Jiyun Bae

Toru Iwashita, born in Tokyo in 1957, is a dancer specializing in Butoh and improvisational dance. From the 1980s until 2024, he performed with the internationally renowned troupe Sankai Juku while also developing a parallel solo practice. He continues to be active today, presenting numerous improvisational works Since the 1980s, Iwashita has also led dance therapy workshops, including long-term work at a psychiatric ward in Saga Prefecture. He has explored improvisation as a form of empathetic communication—with oneself, others, and the world. His “life-size” dance is based on everyday movements such as lying down, rolling, or standing up, rooted in his own experience of overcoming a mental health crisis by reconnecting with his body. Evolving from “dance as a scream” to “dance as communication,” his improvisation seeks states where the self emerges and is pushed out through the body, moving beyond choreographed form or representation.

In education, "body" and "language" tend to be captured in a divided and limited context. For example, the body is mainly dealt with in physical education, and the language limitedly within the learning of Japanese and foreign languages, with emphasizing the physical body, language system, and its rules only. They have, however, broader meanings and possibilities. The body is deeply related to emotions, thoughts, knowledge, and learning, and the language with its relevance to images and metaphors can be extended to the bodily dimension. To support this understanding of broader concepts of body and language, somaesthetics and the linguistic theory of Saussure can be considered as a theoretical background. In this sense, this study focuses on the practice of Steiner education. Even though there are raising concerns regarding its controversial "philosophy," it is undeniable that the practices have excellent implications for contemporary education, especially regarding body and language. For example, Eurythmy in Steiner education reflects the meaning of the body extended to child development, rhythm, music, and language. In this manner, this paper focuses on the practices of Steiner education from the viewpoint of body and language. This study aims to explore the possibilities of "body" and "language" in education as seen in Steiner education practice, and based on this, proposes practical examples for the Japanese curriculum.