Merce Cunningham from the U.S. brought his troop of dancers to Federation Square for the Melbourne Arts Festival. Weird dance. But then again, this is art. This is Merce Cunningham’s style of much body control, concentration and balance.

I remember subscribing to this rather weird dance which I really enjoyed and thought it was unique. It’s so controlled and neat. Everyone seemed to survive on one another like parasites as exemplified by helping each other out in balancing. At Federation Square, two stages were set up and this performance had attracted many people just outside the Australian Racing Museum.It was nice to see people with such interests. Then again, any performance like that would attract attention if:
1. It is located strategically
2. There is publicity generated by Performing Arts and Tourism websites
3. It is FOCHere’s what Kristy Edmunds (Artistic Director of the Melbourne International Arts Festival) had to say about Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

And here’s the real deal at Federation Square.

Personally, I expected much more from this group as I could see only a few performers with much feel and enthusiasm throughout the dance. It’s one of those moments where you should really study their facial expressions. Although this dance doesn’t require almost ANY facial expression at all, it definitely would help to lift their movements a little bit more with more feel to the dance. If you noticed, the music almost doesn’t match the dance at all and it’s meant to be like that. The music was played for the whole hour (live) and the dancers just kept dancing. I have two favourite dancers – a Jap guy and the female dancer with short hair. They had much energy for a dance that requires some level of stagnant movements. Their steps were light and they had a good ballon. It wasn’t meant to be balletic although a great amount of movement were ballet-inspired or rather held basic ballet steps like the split in the air (jete’) and pointing of feet and stretching of legs. This is really what you can call – modern / contemporary ballet. Ballet that is newly changed and developed in this era of globalisation.This is my favourite dancer. She looks like she has much experience with good body alignment and the right facial expression.The dancers hold their positions for a mere 3 minutes without moving.

So much body control!

Pas de deux (pah-dee-duh).

I was told that a great performer will always look good in all poses, just as a dancer would look good in all shots, in whatever movement. A great performer is always aware of possible camera shots. Either that, or it was just me – a great photographer? Haha.

Yet another pas de deux couple.

More images here: http://kimfluttersby.multiply.com/photos/album/109/Merce_Cunningham

Merce Cunningham Website: http://merce.org

I have a craze for performing arts. I love dance of all sorts because it’s an expression of the inner soul and emotions. Last November, I watched Sankai Juku, a butoh performance group all the way from Japan in KLPAC. This year, I decided to hunt them down all the way at the Melbourne Arts Festival. Yes, in Melbourne Arts Centre in the city. The performance was entitled:

KAGEMI – Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors

Date: 18 October 2007
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Melbourne Arts Centre

Last year, there were only four present in KL over a short tour and this time, Sankai Juku made a bigger appearance in Melbourne, a city that appreciates performing arts with 2085 seatings, one of the largest stages in the world at the Melbourne Arts Centre.

Here’s a little write-up about this performance:

Founded 32 years ago by Ushio Amagatsu Japan’s Sankai Juku has presented its enigmatic all-male butoh stylings to more than 700 cities in 41 countries. Last seen in Australia in 1988, Sankai Juku makes its Melbourne debut with the visually stunning Kagemi: Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors.

Inspired by the work of Riho Senba, a master of the Japanese art of flower arranging, Ikebana, Kagemi is a visually rich piece that gracefully unfolds over seven scenes. Exquisite movement is accompanied by the musical synthesis of Western and Eastern instruments into other worldly sounds. What unfolds is a work of breathtaking beauty. Ushio Amagatsu, Sankai Juku’s founder and artistic director, trained in classical and modern dance before beginning to create his own style of butoh. Whilst drawing on the traditions of this contemporary Japanese artform, butoh in the hands of Amagatsu has been very much influenced by European dance and as a result offers a unique vision of a dance theatre experience.In attempting to put the visual language of Kagemi into words, the choreographer and principle performer poetically explains ‘The Kage of Kagemi is shadow, the light of contrast, the image in the mirror of water’s surface. The mi is seeing and being seen.’ Kagemi then is roughly translated as seeing one’s shadows, and this dreamlike creation is certainly poetry in motion.

The setup of performance with great lighting and backdrop. In the opening scene, the flowers were on the ground and once they were lifted into the air, six dancers were already crouching on the floor. The curtains were open the whole period way before the performance started but I don’t know when the dancers crept in! Amazing, it must have been the attention I caught from the dancer on the little podium on the front left stage.

To be honest, I personally felt that Hibiki (last year’s performance) was far more interesting. Was it because I sat closer to the stage, hence I could relate to the dance much easier? Was it a first-time-watching effect? I was seated in one of the last few rows in the auditorium and was thrilled mostly when there were group dances instead of individual performances. Nonetheless, yet another great performance from Sankai Juku as they travel all around the world to 700 cities. Which city next?

Some pictures at the Arts Centre with myjojo:

Here’s what I wrote last year, on http://weblog.xanga.com/kimfluttersby/551105214/item.html

HIBIKI – Resonance from Far Away

Date: 25 November 2006
Time: 8.30pm
Venue: KL Performing Arts Centre

Picture ripped off www.klpac.com

Sankai Juku, one of the best butoh dance troupes in Japan came to Malaysia on a tour and performed for two days. There were not much publicity about this dance, so far only one in The Star newspapers. I suppose butoh dance is still not well-known among Malaysians. Just from this picture above, if you have not heard of butoh, you would have guessed that this is yet another artistic, ghostly dance, probably some kind of ritual.What is butoh? Read this article, according to some prominent dance figures.My understanding of butoh are the following:

1. There is no right and wrong about butoh dance.
2. You dance as your senses lead you, influenced by your surrounding; sound, touch, etc.
3. Your imagination runs wild while you dance.
4. Alot of metaphor is used. For example; when you walk in a straight line, you imagine you’re in a forest, walking towards a particular tree.
5. You let loose of your body, you dance your own style, nobody else’s.
6. If you love poems, you would enjoy butoh dance. You imagine reciting a poem in the form of dance.

HIBIKI – “Resonance from Far Away” was presented by 6 men. As the lights went dim, the crowd went hush. Nobody breathed. Or rather, nobody dared to breathe to contribute to the sound. Otherwise, the dancers might get distracted. For butoh dancers, inaudible sound is also considered as some kind of sound. Nothing is something. Suddenly drops of water were audible, apart from the occasional coughs and snorts of the audiences. It went “plop”… again and again. I noticed about seven big, flat, round glass pots surrounded the stage. Above it were tubes that directed droplets of water every few seconds into the pots. It created the ochestra of sound. How creative. There were seven of those pots around. As the sound of water droplets filled the auditorium, the dancers moved artistically by crouching in a foetal position and then smoothly moved away from their original position. It was as if the water droplets commanded their movements. In the next scene, strong light flashed across from one corner of the stage allowing the dancer to dance to his own shadow. There was full concentration on his own shadow, joined by the other dancers.The highlight of the scene was the part where all four men were dancing as if they performed a ritual of blood-shedding ceremony, standing in front of a pool of blood, clad in corsets and long skirts. This time, the music played was drum beats, creating a thumping, heart-beating sensation for the audience.Words to describe the performance: equality, unity, fluidity, sound, touch, senses, contraction, light, space, darkness, movement, resistance, relaxation, water, air, eye movement.

Butoh Workshop by SEMIMARU of Sankai Juku

Date: 27 November 2006
Time: 7-10pm
Venue: Akademi Seni Kebangsaan

Semimaru is one of the pioneers of Sankai Juku and has performed for many decades now. He holds workshops all over the world and a two-week summer course on an annual basis. His love for passion was evidently portrayed when he truly felt and portrayed what he preached.

I questioned Semimaru towards the end of workshop after doing a little bit of background research on butoh. I asked him if it is true that butoh dance is some kind of dance for rituals or offering to the diety, to which he replied, “No, basically the past performances we had for religious reasons was to cater for the religious crowd.”

I think that is quite true, like how we have tambourine dancers specifically for Christian church service. If I danced ballet at a church performance, that does not make ballet a “religious” dance form.

So I understood that whilst butoh dance was created by the Japanese, it depicts the sufferings endured post-war in Japan. Hence, the resistance in body movements, in such anguish and occasional pain were amplified. Otherwise, the dance normally embraces one’s true self – its connection with mother nature.

I was used as for his first example and exercise. Semimaru made me lie on the floor, flat, looking up, and he tried moving parts of my limbs to see if they were tensed or if I was relaxed. The whole idea was to be relaxed. The above picture highlights my partner, Mei Mei from Kwang Tung Dance Troupe assisting me. We were put in groups of two so that we could check on each other.

Another step Semimaru taught was the one with six-points body “wave”. One is to “transfer an imaginary little ball” from the:

1. Left shoulder to right hip
2. Right hip to left shoulder
3. Right shoulder to left hip,
4. Left hip to right shoulder
5. Spine to neck
6. Neck to spine.

We had to crouch our bodies accordingly, imagining a ball rolling over from the various points. The movements are in fluid manner.

Semimaru also made us duck our heads out as we walked. Our bodies were like snakes gliding. All the moves were “simple”, yet “controlled”.

At one point, we were even made to walk and fall down onto the floor immediately. I noticed that while you resist, you should also let loose your body so you fall gracefully without hurting yourself.

One of the participants were none other than Lee Swee Keong, a professional local dancer and Artistic Director of Nyoba Dance Group.

I had good fun. I should attend more workshops and get back in shape. My muscles will surely ache tomorrow.

I saw my name on the list and noticed I was the second to register with the Japan Foundation of Kuala Lumpur for this workshop. It’s free and I think there weren’t much publicity and awareness is still not created. There were only 35 participants.

Butoh is one of those dances where a normal person without patience would go “What the **** is he doing?” In the end, you just tell yourself that this is a darn good performance. Great experience.

Then again, every single form of art is subjective. If everyone feel that butoh is like hip-hop (too commercialised), butoh may no longer be “exclusive”.