First generation Johnny’s Jr. talent teaches Japanese school teachers how to dance

A former Johnny’s talent and now dance school chair has been helping Japanese junior high school teachers learn how to dance so they can help their own students, reports Mainichi Shimbun on August 21.

 

As dance becomes a compulsory part of the junior high school curriculum in Japan, a special dance workshop was held in Shunan city, Yamaguchi prefecture, for 23 teachers who wanted to be prepared for the new change.

 

Yamaguchi prefecture local Toshio Itano is a former Johnny’s talent who worked during the early years of the agency’s history.  After leaving Johnny’s he had returned to his hometown and opened up a dance school, which he now chairs.

 

It has been reported he workshop was divided into three classes where Itano taught the basics to dance styles like hip hop.  While some teachers struggled to move as smoothly as Itano had shown them, they started to get the hang of it after some practice.

“My only dance experience in life has been bon-odori.  I can teach the students how to dance using DVDs, but I also want to become an example for them,” one 44-year-old teacher  said.

“It’s not going to be easy for teachers at their age to learn how to dance.  But by experiencing the difficulties themselves, they’ll be able to understand what it feels like for their students who find it hard too,” Itano said.