After returning from Berlin, Kosaku Yamada, along with his friend from his student days, playwright Kaoru Osanai, planned to initiate a dance art movement. This was not unrelated to his repeated viewings in Berlin in December 1912 of the stage production of Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune choreographed by Nijinsky. Upon his return, Yamada began to compose works that encompassed not only the characteristics of piano pieces but also those of dance music.

In July 1915, Young Centaur - Five Poems took as its theme a half-human, half-beast race, similar to the protagonist of Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. Although initially inscribed as "舞踊曲 Ballet" (Dance Piece Ballet) on the score at the time of composition, the work was introduced as "舞踊詩" (Dance Poem) in the program notes for a concert on November 11, 1916, where it was premiered by the composer himself on piano. This work is considered to be at the origin of the dance movement, as Yamada subsequently intensified his activities in dance poetry. It consists of five movements. In 1922, only the first and fourth movements were included in Oto no Nagare (Flow of Sound), a collection of selected piano pieces published by Oliver Ditson Company in Boston. The complete work was published in the new complete edition by Shunjusha.