Presenting his work at the ” Performing Arts Selection 2023 “.A series of conversations with artists.
In this issue, we present vol. 2 of the dialogue between Mariko Kakizaki and Eri Karatsu.

Click here for vol.1

 

Karatsu: During the May showing, I know you had feedback from the audience, including asking them to write about their own insomnia experiences, but how are you creating now?

Kakizaki: First, we talked to a group of sleep specialists. Since the theme was sleep, we spoke with Mr. Kentaka Sakata, a psychotherapist who speaks with insomniacs every day, who told us various things about how he listens to people suffering from insomnia. Mr. Sakata said, “The brain is a part of the body. The important thing is not to keep it to yourself.” Just listening to him, I felt myself being healed from my insomnia. I asked Mr. Sakata, “If you were to give music as a gift to someone who is suffering from insomnia, what kind of music would you give them? I asked him. He said that he would like to give them something very enjoyable, like a musical. He said that by giving them something bright and happy that would make them forget about their current pain, they would have the courage to face their own problems. I really liked that. I still cherish that idea very much.

Other than that, we talked to Sleeping Life Murata, a futon shop owner. Murata-san says he wants to be everyone’s sleep card, someone they can talk to about their problems before they become problems. He makes it easy for everyone to come to his futon shop by holding yoga classes, meditation classes, and selling curry at the futon shop. These days, it seems that many young customers are concerned about the quality of their sleep. One in five Japanese people is said to have insomnia, and it is considered one of the modern diseases, but it has happened in the past. I learned that in a haiku written in the Heian period (794-1185), someone sang that I was the only one left behind on that sleepless night.

I wondered how people in the past survived the night, so I asked my grandmother and other grandmothers around for their wisdom about sleep. She told me to pull my ears, to look down at my eyes, to sway slowly side to side, and all sorts of random things. (laugh) I don’t know if it’s true or not, but just by saying things like that, for some reason, she saves my life. What saved me a lot during my own insomnia was having someone to listen to me. Since night time in Japan is daytime in Europe, I could contact my European friends and feel that I was not alone that night, which helped me a lot. Also, a friend of mine told me that I could sleep if I drank hot milk, and whether it was true or not, just preparing it and drinking it gave me the feeling that my mind was being healed. So I incorporated the movement of swaying and rolling down my eyes, which I was taught as wisdom from that grandmother, into my work.

Then when I couldn’t sleep, I would imagine that if a fairy danced on the pillow of my bed, the night would be fun. I am now in the process of re-creating this kind of fantasy that I have, and I want to incorporate it into my work.

Karatsu: How is the work progressing now?

Kakizaki: After doing the May showing, there were parts of the showings that I did not like so much, so I am in the process of breaking them down and re-creating them. We are working on the part that we will build together after Alice comes to Japan again, and before that, we are working on the creation with Akane Kuri, who will perform in the Tokyo showings. Creation will be done in those two stages until the performance.

 

Karatsu: I would also like to talk about Ms. Akemi Kurisane, who will perform in the Tokyo performance. I feel that Alice-san and Mariko-san are very similar in the texture of their dances, so much so that they could be mistaken for each other, but I think that Ms. Kuris is a different type of dancer. Since Ms. Kuris will be performing in the Tokyo show, could you tell us what attracts you as a dancer?

Kakizaki: Kurisan is a dancer who originally had a strong classical ballet technique and then went to school in Israel for a year and took many Gaga classes and other classes to learn the physicality of changing textures. She is a dancer who can move her body three-dimensionally, which is rare among Japanese. She has performed in one of my pieces before. The first work that I imagined was to create with Alice, but I realized that there was no one who could find the same dancer as Alice. Therefore, I wanted to dance the same piece with another dancer who has a completely different personality, and I imagined Ms. Chestnut. She is a dancer who not only has great physical ability, but also has a strong imagination and is able to move her emotions by putting what she imagines on her body, so I felt that she would be able to link with my piece.

Karatsu: Since Alice is not here right now, you are creating with Mr. Kuri.

Kakizaki: In the case of Alice-san, she herself likes to think about choreography, so I sometimes asked her to create a part of the choreography with this image in mind. I have worked with Ms. Kuri many times before, and she is able to catch my imagination. Therefore, we work together to create a kind of world that only the two of us can create for the image I have.

Karatsu: Alice-san, you are co-choreographer.

Kakizaki: I am often responsible for the overall structure and editing of the choreography, but I ask Alice to bring elements of the choreography and make suggestions.

Karatsu: Also, you mentioned music from the beginning. How about music?

Kakizaki: Not all of it, but it is almost decided. When I first decided to use “sleep” as the theme for this “Can’t-Sleeper,” I imagined something like quick air and time, and I felt that the music that would fit that theme would be piano. When I thought about whose piano performance would be best, I wanted to use the music of Kouki Nakano. As for the costumes, when I thought about what colors were moving in the imagined time and air, I had the impression of a blurring of grays that leaned toward fantasy, so I chose to wear costumes by Chika Kisada. I also asked photographer Yuichiro Noda to shoot the visuals. He is a wonderful photographer who delicately captures the blue light. I had the impression that it was dark but luminous, and that there was salvation in it. I wanted to see two people dancing in his light, so I asked him to take a picture of them. The photo on the flyer for this tour was also taken by Mr. Noda. Thus, the images of Alice, music, costumes, and visuals were created before Alice came to Japan in May.

What I ended up wanting to do with the work is not the darkness of that night time, but the positive aspects that can be found at night. I felt that we wanted to focus on the flowers that bloom only at night, the lights and sounds that can only be seen at night, and the kind of salvation and hope from the world that exists there, which is why we ended up with this kind of tag team.

 

Karatsu: The casts for the Aichi, Takasaki and Tokyo performances are different.

Kakizaki: Since the cast is different, I think you will enjoy watching it twice. The theme of the show is “sleep,” so if you feel like going to sleep, I want you to go to sleep. (laugh) There may be people who can’t sleep under the covers at night but can when they go to the theater, and since they are dancing all the time, I think they will feel that sense of security, so I think they can go to sleep. (Laughs)

Karatsu: I hope that the work will give people a sense of relief or salvation while watching it, so in that sense, the audience is free to approach the work as they wish.

It was also impressive that the May showing was interactive with the audience, how do you think it will develop when it becomes a stage piece?

Kakizaki: I myself actually prefer studio showings to theaters because it is easier to communicate with the audience, and it is my favorite environment for dancing. However, there are some things that can only be done in a theater, and I feel that is a great challenge for me. I am thinking about creating a system that allows us to communicate with the audience, rather than just showing something completed on stage.

Karatsu: I think that the works of Batsheva and Sharone, in which you have been active, are so-called typical “theater works. Have you ever felt yourself dancing in such an environment? I think that in recent years, you have shifted to interactive productions in some areas.

Kakizaki: When I performed in a large theater, I felt that it was very lonely because I could not see the faces of the audience. I don’t know who I am dancing to. On tour, we really perform the piece many times, but I could only feel what was happening on stage. There was a part of me that lost track of the changes in my situation and where on earth I was dancing to. In reaction to that, I think I am working on being very conscious of who I am dancing for. That may change.

Karatsu: I think it is precisely because of today’s dance that the works we want to create and the audiences we want to attract change according to our circumstances and careers. I think this is one of the reasons why contemporary dance is contemporary, and it is also connected to how artists relate to society.

Also, at the time of “Dance Selection 2020,” which I mentioned at the beginning ( vol. 1), there was another thing I felt, and that was that Mariko became pregnant in the middle of the performance. So there was a question of whether or not to perform the piece with a pregnant body. Mariko had another job lined up at the time, but she was unable to perform because of her pregnancy, while you performed in Aichi. In other words, there was the question of what it meant to perform with another life in her belly, and what society would think of that when she danced in a potentially dangerous situation. How should Mariko be as a human being and how should she be as a dancer within the social norm?

At Dance Base Yokohama, we place great importance on pausing and questioning existing values. In other words, masculinist norms make it very difficult for women to live, and I think this is very evident for female dancers, choreographers, and production staff. I felt that there were many things that Mariko’s pregnancy made her aware of and made her more conscious of, including the issues of not being able to return to work when having a child and the harassment issues that are now surfacing. The solo piece did not have a strong message to society, but with the pregnant Mariko Kakizaki dancing, I think it became a very socially conscious piece. I wanted to see how she would change as an artist after the birth of her child.

Kakizaki: I have spent the last three years with DaBY through the postpartum process, from pregnancy, right after giving birth, and now like bringing my child. I am very grateful that Mr. Karatsu and all the staff play with my daughter a lot, hold her in their arms, and do things that I take for granted. There is a word “gender equality,” but I don’t think that men and women can work in the same way. Women get married, have children, and their bodies change more than men do. I believe that gender equality can only be achieved if the company and society are flexible enough to adapt to such changes. I am very grateful that DaBY is changing its support system to accommodate my various physical changes.

Karatsu: It would be good if society as a whole became like that. In the same way, I believe that the way artists express themselves and the way they create will change. I think it would be a waste if we cannot share that. It is usually impossible to understand the circumstances under which a work is created simply by viewing it on stage. However, the work was created because of the things I have talked about so far. I think it is one of the truths that a work of art should be evaluated as a work of art, but as long as it is a contemporary work, I think the audience can be more involved and sympathetic if they know the artist’s long struggle and relationship with society to understand why this work is being created. I feel that this will help the audience to become more involved and to empathize with the artist. I hope that we can work to increase the number of points of contact with which people can empathize, including through this interview.
Thank you very much.

 

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Performing Arts Selection 2023

Aichi
9/16 (Sat) 14:00/18:30 and 17 (Sun) 14:00
Aichi Arts Theatre, Small Hall

Takasaki
9/21(Thu) 18:30
Takasaki Arts Theatre, Studio Theatre

Takatsuki
9/30 (Sat.) 17:00
Takatsuki Castle Park Performing Arts Center, Large Studio

Tokyo
10/21 (Sat) 14:00/18:00 and 22 (Sun) 14:00
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, Theater East

Tour Details
https://dancebase.yokohama/event_post/pas2023-tour
Please note that the productions differ depending on the venue.

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