yasuko yokoshi tyler tyler Produced by MAPP International Productions

Transcription

1 yasuko yokoshi tyler tyler Produced by MAPP International Productions

2 The sound of the Gion Shôja bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sâla flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind. the opening lines of The Tale of the Heike (translation by Helen Craig McCullough) Yasuko Yokoshi s art-making explores the complex interconnectedness of culture and history that frames our perspective of contemporary life. Her inspiration for Tyler Tyler comes from The Tale of the Heike, a classic 12thcentury Japanese epic of warring clans that documents the intense desire for domination and the inevitable fall from power. The central theme of the stories the Buddhist law of impermanence has special resonance for Yokoshi; born and raised in Hiroshima, she was often reminded as a child of the ephemeral nature of human life. These stories continue to resonate in our own times as ambition and pride continue to spawn war and greed. As a contemporary dance artist, Yokoshi is also driven by the question of how much culture within an art form is transferable, particularly in a fluid, mobile world where the merging of cultures is more prevalent than ever. Tyler Tyler continues Yokoshi s unique collaboration with her revered master teacher of Kabuki Su-odori dance, Masumi Seyama. Their previous work together, the critically acclaimed what we when we, won a 2006 Bessie Award. Tyler Tyler will be performed by a cast of six including Yokoshi, two American dancers and three highly regarded Japanese dancers and actors, each of whom trained for many years with Masumi Seyama. With the American dancers, Yokoshi will apply a postmodern vocabulary to the scale and structure of the Kabuki-style choreography. With the traditional Japanese performers, she will explore the effect of contemporary choreographic techniques on their Kabuki forms. With all of the dancers, Yokoshi aims to respect their formal movement vocabulary, even as she experiments with stripping them of their history and culture. Tyler Tyler will feature music by Japanese composer, Ryuichi Sakamoto, performed live on piano and violin, and a sound score created by Yokoshi s long-time collaborator, So-Ichiro Migita. The production will feature a stage set inspired by Kabuki stage design; and projections of video imagery gathered by Yokoshi during her research travels in Japan, edited in partnership with Marin Sander-Holzman. Tyler Tyler is commissioned by Dance Theater Workshop, New York City. MAPP is currently seeking additional commissioning partners and presenting venues for October Tyler Tyler Yasuko Yokoshi Produced by MAPP International Productions Premieres March 2010 at Dance Theater Workshop North American Tour October 2010 For more information please contact: Ann Rosenthal, Executive Director & Producer, MAPP International Productions T: E: ann@mappinternational.org

3 My first encounter with traditional Japanese dance came in 2003 when I began a year-long training in Kabuki Su-odori dance with Masumi Seyama. Having lived more than half my life in the U.S., I was welcomed by Ms. Seyama as an American artist. She passed on to me the particular practice of her own teacher Kanjyuro Fujima VI ( ) one of the most celebrated Kabuki dance choreographers in 20th Century Japan. Fujima is known for refining Su-odori Kabuki dance as an artistic expression based on purity of form, an aesthetic similar to that of American postmodern dance. ( Su is translated as bare, fundamental, pure, simple and natural and odori as dance.) In traditional Kabuki, huge gestures and enhanced make-up are integral parts of the spectacle. Kanjyuro Fujima eschewed those elements, and turned his attention to movement executions how bare and subtle dance movements can be simultaneously expressive, deep and profound. In his work, simplicity and complexity are constantly merged. Studying with Ms. Seyama, I became fascinated by the Japanese traditional dance forms in which nuance, subtlety, and inexplicable timing are highly valued. To my surprise, this training seemed truly contemporary and progressive, and I became completely absorbed in it, just as I had been absorbed in learning Western contemporary dance in the U.S. and Europe in the 1980 s-90 s. For Ms. Seyama, who is a 76-year-old traditional artist, this relationship was her first experience in applying traditional disciplines and aesthetics to Western contemporary dance-making. Our partnership flourished, as we discovered a shared aesthetic, rigor, and commitment to art. I invited Ms. Seyama to co-choreograph what we when we and our collaboration marked a turning point in my artistic work. I have begun work on Tyler Tyler with a residency in Japan this summer, where I am continuing to train with Masumi Seyama in Tokyo, learning several pieces of Kabuki repertory that relate to the Taira stories. During my residency, I am learning all the danced parts of several stories. I will also research other Noh, Bunraku and Kabuki theatrical works based on the stories and visit several towns where the famous battles referenced in them took place. -Yasuko Yokoshi

4 Yasuko Yokoshi was born in Hiroshima, Japan and has been based in New York City since Her works meld dance, video and storytelling, imaginatively entwining cultures and personal insights to create radical dance performance. Recent works include: Reframe the Framework DDD (2008), made in collaboration with high school performers from Windham County, Vermont; what we when we (2006), which transforms Raymond Carver s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love into Japanese traditional Kabuki Su-odori dance; and Shuffle (2003), a solo that looks at Yokoshi s family history through the lens of Japanese mythology and Shinto Buddhism. Yokoshi s works have been seen in New York City at 651 ARTS, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, Guggenheim Museum, Japan Society, The Kitchen, P.S. 122, Taipei Theater and Whitney Museum of American Art; and at MASSMoCA, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (Oregon), Festival A/D Werf (Holland), Festival Sommer SZENE (Austria), Frascati Theater (Holland), and Korea-Japan Dance Festival in Seoul and Tokyo. She has been a choreographer fellow at the Allesee National Center for Choreography, and artistin-residence at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Djerassi Art Center, Joyce Theater/Joyce Soho, and Movement Research. She has received two Bessie Awards, for Shuffle and what we when we, a 2008 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award, a 2007 BAXTen Award and a 2004 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. Her autobiographical book, Once in A Life Time, received the acclaimed Japanese Ogai Mori Literary Award and was published by Gakken Publishing Company in Masumi Seyama is the head of the Seyama Dance Family and leading teacher and practitioner of Kanjyuro Fujima s Kabuki Su-odori dance tradition. Kanjyuro Fujima VI ( ), a Japanese National Treasure, was one of the most celebrated Kabuki dance choreographers in 20th Century Japan. He was known for refining Kabuki Su-odori (translated as naked dance ) into an art form with bare and subtle dance movements that are simultaneously expressive, deep and profound. Ms. Seyama began her training with Kanjyuro Fujima at age six and by age fifteen she succeeded to the Seyama family name. She went on to assist Kanjyuro Fujima s choreographic process through his prime and notated all his dance repertories. She is widely considered one of the few remaining heirs of Kanjyuro Fujima s dance works. Ms. Seyama has performed Kanjyuro Fujima s choreographies many times and has coached major Kabuki stars and dancers. She has a small, exclusive dance school in Tokyo where she teaches young professional Kabuki-style actors and stage performers. Ms. Seyama co-choreographed what we when we with Yasuko Yokoshi in 2006.

5 PRAISE FOR YASUKO YOKOSHI Every small act seems burned onto the space and onto your retina. A violent emotion is reduced to a single controlled look or gesture. Watching the comings and goings of these people you feel the weight of what is not being expressed the burden of despair, anger or desire that infuses their slightest physical shift restraint creates an almost painful drama of its own like an exquisite glass vase that might shatter from the force of its contents. -Village Voice, 2006 Yasuko Yokoshi has a brilliant way of distilling her art to the barest of essences. In what we when we Yokoshi subverts cultural associations both Japanese and American to present a hauntingly personal and subtly sexy look at love. -Time Out New York, 2006 The notably outrageous choreographer Yasuko Yokoshi s latest creation, what we when we, proved to be a sensually meditative work. The dance subverts simplicity with sublime glimpses into the depth of love and loss. The effect is purely post modern Zen. The economy of motion, extreme levels of order, and lack of ornamentation bring our focus in towards the most minute gesture. -Dance Insider, 2006 [what we when we s] stylized understated movements deconstruct gestures to their basic elements an inwardturned toe, the handling of a fan, an upward glance imbuing each slight change with meaning. The effect is surprising, enigmatic, and beautiful. -The New Yorker, 2006 The word quirky does not even begin to describe the choreographer and performer Yasuko Yokoshi, a master of fearless improvisation, who channels spirits to create portraits that are both hilarious and bittersweet. -Time Out New York, 2003 The complex conceptual tools behind Yasuko Yokoshi s what we when we involved a Raymond Carver short story, traditional Japanese dance and a brave postmodern intellect. This was an American story, exquisitely rendered through Yokoshi s slippery, enigmatic narrative. -Time Out New York, The Best of 2006