the Paul Taylor Dance Company. “It was one of my first choices,” he says. Ueyama remained there from 1995 to 2003, when Taylor created beloved works like “Funny Papers,” “Piazzolla Caldera” and “Black Tuesday.” During that time, he also appeared in two films featuring Taylor’s company: the documentary “Dancemaker” (1998) and PBS series Dance in America’s “Acts of Ardor” (2003).
“After I left Taylor, I wasn’t sure what I would do next,” says Ueyama. But he remembered an encouraging letter he had received from a dance patron who had admired his work with Taylor’s company. “He said if I wanted to start my own company, I should let him know. I never thought about choreographing before, but it just seemed right,” Ueyama says.
He founded TAKE Dance in 2004 and he’s been choreographing and performing with the troupe since that time. “My work is a mix of different things. People say it’s East meets West, and that’s basically what I’m doing, because I mostly learned to dance in this country, not Japan,” says Ueyama. Taylor’s work is an influence, of course. But his Japanese heritage is perhaps an even stronger inspiration. “The way I move my body is a little different [than Taylor]. His work is very ‘Americana.’ The idea, when I choreograph, is more Japanese. It’s much quieter. I want to tell the story much slower,” he says.
And, though it’s been some time since Ueyama could be found break dancing in the streets of Tokyo, there are hints of street dancing days in his work now. “I don’t know how or where you can see the influence… but I do lots of turned in knees, ankles twisted. My dancers say, ‘Here comes Michael Jackson,’” he laughs. There is also a hint of break dancing in the ways he articulates each part of the body in wavelike motions. Movement phrases often begin with the tip of the finger, or the top of the spine. “How many joints are there in the body? I don’t know, but I want to use them all,” he says.
His unique combination of styles has been pleasing audiences since the company’s formation. New York Times critic Jennifer Dunning says Ueyama has “an unusual gift for putting together big, bold movement” and his “dances are freshly and distinctly his own,” and The Daily Gazette’s Wendy Libertore says his work has a “sublime…untenable quality that expresses humanity’s joint conflicts and strides. Ueyama speaks of hope in troubled times.”
TAKE Dance presented its 5th New York season this past July, and has toured to locations around the world. The company was recently the subject of filmmaker Damian Eckstein’s feature-length documentary “A Year With Take Dance.” Ueyama also teaches contemporary dance technique at a number of major dance schools and festivals throughout the United States, Japan and Europe, and has restaged his works in higher education institutions such as Purchase College, Marymount Manhattan College and Princeton University.
From baseball to break dancing, from performing with Taylor’s company to taking on choreography, Ueyama is finding his own unique path. Though his career has been full of remarkable experiences, Ueyama is focused on the present.
“I loved the other stuff, but I am much happier now. This is who I am,” he grins.
Visit takedance.org for more information on classes, upcoming performances and more.