On 9.11 I went to Ai Hall in Itami, to see "Motto Darwin", artist Takamine Tadasu’s first ever work for the stage. His experience with this genre so far include performances with Dumb Type, and recently collaborations with Batsheva Dance Company (Israel) and Kanamori Jo’s Noism. As a piece in which Takamine takes charge of everything from composition to direction, this is his first attempt, so I went to Itami with mixed feelings.
Part one of the show was about 70 minutes long, with about a dozen performers jumping, running, bouncing, embracing or fighting each other, then sitting down and shouting improvised lines… The hands of a female high school student appeared between the legs of a boy and his friend (homosexual boyfriend?) and, covered with "loose socks" moved up and down. Then there was a strange cavalry battle between boys - who turned into dogs - and girls bouncing basket balls. The problem was, they were all terribly unskilled dancers. One or two of them weren't bad, but the lumpy mess on stage kept puzzling me. After the event I learned that all performers were students of Takamine at Kyoto University of Art and Design.
After a break that was used to change the set, the 40-minute-long second part began. It was a solo by Matsumuro Mika, who was a member of Noism until recently. Her mainly slow movements were much more relaxing to watch. At some point I realizd that sound and dance were connected in a wondrous way. When Matsumuro sat down, stretched her hand out, and began to shake it quickly, the sound changed according to the movements. The secret behind this was an interactive sound system using a video sensor, developed by media artist Maebayashi Akitsugu. The stage functioned as an instrument, on which Matsumuro was at once dancing and playing music.
Another thing I realized while watching the piece is that the first part included all those themes Takamine is usually exploring in his works: desire, gender, sex, discrimination, sympathy, envy, love, hate, humor, life, death… Given this fact, one could consider the performers Takamine’s alter egos. And since Takamine Tadasu - and in fact every human - is not a homogeneous being, in order to express this it’s consequently the better move to have performers of different levels and qualities. Matsumuro Mika too was probably Takamine’s alter ego. The emphasis on being oneself and at once being someone else, and being an individual and at the same time being a group - one without compulsive, blind attribution - is what I ould call very much a Takamine-style group performance and collaboration.
Photo by Shimizu Toshihiro
Two days after the event I had the opportunity to talk to Shiga Reiko from Ai Hall in a cloakroom at the Tokyo Performing Arts Market. Shiga is a proficient producer who has been involved with dance projects since the 1990s, when "the term 'contemporary dance' didn't yet exist in Japan". Since 2002 she has been working with performing artists from the Kansai area on the "Take a chance project", a 3-year plan in which three artists or artist groups produce three new pieces each year. Participants to date include Jareo Osamu + Terada Misako, Baby-Q, and Yamashita Zan. Takamine’s "Motto Darwin" is the 12th piece in this project.
"I might be misunderstood in saying this, but I approached Takamine-san because there weren't many other new talents in the existing realm of dance that I was interested in. I guess Takamine-san is somebody who can transform his consciousness of social issues into works of abstract shapes, or in other words, express major problems though his own body sensation. When I asked him to participate after seeing his artworks such as "God Bless America" or "A Lover from Korea", he replied, "That’s completely new territory for me, but I'd love to challenge that", and agreed to join right away.
"Around 1990 there were many comanies based in Tokyo, or foreign companies visiting the capital, that I wanted to invite to Kansai. But after that, the number of companies that were interesting enough to invite over from Tokyo began to decrease. So why not put together our own one, I thought, and began to work with people from the area. Making use of the advantages of the region, we could work in a relaxed yet straightforward manner, without annoying interference from people from the business (laugh). It would be nice to be able to do remakes of those works and take them to Tokyo, or even abroad."
In the point that they both don't see homogeneity as a positive quality, Shiga is on the same wavelength as Takamine, and I wouldn't hesitate to say that she’s having success with her attempts so far. Jareo Osamu + Terada Misako, as well as Baby-Q’s Higashino Yoko had been appointed "next generation choreographer" at the Toyota Choreography Award. Just like in the realm of art, the dance world wouldn't have a "scene" these days without the contribution of artists from the Kansai region. Sooner or later Takamine’s work will surely travel to Tokyo, and then around the world. At Ai Hall I didn't spot many people related to dance from Tokyo, but according to Shiga, "the network is set and ready." So, no need to worry for us here.
Now allow me one comment from the perspective of someone involved with media. I feel great dissatisfaction with the fact that coverage of this absolutely noteworthy event in the media in Tokyo has been near zero. It’s impossible to ignore the discrimination of the western part (Kansai) of Japan compared to the eastern (Kanto, Tokyo) in the media, and above that, the media in both regions are pretty much focusing only on what’s going on in their own geographic territories. I don't think this situation will change in the near future, neither in the mass media nor in small-scale magazines and others. The potential to achieve a turn for the better quickly probably lies only in the Internet, but at the moment there isn't any project that really looks promising. In this sense, it’s all the more regrettable that REALOSAKA closed down…
Ozaki Tetsuya / Editor in chief / REALTOKYO