Review of “Parole”

Review of “Parole”, Hajime Fujita dance performance

On the 4th of Jan. this year, I saw the dance performance called "Parole" created by Fujita Fujita (born in 1982, in Core-Shakkyo, Tokyo). He is quite a young choreographer and dancer, and has started to work while based in Kyoto. "Parole" is his 2nd self-produced performance in the area of Tokyo. The reason why I would like to speak about him is that he has neither excellent technique nor does he create very unique works. He has also stated: "My work is characterized in the neutral body, and the atmosphere and direction of 'in-between'. " What is interesting is the style of the duet and the way he creates the whole production.

First, the atmosphere of the production. When we were going into the space, dancers were stretching their bodies in the performance space (the stage). Though these sorts of things are not unique for productions held in this type of studio (not a theater), they are different from the other productions. The dancers did not concentrate much on the stretch; they were obviously paying attention to the audience without any tension. Ryo Iwamatsu (*1) was surprised with one perfromance of Chelfitsch in which the actors started to talk to spectators: "we would like to do [ ]." (a very concrete explanation of their actions on the stage). In an interview, Iwamatsu asked Toshiki Okada, the director of the Chelfitsch (*2), about the motivation of that choice. Okada replied: "I just wanted to be open." Fujita was also "open". He did not pretend that there were no spectators, but he obviously showed his curiosity for the spectators. 'Who is coming? How many people do we have now?' At the beginning I thought that attitude was very amateur. However, when show was finished, I understood that Fujita had decided on this attitude consciously.

The duo dance was also not tense. For instance, at the beginning, two dancers (Fujita and Ohtoshi) separated to the right and left of the stage, then each walked back to the other side again. What happens at the moment when they meet is not the conventional cliche of contemporary dance, like "running toward each other and crashing" or "walking through or beside each other and looking back at him/her". Without any attention for something special, they were just walking to the other, confronted each other, and put their backs together. Even keeping minimum tension, they were refusing to deliberately allow the illusion to occur. This duo piece had a lot of scenes which used unison and contact. In the unison there were many differences between Fujita and Ohtoshi, such as the way to use the accent and the angle of the neck, even though the choreography was the same. Usually, Ohtoshi selected the angle and adjusted the speed of her movements as "so-called dance", that let us feels the sophistication. Meanwhile, Fujita did not aggressively put himself into that kind of style. Although he completed the action of the choreography and controlled his body, without losing the weight and without make noisy movements, he also left his body the same as in his daily life. He seemed to place himself "in between". Additionally, in the scene using the technique of contact, the dancers were moving very slowly. Most of the movements themselves were not so unique, which usually we can see in a contact improvisation jam session. In one, Fujita was on hands and knees, and Ohtoshi went on his back and rolled. The point was in their concern and caring for one another in this movement, more than simply showing the movements. Looking to see what happens and taking care of each other, they moved very carefully. Because they moved very slowly, spectators could easily see their concern and care.

Generally, in dance productions, people have plenty of rehearsal, and show very clear movements in which the spectators do not notice the dancers' concern. So this scene was quite rare. Actually, there is something lost when dancers become able to understand each other with unspoken communication after the rehearsals. When dancers enter that state, their otherness among dancers will reduce. Then it is hard to see the communication with the others. To the spectator, such a group of dancers appears to be a community which is only dedicated to their work itself. Of course, because of the choreography, it is easy to expect what they will do next. Even so, Fujita and Ohtoshi tried to keep to think each other as unexpected existence.
When dancers try to make, among themselves, a sort of imaginary public space, "the place between the other and the other is birthed". Then spectators also can feel invited into that virtual public space. When the show was finished (though it was not clear when exactly it finished), two dancers, sitting on the floor of the stage, started a conversation together:

Ohtoshi: "Hajime, today is the final stage in Tokyo. How do you feel? What is your reaction?"
Fujita: "Hmmm...."
Ohtoshi: "You have nothing?"
Fujita: "This is a difficult piece...."

The sentences sounded little bit idiotic, but they were talking very seriously. Thus, the spectators could feel what they would say in their reaction to Fujita. Then Fujita continued, trying to be closer to the spectators. At the end, he started to say: "Actually this has not gotten good reactions but I would like to..." and asked spectators to tell him their names in a hesitant manner. When I was there, not one of nearly 20 spectators declined to speak. The staff of the video noted their names and passed their names to Fujita. He read each name out, bowed deeply and gave his appreciation to the spectators. Fujita attempted to adjust the relationship between himself, Ohtoshi and spectators, from an adversary relationship: from "community of creators -vs- spectators", to "public space", where all of them understood each other as an Other. A very relaxed atmosphere at the beginning, Fujita's dance left his non-dancing body as well as the choreography, which did not engender illusion. Every strategy worked in that adjustment.

"Parole" was quite a naive challenge as a whole. It gave us some hopes. I would like to encounter more performances like this one, which does not approve of the current situation of dance performance.

*1 Ryo Iwamatsu: Japanese well-known theater director, actor and cinema director.
*2 Chelfitsch: Japanese theater company. Recently they are appreciated and famous also in the dance field in Japan because of their very experimental works.


-Tohru Inakura, 15th March 2006 in Engekijin 22nd
(original version written in Japanese, translated by Hajime Fujita)