At Kinosaki

As a supplementary prize to the Kinosaki International Art Center Prize awarded in the Yokohama Dance Collection 2022 Competition I, we are pleased to announce that we have been selected to participate in the ” Dance Base Yokohama International Dance Project “Wings” for the next generation of creators who want to spread their wings to the world. (hereinafter referred to as “Wings “ ), we stayed at Kinosaki International Art Center (hereinafter referred to as “KIAC”) for 15 days from May 10 (Sat.) to 25 (Sun.), 2025, for the creation of “Dance Work No. 3”.

 

Dance Work No. 3″ has updated its title to ” Dance Work No. 3: Naoya Shiga’s “At the Castle”” after his residency at KIAC. The “dance work” will be a “draft” of Naoya Shiga’s novel “At the Castle”, tracing the path of Naoya Shiga, and considering and expressing how Naoya Shiga’s point of view in the novel can be reinterpreted as our point of view living today. The series of “images” expressed in “At a Castle”, a “novel” that does not seem to focus on tracing the “development” of the “story” of the “novel”. I judged that it was worthy of being described simply as a “dance work. Naoya Shiga used “words” to express them. We will try to use “body” to express them. This is the “true thing,” or the basis of the “true thing,” which we cannot help but be timid because we feel that it is something we have taken for granted.

 

In contrast to our ongoing state of interest in “the person himself” and the use of performing arts as a method of expression, we wanted to relive the image of what Naoya Shiga saw and wrote as this one person, Naoya Shiga “himself”, using the novel as a method of expression.

 

This was our second stay at KIAC in two years, since the creation of “Words and Shakespeare’s Birds” (premiered in January 2024 at the Kichijoji Theater) in 2023. The second half of the week was dedicated to building team relationships and gathering materials. The theme of the stay, which encompassed both the first and second periods, was to “spend time” in Kinosaki. This is a report on what we learned, gathered, and spent during our stay in Kinosaki, written as an extra chapter in the series “Thinking Offstage” which began in March 2025, and as “Dance Work No. 3” was created as part of “Wings,” it is also a report on Dance Base Yokohama (hereinafter referred to as DaBY). It will be posted on the website of Dance Base Yokohama (hereinafter referred to as DaBY).

 

Signatures of KIAC resident members May 2025 Kinosaki International Art Center Courtesy of Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Yo Space Not Blank

 

First Saturday

Saturday, May 10, 2025. After our 16-day stay in Shin-Nagata, we were on our way to Kinosaki Onsen (Kinosaki Hot Springs) on the JR KOUNOTORI No. 5 limited express train from Amagasaki. Although we had visited Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture, where Kinosaki Onsen is located, this was the first time we had traveled there via Amagasaki, having previously traveled via Kyoto. This time, we had to stay in Shin-Nagata just before the trip, and it was more convenient to go from Amagasaki than to Kyoto. At 12:51 p.m., we arrived at Kinosaki Onsen Station, where we were met by KIAC staff. We got into the car that picked us up, and stepped on the accelerator to get to KIAC.

 

In the early morning of May 5, 2025, a large fire broke out in Kinosaki Hot Spring Resort, causing extensive damage, including the destruction of several buildings: Kinosaki Onsen Tourism Association official website ). I visited Kinosaki five days later.

 

Prefectural Road Toyooka-Takeno Line (Minami Yanagi Street) between the Jizoyu-mae intersection and the Ichinoyu area》(Citation: Kinosaki Onsen Tourism Association official website (Source: Kinosaki Onsen Tourist Association official website) and 《City road from Kobayashi shop to Kinosaki Literary Museum》 (Source: Kinosaki Onsen Tourist Association official website): Kinosaki Onsen Tourist Association official website The road to KIAC was closed due to traffic restrictions, forcing us to make a detour. On the way, we saw the remains of a fire site that had been covered over.

 

Chef Natsura Ota, who had come from Shimane earlier in the day, had already arrived at KIAC and was preparing lunch for us. The first day’s lunch was a bowl of rice topped with mushrooms and pork, and Natsura Ota’s dish, which I had not had in two years – since her stay for the creation of “Words and Shakespeare’s Birds” – was absolutely delicious. From this day on, we will continue to eat Natsura Ota’s food for 29 meals over the next 15 days, but to cover it all would require a separate report in which we mention it only. To cover it all would require a separate report, but that is how inseparable our stay at KIAC and Natsurai Ota’s cooking are for us. About an hour later, “Dance Work No. 3” performer Sumi Tateyama and rehearsal director Shizuka Yamaguchi arrived. Ayako Saito, a performer, missed the scheduled train and arrived another hour later. Finally, performer Hokuto Kodama arrived, and everyone gathered for a briefing in the KIAC dining space. This was the first time that the members of the “Dance Work No. 3” team had met each other in the “real world. After the Corona disaster, such encounters have become “the norm. It was our second time at KIAC in two years, since the creation of “Words and Shakespeare’s Birds” in 2023.

 

First day of arrival at KIAC May 2025 Kinosaki International Art Center Courtesy of Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Yo Space Not Blank

 

Natsura Ota’s “Mushroom and Pork Ankake-don” May 2025 Kinosaki International Art Center Courtesy of Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa You Nakazawa Space Not Blank

 

Next Saturday

Saturday, May 17, 2025. It was the second day of the open rehearsal (open rehearsal space) for the “Community Exchange Program. The Kinosaki International Art Center (KIAC) is a place where artists of theater and dance stay and create their works. The artists in residence will be offering a “community exchange program” that the public can view and participate in free of charge. The sign welcoming visitors was placed in front of KIAC’s dining space. Open rehearsals were held for a total of five days, with Friday the 16th as the first day. There were visitors on all days, and a few people here and there watched the entire event from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. On this day, a review of the work-in-progress “Words and Shakespeare’s Birds,” a “community exchange program” implemented at KIAC in 2023, “Words and Shakespeare’s Birds. The Amoeba-izing Stage and Body The open rehearsal in the afternoon was canceled in order to visit the event “Talking about the past in Toyooka,” which was being held at a different location by Junya Yamada, the author of “The Amoebaized Stage and the Body,” a review of “The Language and the Shakespearean Bird,” which was conducted at KIAC in 2023.

 

The breakdown of visitors to the open rehearsal is as follows

May 16, 2025 (Fri.) 10:00 – 13:00 / 14:00 – 17:00: 4 persons
Saturday, May 17, 2025, 10:00 – 12:00 (“12:00 – 13:00 / 14:00 – 17:00” cancelled): 6 participants
Monday, May 19, 2025, 10:00 – 13:00 / 14:00 – 17:00: 5 participants
Wednesday, May 21, 2025 10:00 – 13:00 / 14:00 – 17:00: 9 participants
Saturday, May 24, 2025 10:00 – 13:00 / 14:00 – 17:00: 3 persons

 

The entire time of the open rehearsal was focused on “gathering” movement. Dance Work No. 3″ will be created using “physical catharsis,” a mechanism for generating movement that we will begin researching and developing in 2019. To put it simply, “physical catharsis” is a mechanism in which the movements that emerge change depending on the person who is moving and on themselves. So, even if you knew about each of the performers in “Dance Work No. 3,” Hokuto Kodama, Ayako Saito, and Sumi Tateyama, you would not yet know about the movement that emerges when “these three” people come together. Even if they feel as if they know each other after spending a little time together, the next time they “know” each other, the relationship between them has already changed. And the movements that emerge also continue to change. While mixed with objective direction, the direction functions not as an instruction, but as a clarification of direction. We spent time talking to each other in our own bodies, changing form, mass, and situation, intentionally or unintentionally. During the open rehearsal, there were people who were watching the work intently and for a long time.

 

We are always concerned about the security of the place where we create, if we can – and the situations where we can’t – arise from the problems of the “place” where we create. The biggest concern is security: when we rehearse in a “controlled space” such as KIAC or DaBY, there is always someone there to ensure the safety of the “place” apart from our creations, and if something should happen, it will be taken care of. We can rest assured. However, if we were to do this anywhere, such as in public facilities where such a management system is almost non-existent, and if the public knew when and where we were doing what, the “security” of the “place” would collapse, and we would be in danger of not being able to “rehearse” at all, let alone “open rehearsal”. Even so, I would like to treat all “rehearsals” as “open rehearsals” and aim to keep every moment of creation open to the public. Some say that this is because creating an environment in which those involved in creation can, or even must, always be aware of “others’ awareness” contributes to the creation of equal human relationships in the community of performing arts creation. In our case, however, we want to do so simply because it is “fun. It is not that we enjoy “being watched. Perhaps. It is not because we enjoy “showing. Perhaps. An “open rehearsal” is not a place to “open” the “rehearsal” and “make it visible. Maybe. I feel like it is. I’ve never been confident. I think “Open Rehearsal” is the place most dedicated to the attitude of “communicating through the work,” which is the main reason why we are doing art. That is why it is “fun. Continue to the second half.

 

Kinosaki International Art Center, May 2025 Photo by Shizuka Yamaguchi

 

Last Saturday

Saturday, May 24, 2025. Last day of open rehearsals. We had a “good night” the day before and the two days before. Mr. Muneharu Nakagai, who served as mayor of Toyooka from 2005 – 2001 if you include the former Toyooka City – to 2021, attended the work-in-progress and artist talk on the following day, the 25th, and during a conversation in the KIAC lobby after the event, he commented on our attitude toward our stay. During our conversation in the lobby of KIAC after the event, he made the interesting comment that “KIAC used to market itself as a place where people could practice 24 hours a day. Takuya Kamiike, who accompanied us for only seven days during our stay at KIAC and was in charge of art for “Dance Work No. 3,” told us that he had finally managed to complete all the “out-spa tours” during our stay. When he stayed at KIAC before, he could not even go to the hot springs properly – he had been working on his artwork for that long. We are very proud that Mr. Kamiike Takuya’s memory of “At Kinosaki” has been overwritten with a happier version filled with Kinosaki.

 

Why is it possible that “KIAC used to market itself as being able to practice 24 hours a day”? There was only one answer: because there was a demand for it. However, people do not change so drastically from era to era. One would imagine that if there is a group, there will naturally be beings who are attracted to it and those who are not. And to be honest, I increasingly find a certain grotesqueness in the attitude of someone somewhere who gleefully talks about how times have changed. Many “minorities” are now finally able to speak out. That is all very well. At the same time, the existence of a segment of the population that “may not actually want to change in essence” is becoming apparent, as they try to demonstrate their new presence by posing as if they are keeping up with the changing times. It may look as if they are cozying up to each other, but this may be the result of a dissipation of the desire for self-expression, a desire to be liked by everyone and to strengthen the foundation of one’s own standing. And it is possible that we, too, have adopted a similar pose in other ways. Expressing opinions and raising issues seem to be accompanied by a certain amount of satisfaction. There is no comfort in communication. By calling ourselves artists, we are placed in a position as if we have a bird’s eye view of the world from a different perspective, and there is always the fear that we may “pretend” to be in that position. We have no choice but to continue to improve, sometimes looking back at ourselves as “I” and “me” to make each day better. Running, walking, and “sleeping”.

 

Taking advantage of the two-day “good night” and this day, we decided to combine the three phases of knowing, gathering, and spending into a work-in-progress. The brief structure of the work-in-progress is as follows

 

We talk about us, the three of us dance, we talk about us, the three of us dance. Repeat. The performance lasted about 50 minutes. I think I was talking for more than half an hour. I plan to write more about the work-in-progress in a separate “self-review,” so if you are interested, please read that.

 

Thus, after the last Saturday, we ended our stay at KIAC with a successful Work in Progress performance the next day.

 

Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Yo as sea lion trainers May 2025 Kinosaki Marine World Courtesy of Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Yo Space Knotblank

 

Thursday, June 5, 2025

During his stay at KIAC, he also visited the ryokan “Mikiya” twice, which has rooms associated with Naoya Shiga, to hear about the relationship between Kinosaki Onsen and Naoya Shiga. The first was to learn about the history of Kinosaki Onsen and the second was to see a dance performance. We purchased and read “At Kinosaki” and “Annotations: At Kinosaki,” both published by the “Book and Hot Springs” non-profit organization, and received Naoya Shiga’s perspective as described in the books, and then considered how we could release them into the next 100 years as “dance works” of our own. Daisuke Kataoka of MIKIYA, who spoke about Naoya Shiga, said, “What Naoya Shiga once did when he visited and stayed at Kinosaki Onsen and what artists do now when they visit and stay at KIAC may be the same thing, and you may be the Naoya Shiga for Kinosaki Onsen 100 years from now. This was our second stay at KIAC in two years, since the creation of “Words and Shakespeare’s Birds” in 2023. Will there be a room in Mikiya associated with us after we are gone? It was with these thoughts in mind that we finished our work-in-progress the next day. After seeing off the team members who had scattered from Kinosaki Onsen, we stayed at Mikiya on our own dime, our financial sense bugged by the unknowable momentum of “this is research”.

 

Mikiya’s family crest “three scales”, May 2025, Mikiya, courtesy of Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Spacenotblank

Room associated with Naoya Shiga, Mikiya, May 2025, courtesy of Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Spacenotblank

Morning Glories, a book in a room associated with Naoya Shiga, Mikiya, May 2025, courtesy of Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Spacenotblank

Life” written at Onsenji Temple, May 2025, courtesy of Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Spacenotblank

 

Saturday, July 19, 2025

Less than two months after seeing off the team members who had scattered back from Kinosaki Onsen, we gathered at DaBY. We had gathered at DaBY. Hot summer is coming. We have definitely “known”, “gathered”, and “spent” what “at Kinosaki” means to us. And the “Dance Work No. 3: Naoya Shiga’s “At Kinosaki”” that we have created on top of the layers of Naoya Shiga’s “At Kinosaki” may appear to those who know the original idea as something completely different from the original. However, “Dance Work No. 3: Shiga Naoya’s “At Shirosaki”” is not an adaptation from a novel to a dance work – an attempt to satisfy the kitchen of the original work. No, the more I read “At Kinosaki,” the more I see it as a map that tries to lead us, the “readers,” to the “At Kinosaki” for each of us. In “Dance No. 3: At Kinosaki” by Naoya Shiga, bees, rats, and newts do not appear in any discernible form. However, three dancers do appear. As in a novel, the reader’s gaze does not follow the characters, words, language, or meanings. However, there is a space, there is music playing in the space, and there is the gaze of the audience following the “moment” that is expressed in the space, which is not in the “pure” category. We will perform “Dance Work No. 3: Naoya Shiga’s “At the Castle”” on Saturday, August 30, 2025 and Sunday, August 31, 2025 at the newly created location on the first floor of DaBY, as the next work-in-progress, further developed from the work-in-progress held at KIAC. GOTSU.

 

Ayaka Ono Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Spacenotblank May 2025, courtesy of Onsenji Temple Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Spacenotblank

Thursday, August 28, 2025
Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Spacenotblank



Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Spacenotblank Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Spacenotblank
Founded in 2012 by Ayaka Ono and Yo Nakazawa, a duo of stage writers, Spacenotblank is a collective that creates performing arts productions. By integrating the established concepts of the performing arts with new mechanisms of their own research and development, they continue to explore the state of the performing arts in the modern age and attempt to create diverse values. As a resident artist at Dance Base Yokohama since 2023, he has been working on the project “Inherit the Body” as well as the “Inherit the Body” as a resident artist at Dance Base Yokohama since 2023. He has been a resident artist at Dance Base Yokohama since 2023, where he has been involved in the project “Inheriting the Body,” the showing of “Choreographic Concept 001 for Untrained Amateurs: Study on Weight and Movement (original work by contact Gonzo),” and the residency and performance of the first part of “Dance Work No. 1: Claude Debussy’s ‘Exercise'” at Dance Base Yokohama. The first part of “Dance Work No. 1: Claude Debussy’s Practice” was performed at Dance Base Yokohama. Created a new work “Dance Project No. 3: Naoya Shiga’s “At the Castle”” for Dance Base Yokohama International Dance Project “Wings” for Emerging Creators, and premiered it at Aichi Prefectural Art Theater in October 2025. The piece will be performed at the Aichi Arts Theatre in October 2025, and at the Iwaki Performing Arts Center Alios in January 2026.

Saturday, August 30 / Sunday, August 31｜Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Spacenotblank “Dance Work No. 3: Naoya Shiga’s “At the Castle”” Work in Progress
▶︎ event details
▶︎ ticket application *SOLD OUT on Saturday, August 30

 

▶︎ “Dance Work No. 3: Naoya Shiga’s “At Jyonosaki”
▶︎Dance Base Yokohama×Aichi Prefectural Art Theater Performing Arts Selection 2025 Festival Edition

Thinking offstage
▶︎The 1st “About the Assistant Director”｜Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Spacenotblank
▶︎ Part 2 “About the Residency” ｜Ayaka Ono, You Nakazawa, Space Knot Blank
▶︎The 3rd “About Loss”｜Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa Spacenotblank
▶︎ 4th “About Planning”
▶︎ Extra Edition “About Lighting”──Dance Base Yokohama “Wings” Seminar: Yuka Hisamatsu “How to be involved in stage creation, explored from the comparison between Europe and Japan” Report｜Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Nakazawa You Nakazawa Space Knot Blank

Grant: Fund for Strengthening Infrastructure for Cultural and Artistic Activities (Support Program for Fostering Creators and Cultural Facilities with High Added Value)｜Japan Arts Council