I'm in Berlin for the "transmediale 05". That’s good of course, but this journey involves a feel of deepest regret: I'm missing Teshigawara Saburo in his latest piece "Kazahana" (premiered at Lille Opera in May 2004), which is shown on three days from February 4th at New National Theatre Tokyo.

It rarely happens that a dance performance makes me cry with emotion, but "Luminous" in 2003 left me choked. It wasn't just the "light" theme and the piece’s narrative quality that made my tears roll, but everything from the simple, basically white setting, to the music ranging from Mozart to minimal electronica, and the lighting Teshigawara designed himself to emphasize contrasts of light and shadow. All this was blended together with Teshigawara’s dance forming the centrepiece of a show that was simply overwhelming in its entirety. What I felt watching the spectacle was, equally, an absolutely pleasant feel of harmony of body and mind.

from left: Rebecca Irvin, Teshigawara Saburo, Junaid Jemal Sendi

An overflowing of sensation always kept under the control of certain logic, yet containing sensuous elements extending beyond the logical framework - this is what brings excitement, and probably defines outstanding performing arts. Teshigawara’s work is no exception, and I have the feeling that a glimpse I caught of him in a press conference served as a proof for this. It was not a conference related to the production of "Kazahana", but held at the occasion of the second "Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative" (1/24 at Hotel Okura).

Teshigawara Saburo and Junaid Jemal Sendi

Among the countless mecenat activities of various companies, this program is an exceptionally sumptuous one. Creator from all artistic genres are invited to function as mentors and select upon mutual consultation young proteges from their respective fields of expertise. Each mentor guides and educates his or her protege for one year, and engages in a collaborative project for a minimum of 30 days. Next to travel expenses, Rolex grants each protege a scholarship of $25,000, and also helps the proteges finance performances, exhibitions and other events even after the program is over.

Aditya Assarat and Mira Nair
(c)Rolex/Bart Michiels

The sum of $25,000 alone certainly doesn't make the program much superior to others, but the lineup of mentors who participated so far is amazing. In 2002, when the program was launched, mentors included William Forsythe (dance), Toni Morrison (literature), Sir Colin Davis (music), Robert Wilson (performing arts), and Alvaro Siza (visual art/architecture). The second team of mentors consisted of Teshigawara Saburo (dance), Mira Nair (film), Mario Vargaz Llosa (literature), Jessye Norman (music), Sir Peter Hall (performing arts), David Hockney (visual art). Without doubt, all are masters on their sectors of the contemporary art scene.

Antonio Garcia Angel and Mario Vargaz Llosa
(c)Rolex/Stefan Walter

The program, however, is not as well-known to the general public as its scale might suggest. Two years ago there were only one or two newspapers in Japan that reported on the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative. Investigating in the reason for this, I found out that the policy of Rolex was initially not to make too much promotion. Asked in th epress conference, director Rebecca Irvin further explained that "the important thing is to gather a multitude of outstanding creators and build good relationships." In fact, the relationships with personalities and (hopefully) promising young talents Rolex has established so far will surely turn out to be significant assets for the company in the future.

Matthias Weischer and David Hockney
(c)Rolex/Stefania Beretta

At the press conference, Teshigawara Saburo stated, "I agreed to participate because I saw this program as an opportunity to teach people about the philosophy and fundamental questions of dance rather than about my own dance. For myself it is an occasion to reexamine the problems in question." On Junaid Jemal Sendi, his protege, Teshigawara commented, "dance requires the ability to assemble and reassemble physical things and human elements including oneself. I found that he has this quality." It’s a statement that gives a logical and lucid taste of Teshigawara’s own philosophy.

Teshigawara further told us that he asked his protege to "look carefully and get something from what you see." Jemal Sendi responded by shooting videos and taking notes, and finally participating in the latest piece, "Kazahana." I'd say that here a mentor-protege relationship was born that is just like Rolex had envisioned it - or maybe even better?