November 2011
‘Playing Moon, Dancing Flower’ is the title of a very special performance project I am preparing in Wakayama, Japan, alongside my friend, the dance-artist Hideo Arai. It is being held at the Waka-no-Ura Art Cube, one of the most inspiring venues I have ever worked in. Artful design, beautiful location, super-efficient staff.
The project itself is also one of the most unique that I have had the pleasure of working on: a genuine mix of disciplines, forms, and cultures. Hideo is taking full advantage of the unique architecture of the building to create a somewhat eerie feeling of unfolding layers of space. Our collaborator, Fumika Fujiwara, botanical artist, has transformed the interior with several beautiful, natural-material installations (including a huge block of ice), falling somewhere between ikebana and land-art.
Personally, I'm also intensely enjoying learning the 'ma' inherent to the gagaku music that is an important aspect to our show. The three musicians from the Wakayama Gagaku-Kai, Ryuichi Otani (ryuteki), Sadamitsu Egawa (shō), Ayumu Tanaka (shichiriki), have been great collaborators, and generously shared their ideas and enthusiasm with all of us.
Japan suffered a significant catastrophe in March of this year, and the Wakayama region itself was hit hard by a tsunami recently. Our event to help celebrate the full moon tonight on 2011.11.11 has a distinct ceremonial aspect, and we hope that, in some way, it will encourage the healing process.
