Key+
'Inside you is a gem,
It's hidden, with time you can
Polish it to shine'
ABOUT US | Key＋とは
Key+ was founded by Kai Tomioka|富岡櫂 and Ena Yamaguchi|山口恵奈in 2023 inspired by the success of UK-Japan cross cultural project ‘Crossing DisDance Workshop’ 2022 which was supported and funded by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, in which we were able to bring people together dancers across the world, manifesting itself in a performance that featured both live dance and dance films, in a way that would otherwise have been impossible due to the geographical distances.
We are passionate and inspired to continue building quality, meaningful and nourishing relationships between the contemporary dance sectors in the UK and Japan. We are driven by our determination to share cultural knowledge and experiences, not limited to dance and the arts but also in language, working culture and community and began to build the foundations of collaborative opportunities and relationships across the world. We will provide support and guidance for dancers to learn and gain insight and experience in a professional contemporary dance context.
We pride ourselves by actively encouraging our collaborators to allow their true artistic voices to be hard. We believe in honesty, and how that manifests itself in the work. The insecurities, complexities, joys and pains of being human are what we are passionate about and how it manifests itself in practice and performance. To us, this is what it means to be an authentic artist. We look forward to sharing this journey with you.
Who We Are | 私たちの道のり
富岡カイ
Kai Tomioka
Kai graduated with a first-class degree from Central School of Ballet, where he was in the BBC Young Dancer’s inaugural year where he was in the contemporary dance final. He went on to tour with the postgraduate company VERVE at NSCD, performing works by Anton Lachky, Renaud Wiser, Efrosini Protopapa and Athina Vahla. Following this, Kai worked for companies in the UK such as 2Faced Dance company, Richard Chappell Dance and Southpaw Dance before moving to Japan to join Noism1 Dance Company. During his time there he performed works by Jo Kanamori and Mori Yuki, as well as his own choreographic works. After his time in Noism he worked with Fabula Collective in Tokyo, performing work by Travis Clausen Knight as part of the programme ‘HUMAN’. after returning to the UK, Kai joined the BalletBoyz, under the direction of Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, touring works by choreographers Maxine Doyle and Xie Xin. He was a part of the Commonwealth Games opening Ceremony before joining Scottish dance theatre in August 2022 where he has performed works by choreographers such as Emanuel Gat, Sofia Nappi, Roser López Espinosa, Joan Clevillé and Colette Sadler. Kai continues to develop his own practice and is passionate about working on building relations between the UK and Japanese dance sectors.
Ena is a contemporary dancer currently based both in the UK and Japan. She moved to the UK in 2010 to begin training at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.
Upon graduating, Ena has worked with companies such Alexander Whitley Dance, Ballet Classique de Paris, Chrysalis London, Corey Baker Dance, FUBUNATION, Jack Philp Dance, Keneish Dance and Richard Chappell Dance and performed for choreographers including Christopher Gattelli, Jon Beney, Layla Ellison, Marion Motin, Melody Squire and Zhongjing Fang amongst others.
She had her West End debut performing Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I, directed by Bartlett Sher which toured both nationally and internationally to Japan, Switzerland and Ireland. Ena has also appeared in several large-scale video productions including The King and I from London Palladium, Leaders of a New Regime (Nowness, Lorde and COP26), 118 118 Money (ITV4) and Levi's.
She is currently performing at The Kit Kat Club Cabaret (West End) as a prologue cast.
Ena works as a teacher, producer and choreographer in Japan and continues working to build collaborations and relationships between the UK and Japan.
山口恵奈
Ena Yamaguchi
Collaborators｜Past Collaborators
Organisations, Institutions and studios;
Afon Youth Dance (Wakes・UK)
Ashiya University (Hyogo・Japan）
BU-TO-O-KAI (Osaka・ Japan）
CCJ (Tokyo・Japan)
DANCE WORKS (Tokyo・Japan）
Dance works Bijou（Tokyo・Japan）
Hanayama Ballet School（Kyoto・Japan）
Kobe Jogakuin Dance Major（Hyogo・Japan）
Kyoto Contemporary Ballet (Kyoto・Japan）
Nephrite (Niigata・Japan)
Richard Chappell Dance (Devon・UK)
Sol Dans (London・UK)
Scottish Dance Theatre（Dundee・UK）
Studio Architanz（Tokyo・Japan）
Individuals；
Nozomi Yamanami (Fashion/Costume Designer)
Jack Thomson (Photographer/Dance Artist)