Activity Report #9 of “Danstereportation

interview with Nagaya Kouta
(Interviewer: Kota Yamazaki)

Kota Yamazaki’s new project “Dance Teleportation,” based on the concept of “dialogue,” is underway.
Ms. Yamazaki and 11 performers are literally groping their way through the creative process under the new coronavirus epidemic.

Basically, a choreographer and a dancer create a work by sharing a place and time. Now that this is no longer possible, how can a choreographer establish a relationship with a dancer to create a work? We have named this challenge “Dance Teleportation” in the sense of exploring a way of dancing that transcends place and time.”
(Excerpted from Kota Yamazaki’s “Dance Teleportation” statement)

The creation process begins with Ms. Yamazaki interviewing each performer via video call. Next, Ms. Yamazaki sends the performers words inspired by the interviews. The performers then respond to Ms. Yamazaki by using the words as a starting point for their own creations.

In this issue, we present an interview with Mr. Kota Nagaya.
He spoke candidly about his background in dance activities and his feelings about the Corona Disaster.
(Text and editing by Taku Yoshida)

standing form of “mountain” character

How did you get started in dance?

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I majored in performing arts at university. I was interested in dance from that time, but I could not come to terms with my feelings about expressing myself physically, so I rarely danced. Still, I took stage photos and made photo books and was involved in dance performances as a production staff member, so I guess I liked dance. A few years after graduation, when I was 28 years old, I participated in one of Un Yamada’s workshops, and I had a sense of “forgiveness” for myself for dancing, and I felt that it was OK for me to dance too. Then, when I was 30 years old, I participated in the “Domestic Dance Study Abroad” program at Dance Box in Kobe, and began to dance seriously.

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At the rehearsal at the end of January, I was impressed by Nagayasa’s unique movement. Do you have a vision for your future activities?

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My activities have come and gone in waves. There have been times when I have sought my own originality, and other times when I have sought a certain type of dance, such as contemporary dance based on ballet, and I have vacillated between the two. However, I believe that if I am going to continue dancing, I need to establish my own way of expression and present it as a work of art.

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When I was in my 20s, I myself was dancing and butoh, but I was also worried about my future, so I studied fashion at Bunka Fashion College and sewed tutus for the Inoue Ballet Company. And I didn’t start choreographing until I was over 30 years old. I have been dancing and doing other things, swinging delicately between the two.
I think I can say with 100% certainty that if any person continues to dance, it is because they spend a lot of time on themselves, and there will come a time when they will blossom in some way. I am not saying that you are not blossoming now, but I hope that you will continue to do so with an eye toward the future.
Can you tell us about the direction you take in creating your work?

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When I create my own work, I tend to think about social matters.

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I think that is a very good thing. When it comes to social, in New York, there is a pattern of artists asserting their identity, how about you, Nagayasa?

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I myself am not the type of person who likes to talk about “my circumstances,” and I am often more interested in social and political issues than in my own life. However, in the past, when I tried to make a work about such major issues, I had a hard time because the theme became vague. I also want to do things that other people don’t do as much as possible, so the next time I create something, I will first focus on my own physicality and what I find interesting.

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Can you tell us how you feel about the situation with the new coronavirus epidemic?

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Life itself is pretty slow, and I have time to spend watching movies. I am more worried about what will happen after the trend settles down. Not only financially, but I am even more worried that as online expression and activities increase, the importance of people meeting face-to-face and being in the same space will become less and less important. However, I believe that many people are engaged in online activities with a sense of such importance, and paradoxically, live expressions such as performing arts are becoming more meaningful. While there is uncertainty about the future, I wonder if this is where the fun lies in the future.

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Yes, I agree. In any case, if we are not moving in some way, we will stop, so we have no choice but to continue to act. Even if social distancing keeps us from getting more people into the theater, we still have to find a way to make it better somehow.

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We have to do it in a positive way.

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Getting people together was one of the best parts of the performing arts, but basically we can’t do that, you know. On the other hand, since these video calls are being made, we have to do what we can.
Are there any artists who have influenced you?

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I think the influence I received at Kyoto University of Art and Design still remains. Many of my teachers have Butoh backgrounds, and I feel that their ideas about dance and dance in particular remain strong.

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Is the teacher Setsuko Yamada?

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They are Setsuko Yamada, Toru Iwashita, Misako Terada, and Kim Ito. For the reasons I mentioned at the beginning, I took only half of my freshman semester of practical dance classes during my school years, and the content was only basic. Even so, I feel that I was quite influenced by the lectures I attended, the works I saw, and the books I read in the library.

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Do you have a favorite choreographer?

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今の話とは少し変わってしまうようですが、イスラエルのバットシェバ舞踊団が好きなので、オハッド・ナハリンです。GAGA（ ※１）も 好きです。

(*1) GAGA…A dance method developed by choreographer Ohad Naharin, who served as artistic director of Israel’s leading dance company, Bat Sheva Dance Company, for approximately 30 years. Participants improvise and move their bodies continuously while accepting verbal instructions and images of movement given by the navigator. In recent years, this method has been attracting attention around the world, and numerous workshops have been held.

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Let me ask a few questions as research to spell out my words to Nagayasa.
Do you have a favorite place?

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It takes about an hour to climb the mountain, but it is not well maintained and there are no electric lights, so it is pitch black at night. There are wild deer in the area, but I like the time I spend climbing the mountain and the view from the top.

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Do you have a favorite movie?

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It is “The Dark Knight” that I watch over and over again. But the one that leaves the strongest impression on me is “A Clockwork Orange”. However, I don’t watch Kubrick’s films more than once because they take a lot of energy to watch. Overall, I like science fiction films.

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Now I would like to have Nagayasa’s words while doing the experiment at the end. Can you touch your forehead with your finger and tell us the word that comes to your mind from the feeling?

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(Touching his forehead) “Fingerprints,” “Dents,” “Heat,” and “Frames.”

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I understand. Thank you very much for speaking with us today. Please give me your reactions as I spell out the words and send them to you. I hope you will approach it as if you are working with other performers to create one work of art while facing different directions.

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We look forward to seeing you. Thank you very much.

How was the interview?
The next report will be an interview with Mr. Hiroto Mochizuki.
Please continue to enjoy the dialogue between the dancers.

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