Tama Art University

Three Policies
Department of Scenography Design, Drama, and Dance

  • Drama and Dance Course
  • Scenography Design Course
  • Purposes and Educational Goals (Diploma Policy)

    The Department of Scenography Design, Drama, and Dance (Drama and Dance Course) aims to foster physically expressive performers full of originality who will uphold the future of performing arts.

    Specifically, we envision future actors, dancers, directors, choreographers, dramatists and so forth, and those who eventually enter any of these fields will practice or consider the physical expression they learn when enrolled in this course, which lays foundations not only for the stage, but also for the human beings involved in creating performing arts.

    If this foundation can be called the urge to express something, it is an important duty of this department to collectively examine individual methodologies, nurture them carefully, and create an environment for the effective communication of their fruits to others.

    This is because the performing arts are truly an interactive and collective endeavor.

    To develop artists who can achieve the educational and research goals of the Faculty of Art and Design, the Drama and Dance Course aims to foster insight into the performing arts, the physical abilities necessary to execute ideas, and the ability to collaborate with others. Students who have achieved this goal receive bachelor’s (BFA) degrees.


    Curriculum Policy

    The Drama and Dance Course systematically organizes and implements a curriculum based on the following policies so that students can achieve the goals indicated in the Diploma Policy.

    In introductory classes, for both drama and dance, problems are posed with regard to reasons for choosing bodily expression, and through this work students learn to perceive individual body characteristics.

    In the introductory first- and second-year courses, students learn basic expressive skills related to the body through interdisciplinary studies of various methodologies of drama and dance.

    Of the specialized courses in the third and fourth years, in the third year, drama and dance seminars are differentiated in line with students’ aspirations, and they select classes so as pursue their respective areas of specialization. They also carry out "practical training" in collaboration with the Scenography Design Course, and enter the phase of realizing on-stage expression. In the fourth year, the graduation performance is incorporated as an extension of this phase, and on-stage productions involving students from both the courses are performed, showing the results of their four years of study.

    Based on the premise that the achievement of physical expression is difficult to quantify, course subjects are systematically arranged so that students' evaluations can be performed objectively.

    To evaluate the results of study, rigorous grading is carried out based on criteria specified in advance. These results are then utilized for further improvement of educational methods.


    Admissions Policy

    Based on the academic contents of the Diploma Policy and Curriculum Policy, the Drama and Dance Course is focused on expression using the body and seeks students with the qualities to engage with the task of expanding the possibilities of the body on a sustained basis.

    Specialized examinations for theatrical dance courses do not involve problems that require prior technical training in dance or theatre. In other words, examinees do not necessarily need experience. Pass/fail is determined by assessing each person’s primal, internal potential as a physical performer.

    For this reason, various assignments are given to judge whether students have the sensibilities for physical expression and the physical ability to realize it, in relation to both dance and drama, and instinctive ability to respond is gauged.

    Performing arts are direct and one-time-only modes of expression and stand in opposition to the paradigm of duplicative media, with the work remaining only in the memories of the performers and audience who encounter directly in the theater.

    After enrolling, students pursue physical expression geared toward work that disappears instantaneously, and we have high expectations for students who are not overly oriented towards efficiency and are willing to put forth any amount of effort in the organic, analog world.

  • Purposes and Educational Goals (Diploma Policy)

    The Scenography Design Course aims to develop the human resources who are active as designers, producers and engineers to create and realize imaginative dramatic spaces.

    The many forms of productions for the stage, dance and film are collaborations among not only directors, choreographers, scriptwriters, and actors, but also set designers, videographers, lighting designers, costume designers, theater directors, and related producers and engineers. As these are integrated arts based on collaborations among staff on site, we believe that thorough practical education to acquire expressive skills, visual arts skills, and technical skills are crucial. Students’ graduation projects, representing the culmination of four years of study, are not merely designs on paper, but involve the awareness that performing arts are based on a trinity of dramatic space creators, actors, and audience or viewers, which is the first step toward production of artistic culture in drama, dance and film.

    The Scenography Design Course aims to foster space creation ability that demonstrates command of integrated art through a wide range of basic knowledge, images rich in originality, ambitious design, and technical expertise. Students who have acquired these constructive skills receive bachelor’s (BFA) degrees.


    Curriculum Policy

    In the Department of Scenography Design, Drama, and Dance (Scenography Design Course), curricula are organized and implemented systematically based on the following policies, so that students can achieve the goals shown in the Diploma Policy.

    In introductory classes, students visit theaters, television studios, workshops, and studios where they view both on-stage performance works and video works, and get a sense of the way people in various fields work together to produce integrated art.

    In basic classes in the first and second years, while students acquire basic knowledge through exercises with the fundamentals of space design, they carry out staff work with set design, videography, lighting, costumes, and overall theatrical directorial theory, and learn techniques of computer software required to produce drawings and images.

    In the specialized courses in the third and fourth years, from the third year, in conjunction with the Drama and Dance Course, students work toward the realization of spaces through the processes of practical design with the aim of producing stage performances and film screenings. In the second half of the fourth year, they present a graduation performance as a culmination of four years of study that can be shown and evaluated widely outside the university. Also, in videography, they give shape to content they have planned and proposed, and put on a graduation presentation.

    To enable approaches to a variety of fields that constitute the integrated art of the performing arts, systematic programs of study are arranged to heighten command of their desired areas of specialization.

    To evaluate the results of study, rigorous grading is carried out based on criteria specified in advance. These results are then utilized for further improvement of educational methods.


    Admissions Policy

    Based on the academic contents of the Diploma Policy and Curriculum Policy, the Scenography Design Course actively seeks to accept students who are interested in all manner of subjects, are not confined to a single idea, and can adapt well to collaborative work.

    In the process of creating integrated art, there will necessarily arise disagreements or individual conflicts among the designs of each field, and we seek students capable of developing the ability to respond flexibly to that situation.

    In the exam for the Scenography Design Course, examinees are evaluated on expressive power from an individual viewpoint as well as their technical ability, based on basic drawing skill and 2D compositional ability required to introduce images and ideas to text. In addition, we offer a recommendation-based entrance examination system to evaluate whether students have the individual potential and capacity to acquire self-expression methodologies that can be adapted to joint work, which cannot be evaluated only by the general entrance examination measuring academic ability.

    We have high expectations for students with the dreams and enthusiasm to be active on the world stage in the future, supporting artistic culture behind the scenes through drama, dance and film.