Kazuo Ohno
As a dancer, Kasai promotes a different body aesthetic than in traditional butoh (slow, horizontal and low positions), with quicker movement, vertical movement, use of the entire stage and eyes engaged rather than looking off into the distance and upward posture. He stated that his teacher Kazuo Ohno always told him not to move around so much, but Kasai has criticized the slow, reserved movements of most butoh, stating that he cannot understand dance without much movement, believing very slow movement risks turning it into an object. Despite this, his solo dance style has been compared to that of Ohno and considers this three-year apprenticeship with him as formative. Kasai states that his is music-oriented and weak in visual images, and that when he hears music, movement flows naturally.