"Pathways into the Music Industry" No. 21: Interview with Sho

An interview with choreographer Sho

For the 21st installment, we talked with Sho, who is active as a dance choreographer on all kinds of works, starting with anime.
Sho moved from Fukuoka to Tokyo, faced setbacks and tried again, overcoming many hardships. Once again we heard a lot of stories about what drives Sho forward.

Specializing in proposals rooted in Japanese otaku culture such as anime, games and idols, Sho handles a wide range of choreography, from cool to cute. In recent years Sho has also choreographed works such as the anime "Monogatari" series and SEGA's arcade game "ONGEKI," earning a strong reputation for expression from the consumer's point of view.

Thank you for this interview. You're currently active as a choreographer, but when did you start dancing?

If you mean properly starting to dance, it was in high school.
My mother was originally a dancer, so I was exposed to Black music a lot from childhood.
In junior high I got into '90s hip-hop, and I remember rapping.

So you started with rap.

I used to stand up in front of my friends in class and perform. Then after I entered high school, I started dancing alongside rapping, and the weight shifted more and more toward dance. That's how it went.

Was there something that made you really throw yourself into dance?

My high school classes. I went to a high school in Fukuoka with a performing arts course, and the dance teacher happened to be a junior of my mother's from her dance days.
As I talked with that teacher about all kinds of things and got advice, my resolve to "make a living as a dancer" became firm.

It seems rare to make that decision almost as soon as you start.

The teacher's words had a big influence: "You're a dancer's child, so you should probably dance, right?" I think another reason was that my mother gave up her dream of dancing when I was born.

What did you do after graduating from high school?

Back then I wasn't thinking about being a choreographer at all. I was focused on working as a performer, in shows, music videos and anything else.
My days were all about dancing nonstop and going to lots of auditions.

How do dancers generally work?

It was true for me too, but I think most work freelance.
Passing one audition doesn't guarantee your next job, so it was tough: building connections the hard way and getting information about new auditions.
I put everything into leaving a mark.

Even if you're good, if you don't work well with others or you're slow to learn, it's hard to get work.

It really is a harsh world.

The auditions themselves are very tough too. Learning 16 bars of choreography in 15 minutes is nothing unusual.

This is just my own sense of it, but I think dance skill is actually only about 30% of what you need. The rest is weighted heavily toward your character and a kind of "sales ability."
Around 18 or 19, I'd stay in Tokyo for about two weeks at a time and keep selling myself at auditions, lessons and so on.

That said, times are changing now with the development of social media, so I can't say in general what's best.

SEGA arcade game "ONGEKI" [choreography]

Moving to Tokyo, and a setback

Were you based in Fukuoka at the time?

Yes.
What led me to move to Tokyo was when I was about 21: I passed an audition and got cast in a musical with 48 performances nationwide.

That's a very big stage.

But a lot happened there.
Almost everyone except me was older, I struggled a lot with relationships, and I worried about the gap in skill and character between me and everyone else. On top of that, I got badly injured before the show opened. I managed to perform, but so many things piled up that I really can't tell it all...
My spirit just snapped, and after the run ended, I went back to Fukuoka.

What! Right after you'd landed a big job and moved to Tokyo?

Partly as a backlash from having kept going with a single-minded feeling of "I'll make a living from this no matter what, I'll work hard and land jobs" ever since I set out to be a dancer, I fell into a state of complete apathy. I even felt, "Maybe that's enough. I can just dance as a hobby."
The feeling of wanting to go back to the team I was in and my close friends grew stronger, and I lost my reason for keeping going. I just wanted to go home, to go back.
It was a really big setback.

So that happened.

After returning to Fukuoka, I formed a hip-hop dance team and worked with the feeling of "I want to liven up my hometown." Looking back now, that feeling came from "running away," though.
But as I kept at it, my desire for recognition, wanting to be acknowledged, gradually began to grow again.

K-pop was popular at the time, and from the idea "a group like this might be good," I joined a local agency and formed a dance and vocal group. That brought back my feeling of "All right, I'm going to make it!" and I got back on my feet.
We were marketed in a so-called mainstream way, so we weren't very welcome in the hip-hop scene and sometimes got talked about behind our backs, but my mind was already made up, so I threw myself into it.

Recovering from a setback and continuing again is really amazing.

Maybe so. Even around me, many people lose their drive and quit dancing altogether.

So you worked seriously with that group... and what happened?

Well, three months after we started, only our vocalist was poached and made a major debut.

Whaaat!?

It happened just as I was about to restart with the feeling of "All right, I finally found it! This is what I'll do!!"
Of course I couldn't accept it, so I talked with the vocalist once and we came to some kind of terms, but that's where my second setback began.

I had nothing to do and didn't know what to work toward.
It was like the only ship I'd boarded sank in three months, and only the other member got on a different ship and sailed ahead. (laughs)
I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was really hard.

You had two major setbacks and still recovered. Why was that?

It was anime and choreography.

DearDream / "NEW STAR EVOLUTION" [choreography assistant, motion capture]

Discovering choreography

You now choreograph many anime works. When did you start liking anime?

I'd always watched it about as much as anyone, but after watching "K-On!" I gradually got into late-night anime, and before I knew it I was checking every anime that aired. (laughs)

How did anime and choreography come together for you?

One day the TV at home happened to be showing an anime song special, and the MV for "Daydream café" (the opening of the anime "Is the Order a Rabbit?") came on. When I saw it, I was really struck: "Huh!? What is this!?"

That was also the era of the idol wars, and lots of voice actor units were appearing, so I saw dancing a lot, but I always ended up watching from the skill side, from a dancer's point of view.
But with "Daydream café," I skipped all that and felt something like cuteness and a flutter in my heart.

So something clicked for you.

I remember it well. At first I was lying down watching it idly, but as it went through the A and B sections, I gradually sat up and leaned forward. (laughs)
Until then I'd been getting by with instructor work and such in my hometown, but when I saw "Daydream café," I thought, "I can't stay like this any longer," and got my old feeling back all at once.

That's where I managed to steer well, or rather, my core became firmly set.

So that's when your activities aiming to become a choreographer began.

I learned that the choreography for "Daydream café" was done by Yumiko, and from there I watched and studied everything Yumiko had worked on.
Each movement had a meaning, and the choreography respected the voice actors' characters rather than forcing them into a "dancer's mold." I made all kinds of discoveries, and I thought, "First, I'll approach this person."

Revenge on Tokyo

And from there you decided to move to Tokyo again.

Yes. There was "Daydream café," and I also loved a certain idol anime so much that I strongly felt, "I want to be involved in this work!!"

Moving to Tokyo a second time must have taken courage.

Yes. I thought it couldn't end up like before, so before moving I prepared thoroughly: I made business cards, learned how to write business emails, put my profile in a clear file and so on.

After moving to Tokyo, I went directly to Yumiko's office to hand over my materials, and after a while I got a message saying, "We'd love to talk with you." We actually met and talked, and through various connections I ended up working together with Yumiko. There I learned the process and know-how of choreography, and that's led to where I am now.

So does the choreography work you're doing now basically branch off from there?

No, I also often get work through connections from doggedly sending my materials to all kinds of agencies.
By email or by handing over materials in person, I tell them, "This is what I like, and this is what I'm aiming for," and about 70 to 80 percent of the time I get a reply.

REOL – Give me a break Stop now [choreography, posing direction]

You work on many projects now. What do you keep in mind when actually creating choreography?

It varies by job, but what I always aim for is "choreography that can be put into words."
I'm strongly influenced by Yumiko's choreography, but I try to create choreography where each movement has a meaning, a reason for "why it's like this here."
If I use movements that come out of me naturally, they tend to all end up similar, so it's partly to avoid that, and I also strongly want to respect the individuality of each character and work.

Finally

What is the dance industry, including choreographers, like now?

As with music, I think overall budgets keep going down. It might not be a nice way to put it, but there is a side to it that's like "the ultimate day labor."
But choreographers and dance are absolutely necessary, and I think it's a field that will keep developing, so I hope our standing rises further.

You've won work by going to many auditions and contacting agencies directly. Is there anything you pay attention to when producing yourself?

First, I'd say "making your specialty clear."
If you present yourself as "I can do this, and I can do that too," it's hard to tell what you're actually good at, and I think people often end up thinking, "Then someone else would do."
In my case, for example, I promoted myself all-out like this: "I'm an otaku, I love this kind of thing, and I have so much love for it that I'm really good at choreography specialized for it."

Then the places you should promote yourself to are naturally decided, and your sales stop being "enough shots and one will hit."

I see. Putting it that way also makes it less likely that you'll be given work you're not good at later on.

The other point is to think carefully about what you need and what you don't.
For me, the first thing that had to go was "pride." That's exactly why I could put "being an otaku" front and center, even if the hip-hop world looked at me coldly.

Thank you. Finally, please tell us your goals going forward.

As a choreographer of Japanese otaku culture, I want to become someone everyone knows, in Japan and abroad.
I have lots of small goals, but if this one comes true, I think they'll all have come true, so although it's very simple, it's a goal I've always held up.

Thank you very much.

Interview and text: momo (Mamoru Tanoue)

Profile: Born in 1995. A Digital Performer and Ableton Live user. After graduating from music school, moved from Fukuoka to Tokyo as a composer.
Made a debut as a writer in August 2017, composing and arranging for Tsukicro's "STARDUST".
With the motto "songs that touch the heart", a multi-player who handles everything from lyrics and composition to arrangement and recording.
Also active as the composer and arranger for the art unit "Shiro".

Website: Music Designer momo
Twitter ID: @momo_tanoue