"Not everything can be explained in words. Everyone draws a different nuance from the word 'love,' for example," says 50-year-old Shuji Onodera. "Yet through dance I've discovered a special beauty beyond words."

Onodera, a leading mime artist and director, is talking about the language of dance following a long day of rehearsals for his new work, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," which opens June 3 at the New National Theatre in Tokyo.

"But because mime incorporates real human gestures in its graceful chain of movements, it can show a character's cultural background more concretely than dance alone," he explains.