[Performance] Dance, if you want to enter my country!（踊れ、入国したければ！）

5 November 2016

“Dance, if you want to enter my country!（踊れ、入国したければ！）”--- from Kyoto Experiment 2016 Autumn, Part 3

Country: Austria

Performance: Matsune, Michikazu（松根充和）

Location I watched: Auditorium, Kyoto Art Center

MATSUNE Michikazu, an artist, read a small newspaper article in Vienna, 2008 about an African-American dancer, travelling to Israel for a performance. The dancer, Abdur Rahim Jackson, belonged to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, an established and famous dance company. At the Israel airport, the immigration inspector was suspicious of Mr. Jackson because of his Muslim name. Mr. Jackson was taken to a private room and had to dance to prove he was a real dancer. MATSUNE’s solo performance, “Dance, if you want to enter my country!” is inspired by that story.

MATSUNE is holding his old and new passports.

Before the performance, the audience practiced with MATSUNE on how to move our own eyebrows down and transform to become a mustache on our face. Of course, we cannot move freely our eyebrows. What he wanted to practice with the audience is to imagine. When Mr. Jackson was taken to the private room, what did he dance? How long? And what was the reaction of immigration officers? Can we imagine this various situations like MATSUNE? On the other hand, he made removing eyebrows and making a mustache a literal activity. MATSUNE shaved his eyebrows, assembled a mustache from the shaved hair, and put the fake mustache below his nose. He took an ID photo of his face with this new eyebrows-turned mustache and renewed his passport with that photo. The MATSUNE in his new passport is like him and unlike him.

MATSUNE spoke about the profile of Mr. Jackson and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He also even danced one of their famous performances. The more we know about Mr. Jackson and the Dance Theater, the more we feel ridiculousness about the immigration officers’ requirement. But this incident really happened and is just an example of many other similar stories. The world is weird.

MATSUNE also spoke about his memory of childhood when he was longing for overseas. He shared some episodes of his passports after he grew up and started going abroad (including his new eyebrows-turned-mustache passport). He also showed us a series of brave video works taken at the immigration inspection counter of all over the world when he was entering each country.

Personally, when I was a child, I wanted to be a sailor. It does not mean I liked ships. I wanted to go to everywhere over the sea just like little MATSUNE dreaming of foreign countries. In the real world, however, the passport system used all over the world requires our passport to certify our identity for immigration inspection. Depending on the situation, we need a visa, too. From his video series, we found the process at all immigration counters is almost the same. But the immigration inspection is actually uncertain. If a first name in the passport looks like a Muslim name, it implies that the person is a Muslim. If the person is a Muslim, the possibility of becoming a terrorist is added. The probability of that logic is quite uncertain. Besides even if a dancer successfully danced and proved that he is a professional dancer, there would still be a possibility that a professional dancer is a terrorist. Firstly, how can amateur immigration officers judge that his dance skills are professional?

What MATSUNE is proposing is not about the world divided by terrorism. Although his identity is certified with his passport, a dancer can be doubted because of only his first name and can be forced to dance at the airport. Or such an important document, a passport can be issued with a strange ID photo which is different with his usual face. There is something uncertain involved in a system that is assumed to be solid. It is ridiculous, weird, loose and includes humans’ imagination or expectation. Each country requires on the border that he/she certifies by himself/herself who he/she is. But the system for that cannot be perfect. While borderlines are defined and entering borders is strict, what MATSUNE revealed is the vagueness. He pointed the discrepancy of the divided world with the passport system---it is strange and even mysterious--in a moderate way, I think.

Before I end, I will mention about the venue. Kyoto Art Center used to be a primary school from 1869 to 1993. After an extensive renovation in 1931, the building is preserved as it is till today. When it revived as an art center, both the outside and inside of the building was not almost changed. We can see the beautiful architecture and interior of the primary school it used to be. (20 December, 2016)

The Venue, Kyoto Art Center

[Theatre] Kanjincho（勧進帳）

4 November 2016

“Kanjincho（勧進帳）”---from Kyoto Experiment 2016 Autumn, Part 2

Country: Japan

Company: Kinoshita-Kabuki（木ノ下歌舞伎）

Supervision & Revisions: KINOSHITA Yuichi（木ノ下裕一）

Direction & Stage Design: SUGIHARA Kunio（杉原邦生）

Cast: Lee The 5^th（リー五世）, SAKAGUCHI Ryotaro（坂口涼太郎）, TAKAYAMA Noemi（高山のえみ）

Location I watched: Kyoto Art Theater Shunjuza (Kyoto University of Art and Design)（京都芸術劇場春秋座（京都造形芸術大学）

Kinoshita-Kabuki, which recreates old Kabuki works with a contemporary perspective, celebrated its 10^th anniversary this year. Its founder, KINOSHITA Yuichi has been revising Kabuki classics and working with contemporary theatre directors. You might say that it is like restaging Shakespeare works to a contemporary adaptation. Nowadays it is quite common for Shakespeare, but I think that trying it on Kabuki classics continuously and aggressively is quite rare. For this festival, Kinoshita Kabuki showcased a reworking of “Kanjincho”, one of their main works. Their “Kanjincho” can be understood easily. The contemporizing of the original work is quite exciting. Here, the characters even sing and dance an original rap song!

The entrance of the theater decorated with the flags of Kinoshita-Kabuki

The summary of “Kanjincho”:

“Kanjincho” is set in the late 12^th century on the eve of Kamakura Shogunate era. Minamoto no Yoshitsune from the Minamoto clan had great achievements during the war between the Minamoto and Taira clans. However, his older brother, Minamoto no Yoritomo---going to be the first shogun of Kamakura Shogunate---became distrustful of Yoshitsune’s loyalty. Yoritomo finally declared Yoshitsune as a rebel and ordered to hunt him down. “Kanjincho” tells about Yoshitsune and his retainers including Benkei, Yoshitsune’s right-hand man at the Ataka checkpoint in Kaga (currently Ishikawa prefecture). They try to flee to the North, disguising themselves as Yamabushi (a mountain priest). However, Togashi, the keeper of the Ataka checkpoint and his guards have been already waiting to stop a group of “Yamabushi”. Can Yoshitsune and his retainers pass through the checkpoint safely? “Kanjincho”, the title of the play, is a letter soliciting donations to a shrine subscription. Yoshitsune and his retainers disguised as a group of Yamabushi pretend to solicit funds for the rebuilding of the Todaiji temple in Nara. Togashi questions Benkei about the subscriptions, and Benkei reads the details of contributions from a blank scroll. This scene is one of the highlights of the play.

(details partly taken from a website “The Virtual Museum of Traditional Japanese Arts”).

“Kanjincho” is a famous classic. (KUROSAWA Akira’s “The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail” is also based on it.) However, this “Kanjincho” is completely different from the usual Kabuki classics performance. The stage is long, narrow and surrounded by the audience from the both sides like a runway. There are minimum props. Yoshitsune and his retainers are dressed in black like a “contemporary Ninja” or secret agent while Togashi, the checkpoint keeper wears a black long coat and pants. The time is not set in the middle ages, rather it looks like the present. The dialogue is mainly in the style of contemporary spoken Japanese.

"Kanjincho" by Kinoshita-Kabuki

Approaching contemporary theatre is not only about set design, props, costume or language. In the opening scene, Togashi and his guards are waiting at the checkpoint for a group of “Yamabushi”. There are many human heads (the heads do not look real, they are like black rocks) on the stage. Togashi has received information that Yoshitsune and his followers have disguised themselves as Yamabushi. As a result, all Yamabushi who try to pass their border checkpoint have been killed. Rebels are disguised as Yamabushi, thus all Yamabushi are deemed suspicious and killed just in case. Even nowadays, we can see this warped logic being used.

Interestingly, the actors playing Togashi’s guards also play Yoshitsune’s retainers. Except for the actors playing the lead roles of Yoshitsune, Benkei and Togashi, the other actors hold the roles of the two opposite sides, a supporter and an enemy. This fact is not hidden from the audience. When a scene switches from Togashi side to Yoshitsune side, the actors immediately change from a guard to a retainer and vice versa. We all are the same humans, but when the position and situation changes, the personality changes.

Benkei, Yoshitsune’s right-hand man, is played by Lee the 5^th, an American comedian. He is not a great actor, but being a big guy, he fits the legendary Herculean Benkei. Yoshitsune, the male role, is played by a male-to-female transsexual actor, TAKAYAMA Noemi. She is a lady and at the same time, like a beautiful young man. Her mysterious attraction makes Yoshitsune outstanding as a noble person. In this production, all characters speak casual contemporary Japanese, except for Yoshitsune, whose style of speaking is different from the others.

After clearing Togashi’s doubt by the wits of Benkei, Yoshitsune and his retainers are about to successfully pass the checkpoint. However, one of Togashi’s guards recognizes Yoshitsune, who has disguised himself as a Goriki, a servant porter for the Yamabushi. Then, to prove that Yoshitsune is just a servant and not his master, Benkei beats him up. Togashi actually notices the truth. But he is so impressed by Benkei’s desperate actions to save his master, Yoshitsune that he allows them to pass through. Once they have cleared through the checkpoint, Benkei deeply apologizes to Yoshitsune for beating him earlier and breaking the relationship of master to retainer. However, Yoshitsune does not get angry with Benkei. Instead he thanked Benkei for saving them with his quick judgment. At that moment their relationship is just about to cross the border between master and retainer to become friendship between two persons. Yoshitsune holds out his hand to Benkei. In the original Kabuki presentation, this scene is performed with a Nagauta (song played by shamisen (three-stringed Japanese guitar), flute and drums etc.). Instead in this production, the scene has a rap song with the other retainers singing lyrics like “I want to hold your hand.” This scene is stylishly beautiful and at the same time, quite touching. Yoshitsune and Benkei are very close now, but they would not be able to become friends beyond the relationship of master to retainer.

In the meantime, Togashi catches up with Yoshitsune’s company. He offers them Sake (Japanese rice wine) to make up for their rough attitude at the checkpoint. Togashi does not reveal Yoshitsune’s true identity. He is still treating them as a group of Yamabushi. Everyone is enjoying themselves. This moment looks like it is crossing the border between supporter (rebel) and enemy (authority), but the moment passes. After Yoshitsune’s company left, Togashi receives news that Yoshitsune’s company is still continuing running away to the north. The play ends with Togashi looking tired and lonely.

“Kanjincho” is a story about managing to cross the border at the checkpoint and it has been successfully done. However, the border between two persons or two sides has not been crossed after all. Kinoshita-Kabuki’s production expressed not only the physical border, but also the inner border in a system or society. That is what makes their “Kanjincho” contemporary. Borders that has been already formed and divided seem impossible to overcome. But even then, there is still some tiny hope, it is possible. (14 January 2017)

The venue, Kyoto University of Art and Design