Tohru Dance: The Salaryman Turned Dancing Sensation
That's definitively not the case for Toru Utsumi, better known online as
Tohru Dance
. According to him, 'It's never too late to start dancing, because today is the youngest day of my life.' The 59-year-old Fukuoka Prefecture native may work a busy day job as a managerial consultant, but that doesn't stop him from dancing his heart out every chance he gets.
Tohru's trademark suit and smooth moves have helped him to garner a massive fanbase, with over half a million followers between his Instagram and TikTok accounts. But what keeps someone on the cusp of their 60s so spry as they head into their golden years? On a windy evening in Shibuya, Tokyo Weekender sat down with the man himself to find out.
List of Contents:
An Interview with Tohru Dance
Where To Find Tohru Dance
Related Posts
An Interview with Tohru Dance
What inspired you to take up dancing?
After I turned 50, I thought that I don't have that much time left in my life and wanted to try something new. But instead of trying something completely unknown to me, I thought I would try to properly learn dancing, which I often did in my younger days at discos and night clubs. So, at 52, I started going to dance classes.
What style of dancing do you focus on?
The dance style I practice is called locking, but actually, the dancing I do in my videos is more freestyle — or, actually, it's Tohru-style (laughs). Locking itself is about locking into set movements after a few steps, so it's like
1, 2, 3 lock! 1, 2, 3 lock!
But my videos are more like,
1, 2, 3 slide slide
.
Are there any other dance styles you want to try out?
The truth is I really want to master locking for now!
You've gained a strong following of fans from overseas. Did you initially think your dancing would reach such a global audience?
In Japan, it's common for great dancers to get popular. I understood that and thought that I wouldn't be able to become like that. I really never expected to gain such a following overseas.
How has it been meeting and dancing with your followers in public?
The first time I ever danced with someone from overseas was in Kobe. I was on a business trip. However, he was very shy, and his Japanese wasn't that strong, so we mostly conversed through Google Translate. But we both danced and had a great time, and I realized that even if you can't speak the same language, you can communicate through dance.
Are the songs you dance to selected by your followers' recommendations? How do you select songs?
Yes, all songs are requests! While I can't see every comment these days, when I first started, each song request was saved in order, but the list started to get quite huge. [His current spreadsheet of song requests is over 700 songs.]
You dance to so many types of music. Is there a particular genre you find easiest to dance to?
I like things that work with locking. Soul and funk are easier to dance to, especially older songs from the 70s, 80s and 90s — but most of my requests are more recent hip-hop songs (laughs).
What's your secret to staying so genki (active) in your 50s?
It's quite fun for me, so I think that's what allows me to stay so active.
Do you have any advice for staying limber as you age?
Don't use your age as an excuse to give up. If you think doing something is impossible due to your age, that will become your reality.
What do you feel like when you're dancing?
I don't think about anything at all, really… I try to relish the feeling of my body reacting to the music.
Was it difficult to overcome dancing in front of others initially?
It still is! If there are people around, I don't really like to dance by myself, and I try to get out of there, to somewhere quieter.
You're also part of a dance group called the O'jeys. Can you tell us more about them?
This is the seventh year the O'jeys group has been running. We're a group of older gentlemen learning to lock. Originally our dance instructor encouraged us to form the group and get involved in competitions. The average age of our group is 59 years old, with the youngest member being 48 and our oldest member being 71.
How long do you plan to dance for?
There are two guys in our group who are 71, so when I'm 71, they will be 83. I still want to be able to tell them to keep dancing at that age — so at least until I'm 71!
Where To Find Tohru Dance
TikTok
YouTube
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