Theater

Yoko Ando Dance demonstration

2011-04-23T12:35:26Z

The artist herself will show a demonstrative performance staged in the setting of the Reacting Space for Dividual Behavior installation.

*As a related event, a body workshop with Yoko Ando based on the exhibition is scheduled to be held the event period.

Android-Human Theater "Sayonara (Good-bye)" / Robot-Human Theater "I, Worker"

2011-04-11T03:56:03Z

Collaboration between theatre and cutting-edge robot technology
A two-day opportunity for close encounters with robots and theatre entertainment of the third kind

This event comprises performances of two pieces realized as part of the Robot-Human Theatre project by Oriza Hirata, a Japanese leading playwright and director, and internationally renowned roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro. The theatre play I, Worker features a communication robot named "wakamaru", while the android "Geminoid F", modeled on and bearing an astonishing resemblance to a real person, appears alongside a (human) actress in Sayonara. Illustrating a new kind of relationship between man and robot, this piece aims to encourage the viewer to ponder such concepts as "humanness" and "human soul". Each of the two performances will be followed by a different related event, including a talk event with special guests discussing the Robot-Human Theatre project and its evolvability, and on day two, an occasion for visitors to experience robots at close range.
The event will at once be an opportunity to familiarize with cutting-edge technology, and explore new creative territory ushered by the combination of robotics and theatre.

The World of Dance in Word and Image vol.2"Talk and Screening: A Tribute to Tatsumi Hijikata"

2011-04-11T03:42:31Z

Rediscovering the history and fascination of performing arts
Tatsumi Hijikata - A Butoh dancer who continues to inspire artists around the globe

This second installment in a series of special screenings focusing on the history of performing arts, and the allurement of body-based expression as illustrated in moving images, is dedicated to Tatsumi Hijikata (1928-1986), whose influence as a dancer and initiator of Ankoku-Butoh has been affecting not only the realm of body expression, but also such varied fields as art and literature. In a dance performance inspired by and adopting the title of Hijikata's writing Yameru Maihime (Ailing Dancer/La Danseuse malade), up-and-coming choreographer Boris Charmatz adapts the philosophy of Butoh, a performing art that has been fascinating numerous dancers in Japan and around the world. In addition, specially invited talk guests will offer a broad introduction of one accomplished artist and his great achievements during the event period.
[Details will be available from announced in late July]

Rihoko Sato "SHE"

2011-04-11T03:16:20Z

Solo dance performance directed by Saburo Teshigawara
A new dimension in body expression highlighted in a refined mixture of physical expression and spatial composition

This solo performance is directed by Saburo Teshigawara, a choreographer and dancer with a growing worldwide reputation also in the realms of visual and video art. Next to appearing in all group pieces staged under Teshigawara's choreography since 1996, Rihoko Sato has also been a solo dancer in some of Teshigawara's works. Her dance emphasizes a highly physical form of expression with a feeling of blending with the stage environment while freely changing the textures of her movements. Continuously fascinating audiences around the world since its first performance in 2009 with a refined spatial composition balancing aspects of noise and silence, narration and music, imagery and light, this piece ushers in a new dimension in body-based expression.

* Planned as an associated event is a workshop with Rihoko Sato.
* The performance will be followed by a talk session with the artist.

Zan Yamashita new performance piece"It is something like a garden"

2011-04-11T02:53:00Z

Uniquely experimental modes of creation come together in an original co-production
A new encounter of "body and language"

The latest creation of Zan Yamashita, a choreographer/dancer who has been showing performances revolving around uniquely structured dance inspired by language, is a co-production with theatre facilities at YCAM, ST Spot (Yokohama) and AI-HALL (Hyogo). This time Yamashita challenges an experimental performance format that incorporates text elements by methods much different from orthodox theatre. Look forward to witnessing a form of communication that is razor-sharp and sometimes quite humorous, by an artist who is noted for his various creation methods and production processes, and in recent years especially also for his collaborations with several creators from across Asia.

Tsuyoshi Shirai×YCAM video dance project"Choreography filmed: 5 days of movement"

2010-08-24T02:51:57Z

Original video piece co-produced by YCAM
Exploring relevant possibilities of "video and the human body" through live Internet streaming

Continuing our pursuit of new forms of artistic expression focusing on body expression and current film culture, the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM] is currently producing the second video (dance) piece since the Center's opening.
Based on the idea behind one of choreographer/dancer Tsuyoshi Shirai's most well-known dance pieces, "mass, slide, &." (first staged in 2004), this project is an attempt to reconstruct the piece into a video in a collaborative process with the YCAM staff and the artist. The half-year-long project includes five days of filming and Internet streaming of all footage, and will culminate in a screening event with the artist, scheduled for January 2011. The idea is to pursue new forms of dance/video expression that emerge in the process from production to presentation from video images of the body, and from the choreographic component in the visual composition. In addition, the project's outline embraces technical aspects of filming and editing, as well as audio-visual environments including issues of distribution and access, with the aim to a examine the relationship between video and dance in the present age.

* The progression of the entire project can be followed via a special website (http://c-filmed.ycam.jp/) that is now open.

Filming & Internet live streaming:
August 24 (Tue) - 28 (Sat) 13:00-20:00
http://c-filmed.ycam.jp/
Performance: Tsuyoshi Shirai(choreographer/dancer)
* Please understand that we might not be able to respond to inquiries on Tuesday, August 24, as YCAM is closed that day.
Screening of a new video piece:
January 23 (Sun) 14:00
Venue: YCAM, Studio C
Guest: Tsuyoshi Shirai Admission free

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Tsuyoshi Shirai + YCAM video dance project
"Choreography filmed: 5days of movement" test scene (2010)

Tsuyoshi Shirai + YCAM video dance project
"Choreography filmed: 5 days of movement"
Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM] residency video production & screening

In this project, YCAM and choreographer/dancer Tsuyoshi Shirai examine aspects of movement and choreography in video film, and explore relevant possibilities of "film and the human body".
Over the period of five days, Shirai's dance is filmed, broadcast live, and subsequently edited (choreographed) as a video piece, whereas the (edited) video itself weighs just as heavy as the question how the viewer experiences it. This project was designed as an opportunity to explore the meaning of producing a video/dance piece, and of the discussion itself of the relationship between dance and video.

"A Tribute to Pina Bausch - The World of Dance in Word and Image"

2010-04-15T03:17:45Z

Special event illustrating the history and fascination of dance in conversations and rare footage of Pina Bausch

This special program consists of three documentary films and a talk event recapitulating the achievements of the world-renowned choreographer who suddenly passed away in June 2009. In various rare footage, and a conversation with her former manager and supporter for 16 years, the event portrays a unique artist whose continuous impact exceeded by far the boundaries of dance, theatre and art, since the 1970s, and even after her death. While looking back on the transition of performing arts from modern to contemporary, visitors will be invited to surrender to the irresistible charm of Pina Bausch as a choreographer and as a person, and explore the possibilities of the human body as captured on video.

]]> [Screening title]
"Auf der Suche nach Tanz"
1991 / Director: パトリツィア・コルブード / 29min / DVD
※ドイツ語音声（音声ガイドによる日本語通訳）translation: Ayako Kuwabara

"One Day Pina Bausch has asked"
1983 / Director: シャンテル・アカーマン / オリジナル58分の抜粋版／DVD
※ドイツ語音声（音声ガイドによる日本語通訳）translation: Ayako Kuwabara

"Pina Bausch"
2006/ Director: アンネ・リンゼル / オリジナル43分の抜粋版／DVD
※ドイツ語音声（音声ガイドによる日本語通訳） translation: Akiko Yamashita

applications and inquiries:
Please Send email entitled "A Tribute to Pina Bausch: Application" with i) Name in full
ii) Address; with telephone number, e-mail address.
deadline: April 11 (sun)

7-7 Nakazono-cho, Yamaguchi, 753-0075 JAPAN
Attn: Performing arts staff "A Tribute to Pina Bausch"
TEL: +81-83-901-2222/FAX: +81-83-901-2216
e-mail: pina@ycam.jp

Related event
"ELA NAVE VA"（1983 / Director: Federico Ferrini / 127min / DVD）
April 18 (sun)13:30, April 19 (mun)14:00
Venue: Studio C Admission free

YCAM Performance Lounge #5 faifai "A Story of Y O'Clock"+ contact Gonzo's Performance

2010-04-14T13:39:40Z
"YCAM Performance Lounge" is a series of events designed to convey the fun and fascination of a stage production, allowing the audience to experience dancers and actors up close. Held every year in the spring, the program aims at once to function as a stimulator encouraging people to come back and watch dance and theatre performances at YCAM, and to communicate in a direct manner the power of an up-and-coming new type of physical expression. As an additional gateway enhancing the enjoyment of performing arts, a temporary café invites visitors to exchange with the artists after the performances.
(faifai "A Story of Y O'Clock": Performed in Japanese with English supertitles. )

]]> Theatre company "faifai"

faifai "A Story of Y O'Clock" (2010, Tokyo) photo: Kazuya Kato

The company consists of members from various backgrounds and nationalities, most of them in their late 20s. Filling each of their shows with lots of ideas borrowed from the fields of dance, video, music, party and even catering, faifai operate far outside the ready-made concept of theatre, and always make sure to offer their audiences an explosive mixture of fun and amazement.
Generally performed in a freely experimenting manner, their portraits of multilayered identities using cell phones or blogs, and cool parodies of mass consumer society, result from the members' sharp observations of contemporary society. Looking at reality from a unique standpoint, faifai focus on the positive side of things, and suggest through their works to simply enjoy each moment in life. This approach reflects intensely the body sensation and sprachgefuhl of this new generation of artists that are gaining popularity among a broad audience in the realm of theatre and beyond.

Performance group "contact Gonzo"

contact Gonzo photo: Toda Yoichi

Based on "contact improvisation", an improvisational dance method focusing on the direct mutual transfer of body weight and power through body contact, the group has developed an original style incorporating forms of "contact" known from the realm of martial arts, such as punching, kicking, timing and defense. The group's sudden appearances at museums and public spaces that are securely maintained for whatever purpose cause instant transformations of the respective setting, that stimulate the senses of those who witness these performances. The four artists' almost excessive looking bodily encounters propose a new form of communication that reactivates our senses as we are entombed in the safe and sound environments of daily life.
The show this time features special guest Tetsuya Umeda, an artist known for sound installations and live concerts utilizing objects found in his direct environment.

performance piece　faifai "A Story of Y O'Clock"
The fantastic melodrama situated in an after-school daycare center generated a strong response. When it was first shown in Japan two years ago. The play now comes back in a longer remastered version!
Children's interests never meet adults'convenience, but they meet at Y o'clock.

faifai "A Story of R O'Clock" (2007) photo: kazuya Kato

A Story of R O'Clock, a fantastic melodrama set in a daycare center that generated a strong response when first staged in 2007, returns in a longer, upgraded version. The piece incorporates elements of puppet theatre, anime, computer games and other formats, to illustrate an entanglement of childlike worlds and adult rules. The contrast of a child's half-dreamed, half-imagined reality, and the adult sphere surrounding it, will refresh every grown-up viewer's childhood memories, while arrangements and gimmicks that everyone of us has surely dreamt up once or twice make this performance highly enjoyable for young and old alike.
(Performed in Japanese with English supertitles. )

"Performance + Theatre + Cafe"
The fascination of performing arts condensed in an annual spectacle!
Prior to the opening of the "faifai" performance group's latest production, A Story of Y O'Clock, there will be a performance by Contact Gonzo. In addition, the "After Hour Cafe" that opens temporarily after the show at the same venue provides visitors with a place to meet and exchange views with each other and the performers. The Cafe will also host special events for the ultimate one-day experience of performing arts and all the fun around.
Special events this time will be a laptop live performance by Shuta Hasunuma, who is responsible for the music in A Story of Y O'Clock (on 5/15), and "Let's play with faifai!", an occasion to join the faifai members and play around with the various stage props used in their performance (on 5/16).

Schedule

May 15 (sat)
18:30 start
contact Gonzo's performance
Venue: Hoyer etc Admission free
↓
19:00 start
faifai "A Story of Y O'Clock"
Venue: Studio B * Entry with performance ticket
↓
play through
"After Hour Cafe"
Venue: in front of Studio B * Separate ticket required
Special event
laptop live performance by Shuta Hasunuma

Close　16:30

May 16 (sun)
13:30 start
contact Gonzo's performance
Venue: Hoyer etc Admission free
↓
14:00 start
faifai "A Story of Y O'Clock"
Venue: Studio B * Entry with performance ticket
↓
play through
"After Hour Cafe"
Venue: in front of Studio B * Separate ticket required
Special event
"Let's play with faifai!" by faifai members

Close　16:30

faifai "A Story of Y O'Clock"
Text: Yoko Kitagawa
Direction: Chiharu Shinoda
Cast: Mai Nakabayashi, Kouji Yamamoto, Yasushi Takeda, Shiro Amano
Stage management: Megumi Sato
Stage design: Ayami Sasaki
Lighting / Object design: Goh Ueda
Video: Shiro Amano, Ayami Sasaki
Sound: Daisuke Hoshino
Music: Shuta Hasunuma
Costume / Puppet design: Kyoko Fujitani
Diorama：Yui Yamamoto
Flyer design: Kensaku Kato (TOKYO PISTOL)
Photo: Kazuya Kato
Character design: Naoko Shinpou
Managed by: Mihoko Kawamura
Special thanks to: HEADZ

contact Gonzo's performance
Cast: Yuya Tsukahara, Keigo Mikajiri, Itaru Kato, Yu Kanai
Guest: Tetsuya Umeda

Organized by: Yamaguchi City Foundation for Cultural Promotion
In association with: Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi City Board of Education
Agency for Cultural Affair
Produced by: Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]

Hofesh Shechter "Political Mother"

2010-04-14T13:00:24Z
Up-and-coming UK company visits Japan to show a captivating mix of energetic dance and reverberating percussion
This performance series was installed with the aim to showcase next-generation performing arts as represented by specially invited budding young artists from all corners of the globe. This year, we are happy to introduce Hofesh Shechter, a choreographer who relocated to the UK after working with Israel's own Batsheva Dance Company, and in recent years has won high acclaim as an internationally awarded choreographer and creator of pieces commissioned by leading theatres around the world. Also outside the realm of dance, Shechter has been attracting attention for his choreographies for popular TV plays among other things. On his visit to Japan, Shechter will unveil his latest production that is set to define a new set of values in contemporary dance through a compelling mixture of amazing high-tension dance and groovy live percussion.
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* The performance will be followed by workshop and talk session, in which the artist will reveal more details about the piece, and answer questions from the public.

2010 Theatre & Dance Family Program "Naso Rosso"

2010-04-14T12:59:35Z
An opportunity to encounter performing arts for children aged 2 and up

This dance/theatre program is designed for children at pre-school age and their parents. Instead of difficult lines telling a complex story, the piece created in Italy immediately communicates the fun of performing arts through music, dance, and various gimmicks that appear as the story unfolds. Built with elements of contemporary dance and theatre, and a little box that keeps spitting out all kinds of colorful gadgets, this performance is sure to fascinate young and old alike.

2010 Theatre & Dance Family Program "Dallae's Story"

2010-04-14T12:58:57Z
Precious moments to focus on family ties and human love

Based on the story of the Korean War in the 1950s, this piece is not directly about the war itself, but illustrates the earnest attempts of a family to overcome all kinds of hardships. Korean traditional music, glamorous sets, and a uniquely vivid combination of human performers and puppets make for an exciting performance that appeals to both children and their parents. Look forward to a topical piece that graphically conveys the magnificence and importance of love between human individuals and family members.

Megumi Nakamura & Yasuyuki Shuto dance performance

2010-04-14T12:57:36Z
Artistically and technically distinguished dancers from Japan and abroad provide hints for defining contemporary dance and its fascination

This performance focuses on the technically advanced and artistically diverse skills of physical expression of dancer/choreographer Megumi Nakamura and dancer Yasuyuki Shuto. Building their careers on a solid foundation of Classical ballet under such internationally renowned masters of choreographers as Jirí Kylián and Maurice Béjart respectively, both Nakamura and Shuto have vaulted their acquired techniques into spheres of truly unique art. Their works highlight the beauty of dance itself while hinting at the diversity and potential of artistic expression, inviting the viewer to explore the creative nature of studying and experiencing dance and other forms of body expression, and ponder the meaning of originality, stringency and reality in the realm of dance. Here are two artists who have come to make something as seemingly unintelligible as contemporary dance accessible to a broad audience.
* A talk session with the performers is planned as related event.

Tsuyoshi Shirai×YCAM video dance project"Choreography filmed: 5days of movement" - Presentation of a new video piece

2010-04-13T13:06:27Z
Focusing on dance and other forms of body expression by way of video Volume two in YCAM's original video dance production & screening series

In this second installment, choreographer/dancer Tsuyoshi Shirai will make use of YCAM's technology and creative environment to realize a new video dance piece. Through a filmed version of one of his most well-known works, "mass, slide, &." (2004), Shirai redefines dance from a viewpoint that differs from a conventional stage production, while exploring the refined and dynamic movements of the human body.
Next to unveiling a new video piece created in the course of this project, this event looks back on the project by way of a talk session with the artist and guests. Also introduced are various examples of previous works that illustrate the possibilities of dance expressed on film.

Tsuyoshi Shirai×YCAM video dance project
"Choreography filmed: 5days of movement" project website
http://c-filmed.ycam.jp/index_en.html

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"Choreography filmed: 5days of movement" -
Presentation of a new video piece

Next to unveiling a new video piece created in the course of this project, this event looks back on the project by way of a talk session with the artist and guests. Also introduced are various examples of previous works that illustrate the possibilities of dance expressed on film.

Part 1: A half-century of dance and video
Introducing various concrete projects and video pieces, this part of the event demonstrates the transition of imagery and "dance" related technologies, environments and forms of expression, evolving from traditional cinema to promotion videos, the emergence of video art and online contents.　
Video selection / commentator: Naoto Iina（stage director, film maker, producer）

Part 2: New video screening and talk session with Tsuyoshi Shirai
Tsuyoshi Shirai unveils his brand new video created in the course of this project, and review the project in an "imagery and the human body" themed talk session with special guest Keisuke Kitano. Together they will discuss environmental and physical aspects involved in the appreciation of video and the experience of dance today, in consideration of the reception of images in information society, and the idea of the human body in the age of the network.
Guests: Tsuyoshi Shirai (Choreographer, Dancer), Keisuke Kitano（Film Theory, Culture and Representation Theory / Professor of Image Arts and Sciences, Ritsumeikan University）

Organized by: Yamaguchi City Foundation for Cultural Promotion
In association with: Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi City Board of Education
Cooperation: HiWood
Produced by: Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]

Hiroaki Umeda "Holistic Strata" (world premiere)

2010-04-13T12:47:02Z
*Special website http://holistic-strata.ycam.jp/

YCAM performing arts original production 2010 unveiled!
The criticality of perception highlighted in a spectacle of light, sound, and the human body

Hiroaki Umeda, a choreographer who has been attracting attention in Japan and abroad with his "visual performances" blending imagery, sound and dance, presents his brand new dance piece at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]. Holistic Strata is a YCAM original production developed with the Center's expert staff during the artist's stay in Yamaguchi, with the aim to break new ground in the filed of body expression integrating media technology.
Based on his own set designs mixing imagery and sound, Hiroaki Umeda equivalently combines in his pieces elements of light, sound, and the human body. For his audiences, these performances are opportunities to experience their own bodies' primary reactions triggered by intensely stimulating light and sound. Visitors to the performance at YCAM are likely to witness another leap forward by the choreographer who has been harnessing information technology to conquer the world with nothing but his body and a computer. Look forward to a novel type of performance that will rock your body senses and challenge your perception.

]]> Hiroaki Umeda takes charge not only of the parts of choreography and dance, but designs also the optical and acoustic aspects of his stage productions. Interested in the effects of visual impact on the audience, he creates stimulating settings of intense lights and colors, which he synchronizes with his own improvised dance to great acclaim especially in Europe and the USA. Most recently he was awarded an Honorary Mention for Adapting for Distortion at the Ars Electronica media art festival (digital music & sound art category), and enjoys a growing international reputation in various fields beyond the boundaries of dance.

"Adapting for Distortion" (2008)　photo: Alex

Holistic Strata:
Layers of light, sound, and the human body

Spatial exercise by physical data - Engulfing the audience with sharp imagination
In addition to the characteristic elements of light and sound in his previous works, Hiroaki Umeda's new piece Holistic Strata introduces a new system built around a key component of "physical data" generated by the dancer's body and its movements. During his two-month residency at YCAM, Umeda's creative work with an eye to touring the result on a global scale was based on the development of technologies and plans according to the piece's concept, assisted by the YCAM InterLab team of media art specialists.
A further leap forward from Umeda's tried and tested concept of treating light, sound and the human body as equivalent means of expression on stage, Holistic Strata revolves around the body as a complex cluster of information that configures actual spaces. The conversion into data for manipulating light and sound of dancer Umeda's body data (movements of muscles and locomotion coordinates) with the help of sensing technology results in the creation of a scenery that integrates dance, sound, and intensely blinking light. It will be challenging to see how the data of the body, broken up into the same information units (bit) as light and sound, will be represented in the viewer's perception when Umeda implants his improvised dance in the surrounding space, or lets it arise right in front of the audience. Based on this system of freely generated imagination, Holistic Strata proposes "dance" as a spatial expression, while highlighting the criticality of our perception.

Talk event * Talk events after each performance
* Admission only with performance ticket
Talk events with Hiroaki Umeda will take place after each performance. On February 19 (Sat), Umeda will discuss the main appeal of Holistic Strata, while the event on the following day will include a presentation introducing the technology used in the piece.
* Japanese only

"Haptic" (2008)　photo: Bertrand Baudry

"while going to a condition" (2002) photo: Shin Yamagata

Organized by: Yamaguchi City Foundation for Cultural Promotion
In association with: Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi City Board of Education
Grants from: Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities (JAFRA),
THE SEASON FOUNDATION, EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee
Equipment cooperation: Color Kinetics Japan Incorporated
Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan in the fiscal 2010
Co-developed with: YCAM InterLab
Produced by: Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]

Chelfitsch performance (new piece) "A Sonic Life of The Giant Tortoise"

2010-04-11T13:10:22Z
The company presents their newest piece at YCAM
Beyond the "real" connection between language and body

Having received among others the Kishida Kunio Drama Award for "Five Days in March", a theatre piece that was staged at YCAM in 2007, Toshiki Okada keeps exerting an immeasurable influence on the current performing arts scene as a playwright and stage director. His pieces combining dialogues symbolic of today's youth culture with somewhat noisy physical exaggerations of daily routine are highly regarded in theatre circles and various other fields. With the performance of this long-awaited new piece, Okada considers a further development beyond the "real" kind of artistic expression he has established as a means to examine the contemporary relationship between body and language. * After the performance, the artist will appear in a talk session introducing the piece's main points of appeal.
* In conjunction with the performance, a workshop with playwright and director Toshiki Okada is scheduled for 3/6 (Sun).