So, what is Tomioka High School Dance Club and why are they so famous? The high school is located in Osaka, and their dance club had been very famous for the dynamic performance. They won 1st place in the All Japan High School Dance Contest in 2015 and 2016 and 2nd place in 2017. What attracts attention to TDC other than their beautiful dance moves is that each dance perfromance has a unique theme. For the contest in 2016, their theme was “Obachan”. Because they are from Osaka, they expressed typical aunties in that area. Akane is the team coach who is also a graduate of the high school.
Tomioka Dance Club achieved wider fame after their tribute to the 80s bubble economy in Japan went viral. Since then, they placed second in the World of Dance competition, LA, wowing people with the themes woven into their exceptional dancing. It is hard to believe that these are not professional dancers, but instead High School students who are studying and rehearsing after school as part of bukatsu, after school club activities.
Since then the Tomioka High Shool Dance Club filmed a promotional video featuring a dance to the song “This is Me” before the release of the musical The Greatest Showman, and now they’ve achieved their second major break: starring in a TV commercial!
TDC would triumph again at the All Japan High School Dance Contest in 2018 with their version of the Weather Girls song ‘It’s Raining Men’. They also achieved 1st place in the Word of Dance Niigata 2019 with this routineApparently the trenchcoats that they wore during the dance were very cumbersome and the girls could not wait to take them off once the dance was over.
They went on from there to place 2nd in the world category the same year with their mash up of Kenny Loggins’ ‘Footloose’, ‘Greased Lightning’ from the musical Grease and Hero by Bonny Tyler.
TDC had been expected to make their debut in the UK in 2020 but due the pandemic the visit had to be cancelled – it is hoped that they will perform in London in 2021. They will also be dancing at the Tokyo Olympics during the summer.
