DREAM TIME JAPAN
I participate in a Performance-Making Lab as one of 10 international experimental performance makers. Hosted by acclaimed Butoh theatre company Gekidan Kaitaisha, Tokyo and co-facilitated by Australian artists Milly Cooper and Luke Macaronas the lab use Kaitaisha’s unique methodology and conclude with a work in progress showing.
Following the lab I pursue further research in Japan to nurture the development of my own work including
• Noh training with female Noh Actors Uzawa Hisa and her daughter Uzawa Hikaru
• Gathering material for a new project, Observatree, a performance/installation centered on a wearable kinetic sculpture.
More information:
The context for the project is my long-standing association with Japanese artistic traditions which began in 1992 when engaged as a dancer in Opera, I visited Japan and experienced Noh theatre. The project comprises 2 strands:
1. 5week Performance Making Lab 30 September – 4 November 2024
2. 2week Individual research in Japan between 5 November and 1 December 2024
Strand 1: in 2004, I had the privilege of working with acclaimed Butoh Theatre Company Gekidan Kaitaisha on their Dream Regime (DR) performance project in Cardiff; since then DR has been an ongoing intercultural project presented in Japan, Wales, UK, Germany, Poland, and Korea aiming to develop new theatre making techniques to explore themes of globalisation, digital media, and migration. To mark the 20th anniversary of DR, the company, together with Australian theatre artists Milly Cooper and Luke Macaronas are leading a 5week Lab, at the Hachioji Dock Studio, Tokyo. I have been invited to participate in the Lab as one of an ensemble of 10 transnational experimental performance makers, to contribute my approaches, and collaborate using Kaitaisha’s methodology to develop a new performance. The lab will conclude with a preliminary work-in-progress showing to a public audience.
As one of the original collaborators in DR this is a unique opportunity to reconnect with the original practitioners of a methodology that was a founding influence on my practice; revisiting that with the benefit of 20 years of making work; and refreshing, reframing and invigorating that through collaboration and exchange with a unique, diverse, group of international colleagues. Equally the lab is an opportunity for me to expand and strengthen my skills through the training in Kaitaisha’s method 20 years on, which draws on butoh, intercultural theatre, and dance theatre.
Wales having hosted one of the original DR performances in 2004 it is highly relevant that I embody that history and connection and work alongside the younger members of the ensemble to build on this legacy to develop new work and evolve practices that draw on the legacies of experimental performance from the 1990s and 2000s.
Strand 2: 10 years after working on DR, I toured with The Llanarth Group to present Told by the Wind at Babylon Theatre, Tokyo in tandem with a cultural exchange with Ami Theatre, a Japanese company working with principals of Noh Theatre. Following the DR Lab I spend 2 weeks re-kindling and making new connections and gathering information to invest in my own new work ‘Observatree’, a wearable kinetic sculpture performance installation, currently in development. Activity will encompass:
• 3 days of work/training in Tokyo with the Tessenkai and female Noh Actors Uzawa Hisa (encountered when presenting Told by the Wind) and her daughter Uzawa Hikaru (https://www.uzawahisa.jp/)
• 8 days of attending Kagura dances in Hiroshima, Hamada, Shimane, Miyazaki. A ritual dance of Shamanic origins Kagura is said to be an antecedent to the Shinto influence on Noh Theatre. Researching Kagura deepens my understanding of the relationship between ritual and theatre and inspire my approach to creating Observatree performances.
Dream Time Japan is being realised with financial Support from Wales Arts International
