©︎ Dan Bellman

We spoke with Ayaka Ono, You Nakazawa, and Space Not Blank, who will be in residence from January 7 to 26, 2025, about their new dance piece, No. 1: Claude Debussy’s “Practice.

During your residency at Dance Base Yokohama last year, you conducted the “Inheriting Bodies,” in which you passed on your unique method of generating movement, “physical catharsis,” to different artists.

Inheriting Bodies” is a project that explores how we can pass on our “mechanism” of “physical catharsis” to others, and at the same time, how we can pass on the “mechanism” of others. For us, we feel that making a “dance” into a “dance work” means to consider the distance between “choreography,” which seems to be inheritable, and “body,” which seems to be untransferable. As a reaction to the fact that we have always insisted that “dance” and “body” and “interesting” “choreography” are the representations that accompany our “mechanism” and that they are transient and individualistic, we are now creating a “dance I am creating a “work of art”. The “dance” that begins to retain its form as a “work” is strongly concentrated on how it can be “inherited” after we are gone, and on the practice of launching a “dance work” and its subsequent handling. As a connection, the creation members participating in this “dance work” are all those who have already “inherited” “physical catharsis,” and we hope to create a “dance work” that fully embraces the “materials” generated from the interpretations of each of the people we have met through the project “Inheriting Bodies. I believe that this is a “dance work” that fully embraces the “materials” created from the interpretations of everyone who has met through the “Inherited Body” project.

With the diversity of styles you have presented, what is unique about this work compared to your previous works?

First of all, it will be a work that can clearly be described as a “dance work”. It will not be a stage piece incorporating “dance” or a performance piece. It will be a “dance work” with a clear concept of representing a “dance work,” rather than a presentation of the current state of our “mechanism,” as in our previous “Physical Catharsis” performances. Since this work aims to create a “dance work” using “physical catharsis,” the “mechanism” that produces the movement and choreography we have cultivated thus far, the physicality we wish to express and the theory that underlies the performance will be consistent. We hope that the work appears to show a total amount of choreography and skill that is appropriate to call itself a “dance work. However, we must be careful not to be too reminiscent of that in existing dance, as it may interfere with the viewing experience.

Why did you choose Claude Debussy’s “Exercises” for this project?

In creating our “dance piece,” we needed to give the dance a theme that we did not feel uncomfortable with. That theme was “practice. Claude Debussy’s “Practice” is a piece of music for “practice,” but it also has a strong musical appeal. I thought that these two aspects of “being a work” and “not being a work” overlap with our past exploration of “dance” in the state of “not being a work” and our future exploration of “dance works” in the state of “being a work.

What is your current (second week) stage of creation? How are your current creations?

Using “physical catharsis,” the dancers continue to accumulate movement and choreographic “materials” from the first week. In the second week, the choreography is gradually layered by combining these materials, changing the method of phrasing, and overlaying them with music. We are beginning to understand that the fusion of the unique choreography that emerges from the individual bodies of the “physical catharsis” with the phrasing and music to make it into a “dance work” is the right path toward a “dance work,” even though it sometimes creates a sense of discomfort.

What is the appeal of each of the performers from your point of view?

Mr. Gauthier Asensi is dynamic and expressive, and I feel a sense of dynamism as if I am watching a 4DX movie. I think “physical catharsis” can be taken as a theory of liberation from choices and decisions, so to speak, and I think you are truly enjoying the influx of others’ movements that this brings about. Mr. Yusuke Miya This is the third time to work with Yusuke Miya, after “Inherited Bodies” and “Rebirth,” which was staged last year. The range of options for movement is incredibly wide, and the number of visible moves is mind-blowing. At the same time, I imagine that the unique flow of the work will lead the audience as a guide when they view it. Shizuka Yamaguchi has been working with us many times since 2019, and I am always amazed at the unique variations in flow that emerge when she phrases her movements. I am also very confident that her sense of distance is a unique potential, as she is able to clearly see moving and dancing as “her own thing” in a sense, and not just a mere representation.

Interview: January 20, 2025

▶︎ for more information on open rehearsal/showing (work-in-progress) + artist talk

Open Rehearsal
2025
Monday, January 13 – Friday, January 17, 11:00 – 16:00
Monday, January 20 – Wednesday, January 22, 11:00 – 16:00

Showing (Work in Progress) + Artist Talk
2025
Saturday, January 25, 13:00-14:30
Sunday, January 26, 13:00-14:30

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Ayaka Ono, You Nakazawa, Space Not Blank
Dance Work No. 1: Claude Debussy, “Practice”
– Dance Base Yokohama International Dance Project “Wings” for the next generation of world-class creators ” – – The

Music: Claude Debussy “Practice”
Choreography/Direction: Ayaka Ono, Yo Nakazawa
Performers: Gautier Asensi, Yusuke Miya, Shizuka Yamaguchi
Sound/Lighting: Yomi Sakurauchi
Residence Grant: The Sasakawa Japan Foundation
Organizer/Co-Producer/Producer: Space Not Blank,Dance Base Yokohama
Support: Arts and Cultural Activities Fund for Strengthening Infrastructure (Support Program for Fostering Creators and Cultural Facilities with High Added Value)