Tejo Janssen (1957): dancer; choreographer; movement & physiotherapist

Studied i.e. music and drama therapy in Nijmegen and modern dance at the Brabants Conservatorium in Tilburg, Holland. In 1985, he visited Japan to study Butoh dance with Kazuo Ohno. His dance performance as well as choreography appeared widely in Europe. He speaks a little Japanese.

Tejo: "When I was at my age of 15, I was a real street-kid, but all of a sudden I left my toys aside, and had my first serious girlfriend. One girl, showed me the fun of dancing and, from that moment on, I became a dancer. It became a way of expressing my feelings and to feel my body all over. Dancing gave me self-confidence, after being a bit of a shy boy. I danced for hours and days everywhere, and after my study and working as a social worker, I decided to start a professional career, and started at the dance-academy. Then I went to Japan for almost two years, and was fascinated about what I saw. I learned a lot about Japanese making of arts.
Coming back to Europe I knew I had to work in Amsterdam, where I continued dancing with, other dancers and companies, starting my own productions, and teaching. My heart goes out to interdisciplinary works in dance-theatre, working with the dance-space, movement-research also with objects etc. I have danced on many interesting events and locations in this world, and I am very grateful to have met so many interesting people and artists. Since 2001 I am a professional registered body-therapist, working with different clients. It is a nice feeling to visit Japan again after those years, and I hope many cross-cultural aspects can be put into action, and again learn a lot of japans rich culture."

Activities for 12xHolland in Hirado:

• Forming “12xHolland Dance Group” and creating a new piece for Haiya Dance Festival on 22 September.
• Solo dance performance at diverse locations.
• Dance lessons with game and drama at various schools.
• Basic massage workshop at old peoples house.
• “Body & Shape” fitness workshop for voluntary group.
• Lecture about the European Dance History.
• Receiving lessons in Nichibu (Japanese traditional dance), Shodô (Japanese calligraphy), Massage and Zazen (Buddhist meditation technique).