SODA WORKS 2018

toward one of the corners, and the left as well. The situation
should be like the game of twister. 4 actions and 8 points
in the room would make specific conditions and shape the
body belonging to it. I can also add the direction of face and
gaze(eyes), and also other points that are not only the end
of arms or legs, but also elbow, knee, pelvis etc. Eventually
even two-dimensional elements like back, belly, the nape of
the neck could be connected to the eight points in the room.
I am motivating specific action from materialistic conditions
and in doing so, looking for more complicated shapes within
the of body.
To observe the relationship which has affordance between
“space and body” and “body and body” as further step of the
practice was one of larger purpose were served by 15 people
that I invited to this piece, even though I call this “solo
piece”. I dealt with them as objects on the stage and shared
this thought with them at the first meeting. It means their
existence is the same as chairs and tables on the stage.
Another purpose was served by this these fifteen “staged
objects” was to make them become one of abstract elements
that I could compose on stage as figuration. They
became dancers, observers, staff members, storytellers,
as well as serving as a projection screen. During the whole
piece, they were asked not to express their personal emotions
and impulses to do something.
Initially I would describe the first purpose. The situation with
more than 2 bodies in the room seems complicated but it
could be possible to use the same process if they deal with
each other in a practical and materialistic way as well. But as
the fact, when we practiced to learn “affordance” between
bodies, we found the moment that bodies found the motive
to do action from not only practical but also socio-psychological
ways. Then I felt big potential to develop it, and
made 3 groups each with 5 people in order to observe their
improvisations. Eventually I took this work as the actual
element of the piece.
Some concrete instruction that I gave them:
- to understand exactly the situation of your body
moment by moment
- to observe thoroughly the situation around you,
choose the concrete reason to move, and react instantly
- to leave your motivation of moving to the environment
or other body
- not to act, dance, or have personal or emotional motives
behind doing something on stage
Additionally, I shared with them the thought of “This body is
not mine.” with giving some example like the moon reflects the
light of the sun, and the mirror reflects the light in front of it.
On the instructions that I gave, they tried to take the motive
from the materialistic situation of each other : distance,
position, height, speed etc, and look that they understand
the positions of themselves in the space and construct the
relationship with each other. As the single unit of movement
narrowed, sometimes I came to see theatrical elements
more than what I wanted and I suspended them. So I suggest
new task that they should also deal with themselves
as object more intentionally. For example, to look doubtful
with your neck is the action looks like “I have no idea” in the
context of social communication. But you can’t do this action
to act “I have no idea”, you can only do the action of “to lean
your head to one side 20-30 degrees” with materialistic
consciousness. This should not be acting to indicate one’s
intention. As another example, you can also make yourself
smile, but you have to know which degree you lift the corner
of the mouth and which direction and how long seconds you
look at. I instructed them to concern the environment with
knowing concrete shape and situation of their body as if
they control themselves by programming.
I brought all those thought that I shared with them to actual
scenes. What I needed then was the relationship that 16
bodies including me are dealing with ike sampling, understanding
the situation of the space, and leaving motive and
identity of the movement to each other. I believe that this
situation embodies affordance exactly as proposed by Gibson
all possibilities of the relationship between environment
and body.
As the second, the specific role that I gave fifteen objects,
was to be the metaphor of my father, as symbol of his job,
and the cultural and historical situation surrounding his prime
years in 1960’s concerned national character of Japan, scene
by scene. I took the method of collective actions like unison
dance, flock, procession etc. to articulate my critical perspective
regarding the present situation of my country.
Recently in the european contemporary dance scene, the
use of unison is often avoided from several perspective.
However in Japan, it is still being used widely, even by front
line artists. I insist that this is the result of the education and
the body in Japan since before the WWⅡ. Not only in the
university for dancers but also in standard primary school,
all students are required to learn the traditional health
gymnastics (which is called “radio taiso”) developed in the
now what you do not know