Conversation with Kenji Miyazawa
Featuring Works of Poetry Reading and Dance Theater
Image by Hacci Morihata & Teo Yamamoto
Date: Sat. May 12, 2012Time: 8 pm
Tickets: $10 Buy Ticket Click Here
Location: CRS: 123 4th Ave. 2FL, New York City
(Between 12th &13th St.)
- Subway: N, Q, R, 4, 5, 6, L to Union Square
"Ishikko Kensan" Bilingual Blog Site (English/Japanese)
"Conversation with Kenji MIyazawa"
Cast: Teo Yamamoto & Hacci Morihata
"Ishikko Kensan"
Cast : Yukari Kakiuchi (Tokyo), Kayoko Nakajima (NYC), Carly Czach (NYC)
Scene Design: Masaru Munekata (Tokyo), Shugo Tsuchida (Ibaragi)
Video, Sound, Music:Kazuya Ninomiya (Tokyo)
CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing) will present a short program of works by CRS Contact Improv instructor Kayoko Nakajima and other artists, introducing the beloved Japanese writer, artist, and philosopher Kenji Miyazawa to western audiences. The program will take place at CRS on Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 8 pm. Tickets are $10 and are available online and at CRS.
This program is offered as an unofficial prelude for New York audiences to this summer's tenth TheaterX International Performing Art Festival 2012 in Tokyo, which this year is dedicated to works inspired by Kenji Miyazawa and will include the piece created by Nakajima and her collaborators.
In Part one, Poet/artist Teo Yamamoto and musician/artist Hacci Morihata will read/perform poems and stories by Miyazawa as well as several poems by Yamamoto, whose work at times strongly parallels Miyazawa's with regard to his love of animals and exploration of animism and the interconnectedness of all things. Hacci Morihata will play the very unique instrument called Spirit Catcher. It was made in Fukushima, Japan and sent to New York for this “Conversations with Kenji Miyazawa.”
The second half of the program, "Ishikko Kensan" (Kenji's childhood nickname relating to his passion for rock collecting), is a international collaboration between Tokyo and New York City, utilizing modern technologies (Skype, email, youtube, and blogging to to allow the artists to work together at a distance. For the actual performance, Kakiuchi will travel from Tokyo to NYC to perform alongside Nakajima and Czach. "Ishikko Kensan" reflects on Miyazawa's life and work through dance: Contact Improvisation by Kayoko Nakajima and Carly Czach and Popping by Yukari Kakiuchi. Contact Improvisation is chosen to communicate Kenji's strong interest in astronomy and philosophy of the universe. Popping expresses his brain activity as a person with synesthesia. Projection and music is by Naoya Ninomiya, set design and creation is by Shugo Tsuchida, directed by Masaru Munekata.
There was a major disaster in Japan on March, 11 last year, an earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant meltdown. This unfortunate event happened in the Tohoku region where Kenji worked tirelessly all his life to help people who suffered from drought. Kenji himself lived through a large earthquake and tsunami disaster in 1933. The whole world mourns and fears in the aftermath of last year's accident. Still, the nuclear leakage problem has not been solved. What would Kenji think if he were alive today? This has been in our thoughts as we create this piece. What we should do now for our future?
For more information about the "Ishikko Kensan" performance in Japan,
please visit:http://www.theaterx.jp/12/120601-120624p.php or email: [email protected]
Blog: http://ishikkokensan.wordpress.com/