Blog

SOUL

Thoughts after walking round Osorezan (Shimokita peninsula)
It would be hard not to be moved coming here and walking among small piles of stones along the riverbed (Sai no Kawara), placed there by dead children trying to get across the river to the other side. Through the night, under the protection of Jizo, part Shinto Deity, adopted popular bodhisattva of Japanese Buddhism, the souls of children rebuild these whilst evil demons try and knock them back down. Surrounding their stones, parents of dead children lay offerings of food & drink, and toys are left in the Octagon Shrine.

Emotionally and imaginatively it is hard to detach from the belief that souls could be trapped here and that many are repeatedly travelling from another world into the present and back again. This reminds me of one of the principles of a recent Butoh workshop in which I was instructed to always be aware of the past and of looking behind: north, east, south, west.

Here, remembering the past is more connected to nurturing living beings than simply leaving respectful gestures like flowers. For example toys, food/drink and shoes/cloths are left for the souls to use and consume.

It’s this kind of respect and care for their child’s soul, the child ghost, that makes me feel a connection between this earth we experience and that which we experience when one sense of us is lost (a literal sense such as hearing, sight or a person who you feel made up so much of who you are now). Here, the souls of these children feel very much present and in places like Tono (another region of Tohuko celebrated for its folk beliefs, that we visited a couple of days later) a child ghost plays a pivotal role in a house, helping to preserve and maintain the home.

Trying to Sleep
Genuinely the lights flicker as I am writing this and I hear something or someone bang. It all feels unnerving. It might be just the people in the next room settling in. Maybe there are too many souls trapped outside our window, maybe my imagination is running wild, maybe the children are. With no one to reason with, I silence myself as I attempt to fall asleep (or so I thought).

‘Let me go, if you want me to let you in!’ The fingers relaxed, I snatched mine through the hole, hurriedly piled the books up in a pyramid against it, and stopped my ears to exclude the lamentable prayer. I seemed to keep them closed above a quarter of an hour; yet, the instant I listened again, there was the doleful cry moaning on! ‘Begone!’ I shouted. ‘I’ll never let you in, not if you beg for twenty years.’ ‘It is twenty years,’ mourned the voice: ‘twenty years. I’ve been a waif for twenty years!’ (Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights, Chapter 3)

Maybe I should slide back the shutters and let them in.

I’m all too aware of the feeling that although there is no one with me to speak to, I’m not alone.

Waking
Its morning now as I finish this entry and in the night I woke once again to the sounds of something or someone banging a constant rhythm. Only I can’t grasp if it’s in this world or in my dreams (it could always be a place in between).

TRUSTING DIRECTION

I started the day truly lost; apprehensive of meetings to come, how to find the location of each meeting… so many unknowns in a new place.

A tea ceremony soon rooted me in Kyoto and I find a new love for macha tea, perfect for a long day of meetings and workshops.

We sure needed it as we paced through misinterpreted (by me) Google map directions. But we find the Kyoto Arts Centre after a bit and albeit flustered, we are again greeted with the coolest of welcomes, namely a cup of chilled green tea.

IMG_2243The Arts Centre, housed in an elegant old elementary school, offers free space to artists for rehearsals as well as providing performance and installation/gallery spaces. We are taken into a couple of studio spaces and whilst each could house what could be our performance/installation, it is a classroom that captures the imagination. It remains as if untouched since a child placed their chair under a desk for the last time. I notice the chalky residue of many lessons past on the black chalk board… ghostlike and yet if you were to brush water on the surface it would be as reflective as calligraphy ink and as alluring/frightful as the blackened teeth of a Butoh dancer (this is known as Ohaguro).

Keeping within the ethos of what I believe teaching (and indeed creative processes) to be, KAC appear:

Open (with their spaces and ideas)
Supportive (to artists and young people in the community)
Aware (of preserving the building and being progressive)

It is a home for artists in training, artists making and the community in which the building itself resides. While I wait in the KAC cafe for a meeting with performer/artist Keiko Yamaguchi, I look around and see local residents coming in for late afternoon cake; such as an old couple, leaning on each other in support as they walk forwards towards many sweet treats (they look at me equally engaged and with the act of a simple nod, I feel that they accept me in their space). The gesture allows us to acknowledge each other whilst not having to enter into superfluous dialogue. Small, simple, significant.

When Keiko arrives to meet me prior to her rehearsal she expresses the role that the KAC plays for artists here as it provides the space to experiment, explore and perform work that is difficult to access in a city like Tokyo. She gives me insight into what it is to be an artist here and we find commonalities, discuss differences, share experiences and connect though describing our projects. Keiko has already opened up new experiences to me, having recommended I work with and see Butoh dancer Ima Tenko, clearly proud of the cultural heritage of Kyoto. She tells me that Kyoto prides itself on preserving the culture of Japan and community plays a large part in this and its growth. I’d be proud too if I was part of the culture here. I want to know and experience more than our 16 days allows. However, although it’s only been 5 days, I feel so grateful that my creative community is growing in a country that I might have never explored without this project – without recognising myself in relation to such an incredible “other”.

We part at the subway station as she directs me to my workshop with Ima Tenko and we don’t close with goodbye but with a sort of “see you later”…maybe this week…maybe in years to come in a studio.

I had planned to get a taxi from my meeting to the Butoh workshop but Keiko insists that the tube is a much better idea (internally I sigh, panic, stress) but she is clear and I turn off google maps, trusting her direction. Three stops on from our “see you later”, past the ‘Daily Shop’, taking the first right, I come across a written paper trail of instructions attached to walls in the backstreets, leading me to the door of Ima Tenko’s studio. She stands and welcomes me with such a joyous, mischievous smile. I know immediately that the the next two hours will go too fast.

The workshop starts making one-to-one physical contact and I know that although I didn’t know where to go this morning, tonight I couldn’t be less lost in this space. An experience that can never be repeated. I had the opportunity to use my “beginners body” and experience my first ghost walk (originating from Noh theatre ) ..moving forwards with an eye on what has gone before.

THE SMALLER THINGS IN LIFE

Arriving at Izumo Taisha Shrine from Matsue I was struck by how nature is regarded by those around me and their awareness of space, each individual moving within their own sphere. They are uninterrupted except when I stand and get in the way, too busy looking at the considered aspects of every day objects, like sculpted birds on a stainless steel water pipe. I walk down the path to a small pond, still thinking too about the image of stillness and solidarity I felt the night before in my first experience of an onsen.

“Go at the pace of the place that you are in”, Judith tells me and it’s a good reminder that although we have a full itinerary, we don’t have to race to complete it. Slowing down, each moment has the capacity to contain more and I adapt to the slower pace of the movements of those around us – each one performed like a scored gesture. I observe a young boy looking into a pond full of coy carp big enough to swallow him whole, a group of children trying to buy sushi with too little change, and find the space to experience being moved body and soul after bowing twice, clapping four times, bowing twice again.

ARRIVING AND ACCEPTING

Often working from a place of tiredness can reap as many rewards as being full of energy exploding aimlessly in a space

Outside Gyokusen Hotel waiting for the shuttle to Izumo Taisha
Outside Gyokusen Hotel waiting for the shuttle to Izumo Taisha

Shuffling through immigration at Narita airport, I felt exhausted but accepting of what the still long journey had to bring. I knew that we had another 8 hours to travel – however for once, that fateful “are we nearly there yet” didn’t enter my mind…more like, “can we lose more of a sense of time?” …Taking in the views from our four connecting trains whilst falling in and out of sleep, waking to new worlds contained in each rice field accompanied by shrines overlooking the growth of plentiful new crops. All close to homes up until now I have only ever experienced in pictures and movies… Japanese of course.

We arrive, thanks to a kind employee at Narita JR station who booked us all seats on our four connecting trains, labelling in the corners of each ticket the order we should take. I’m happy for this order and assertiveness he showed when we very politely said “we will be fine”. I think he saw through our English reserve and quite rightly made us submit and take help.

We accept the tiredness, the assistance, following those who have been here before – like the two ladies we meet who hear our accents and so clearly want to initiate discussion as they turn round too many times to count. All of these our choices. However, when arriving at our destination, Matsue, we had to accept that we were in a place even the Japanese deem a far away place (or so the young man at tonight’s sushi bar told us as he translated our requests to the chef) where we have a lack of the ability to communicate via spoken language and even physically there are evident ways in which we hold ourselves and gesture.

After a more complicated than planned arrival at Hotel Gyokusen we enter our traditional tatami room and at the midnight snack bar a cheerful woman shares her choice of meal. This was also a great opportunity to learn how to pronounce our first key words, sitting in our Kimonos. Repeat, respond, repeat, respond, all words of polite exchanges that will help us in the conversations to come. I feel I have arrived.

IMA TENKO BUTOH STUDIO

Over the past couple of weeks we have been spending time refining our itinerary…yes it’s still developing as we speak with the company finding ways in which we can “follow the brush” in our own research to contribute to what the possibilities of the project will bring for us all.

A month ago I felt lucky to have happened across the Butoh workshop with Yoshiko Ohno at the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio, especially as it is running on our last day altogether in Tokyo. I feel this workshop will provide the “other” to my learnt/experienced practice and be a gateway into another way in which to physically interpret the experiences to come as we head North into rural Japanese landscape.

A few weeks on and another gate has opened as the connections that we have made in Kyoto so kindly and generously offer their suggestions of additional places, workshops and artists we should meet. Already I get a strong sense of a rich community of artists in Kyoto who are open to sharing their experience and resources. This mirrors my relationship to collaboration and how I first encountered working at Whitestone Arts.

Keiko Yamaguchi, an actor and director based in Kyoto we are meeting with at Kyoto Arts Centre recommended that I see Ima Tenko, Butoh Dancer, Choreographer, Butoh Company Kiraza Artistic Director, Director of Ima Tenko Butoh Studio. So, we have booked to see Ima Tenko’s performance of Hisoku at the Kyoto Butoh-kan:

“Kyoto Butoh-kan is devoted to showing authentic Japanese Butoh every week as a special project to share the depth of this unique dance. Performances are in a resonant traditional Japanese building dating from 1862.With only eight seats per show, this is an intimate and unforgettable experience of true Butoh dance in the ancient capital of Kyoto. We feature Butoh veterans Ima Tenko and Yurabe Masami in two unforgettable works…” (www.butohkan.jp/p_01.html)

Not one to not miss the possibility of attending a workshop in the first week of the trip, I found that Ima Tenko is running a workshop at her studio, Ima Tenko Butoh Studio and despite our itinerary making the most of each day, the time allows for me to also attend her 2 hour class. Therefore, my gateway into another way to experience performance and landscape will come earlier than first planned….who likes a first plan anyway, especially when you read phrases such as this in her biography:

“Her activities are wide-ranging, and she is involved in creating a haunted house for children, additionally creating rural theatre and community-based art projects”.

Ima Tenko

A founding member of Byakkosha—one of the most acclaimed Butoh groups, performing with distinct recognition both abroad and locally. She also designed and produced costumes for them. With their breakup in 1994, she became an independent dancer. In 2000, she started her own dance workshops and created the Butoh company Kiraza. Through the exploration of the avant-garde form of Butoh, supported by the Shinto practice of Tamafuri, “reinvigorating the soul,” a practice seen at the heart of Japanese performing arts, Ima Tenko explores the frontiers of her own art and self. As an inheritor of Butoh, Ima Tenko uses Kyoto as a base to breathe new life and vigor into the form.

In 2005, her company conducted a tour of Europe, performing in Spain, France, and Germany, receiving success and acclaim in each country.

Every year since 2007, they have been performing to sold-out houses at the historical Gojo Kaikan Theatre in Kyoto. In 2012 and 2013, they also were chosen to perform in the National Arts Festival, sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan.

At the Culture Venture Competition in Kyoto 2010, her work was headlined in the Kyoto Newspaper as “In traditional Japanese theatre, Butoh performance brings fresh poetry to Kyoto City!” and was awarded the Kyoto Newspaper Prize. She is a board member of the the “Question of Butoh” forum, producing and giving workshops and lectures in 2015 and 2016.

Limited not to just performing, in recent years she has been nurturing and coaching the next generation of Butoh dancers, producing many performers from her studio in Kyoto.

“This earthen storehouse—the Butoh-kan, survived the upheavals of 150 years ago, escaping pristine from the fires of the riots as if it were sacred ground protected by the divinity of water. Following the aspirations of this generation, I would like to present Butoh which offers the pure bright energy of water—the great source of all life and healer of beings.”
“This earthen storehouse—the Butoh-kan, survived the upheavals of 150 years ago, escaping pristine from the fires of the riots as if it were sacred ground protected by the divinity of water. Following the aspirations of this generation, I would like to present Butoh which offers the pure bright energy of water—the great source of all life and healer of beings.”

Links:

Kazoo Ohno Dance Studio

Keiko Yamaguchi

Ima Tenko

Butohkan

HOKOHTAI: THE WALKING BODY

(“Why go to Japan?”)

Stacey – Following the Brush with Butoh 10/4/17

“Do not fight with a difficult sentence, but take it outside for a walk. Nature and the movement of your body will resolve the matter”. Constantin Heger: Emily and Charlotte Brontë’s tutor in Brussels

Remembering the route of one’s process is vital and so easily forgotten or indeed, lost. I had lost my way in the mid-planning stages of the trip and barely noticed. But Why Am I going to Japan? stopped me in my tracks and called into question the direction I was taking, against my natural instinct as a performer/maker. What can I, myself, take from the experience of Japan in relation to the ‘other’ (this project, my collaborators, another culture and landscape)? What are my opportunities beyond this project which this research trip will open up?

Trying to accommodate others, the self loses its way so effortlessly. I knew I had to follow my own brush – create a movement of researching and recording similar to my usual practice, where to play/explore/discover/express is my generating force.

I had been looking at traditional (‘male’) forms of Japanese performance, layering on top of my own culturally constructed self a culturally constructed other. Our project is a meeting between the north of Japan and the north of England to ask what imaginary world might lie between them, this I knew. Now I realised I needed my own routes and practice to criss-cross both landscapes, finding ways of “unmasking the culturally mannered body” (Sondra Horton Fraleigh) – both my own body, and those of Japan’s masculine performative arts, Noh and Kabuki (though Kabuki began with a women’s group).

I find in Fraleigh’s book about Butoh a link to the theatre that excites me most: Tanztheater Wuppertal and Théâtre de Soleil. Fraleigh has become a source of inspiration and excitement and a new bridge in my own thoughts during the planning of our research trip:

“When we experience ourselves through another cultural lens, we are enriched. When we interpret another culture through our own lens, we bring the difference the other can bring – sometimes the same things that insiders see, but more often aspects that bridge the known with the strange. And it is the strangeness of the unknown (how it can rearrange our perceptual field) that calls us to travel across the bridge of difference, after all. Then, when the familiar territory is given up, the traveller can stand in a new, unfamiliar, place where worlds (and they are whole worlds) meet.” (Dancing into Darkness, Fraleigh)

Like Emily, I’ve begun “looking oppositely /For the site of the Kingdom of Heaven” (Emily Dickinson) – towards a physical language that will explore the attractions and repulsions between East and West and the generation of a third world and language expressing a child’s culture – a Gondal – a ghost land – on the borders between the two. “She should have been a man (sic)….a great navigator” (Heger re. Emily).

Emily found creativity in walking these moors. The root of Butoh is walking. My own personal practice in the last five years as a psychophysical performer is to walk, responding to landscape, improvising with the experience of the walk, and then interpreting both physical and mental action through the journey in performance.

…. the landscape helped me react to the here and now essential in improvisation; to remember to listen beyond the habitual, culturally constructed self. To attend to the architecture of the land and then apply this level of looking and listening to the improvisations in the evening enabled me to remain immersed and responsive. (SJ, practice diary “Fifty Steps”for ACE)

So: before we leave, I am working with Margie Gillis, international Canadian dance legend, on Butoh skills at our Whitestone studio. I have booked to see Ima Tenko’s Butoh performance of Hisoku at Kyoto Butoh Kan, and will attend a Butoh workshop at the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio in Tokyo, lead by Yoshito Ohno. Then we head to the far North to Mount Osore (恐山 Osore-zan) on the remote Shimokita Peninsula, to explore and record the entrance to the other world of an afterlife sacred to dead children; then to Tono, to experience rural farming rhythms and the art of storytelling and folklore.

Each day of the trip I intend to produce short physical/dance reflections alongside written responses as part of the process of research and professional development that will also influence whatever will become our Arashi no Ie.

(I’m hoping Simon will video some of them for the blog).

MOVEMENT TOWARDS EXPRESSION

Two images which have sparked movement in a new direction today as performer…

The last work of Pina Bausch, Como el musguito (“Like Moss on a Stone”) is said to have had a sense of the stage feeling haunted with her presence for more reasons than the piece premiering the same month as we lost this great force in the nature of expression.

“Como el musguito, en la piedra, ay si si si …,”
“Como el musguito, en la piedra, ay si si si …,”

The second image is of Yukio Waguri (b. 1952). He was the principle male dancer at Tatsumi Hijikata’s Asbestos-Kan from 1972 to 1978. From this period, he kept notes of the words Hijikata spoke in order to stimulate dancers movement while choreographing. These words are called Butoh-fu, a unique method for choreography. Waguri has made his own interpretation of these words and continues to use them as a method for his own choreography and teaching.

“Journey of Spirit”
“Journey of Spirit”

Butoh dance, was created by Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, in response to the westernization of Japanese culture after WWII . During this era, rebellious artists entered into a process of finding new forms to address the changing world around them.