Training
Exploration
There are many kinds of dance in the world. At the beginning of the Showa era, I started practicing modern dance at the age of three since my mother hoped I would learn it amid the flow of modernism. At the age of fifteen, in the midst of confusion after my native country lost the war, I decided to become a professional creative concert dancer.
In those days, Western-style dance had been around in Japan for less than 100 years. I followed in the footsteps of my predecessors, acquired Rythmique Neue Tanz ballet techniques (Russian ballet techniques) in my youth, and danced just as well as any other dancer.
It seemed to me that what was called “dance techniques” in Japan were techniques with some specific features, which were far from genuine physical techniques that would bring out the potential of the human body. When choreographers vie with one another to create original works of their liking, dancers who perform their work have to wear their bodies out during rehearsal. Choreographers’ idiosyncrasies would affect dancers’ bodies, sometimes to a point of distortion. I have always objected to the idea that dancers must practice repeatedly with harsh discipline in order to force their bodies to learn specific patterns and get used to the movements. I’ve witnessed as well as heard about how such haphazard practices harm both the dancers’ body and mind and often result in unsuccessful performances.
When I was younger, I aspired to have a strong body which could bear any movement, took interest in the martial art of aikido and yoga, and eventually got into mantra chanting.
I wanted to train my body in a way that would bring natural and beneficial impact.
In my mid-30s, I experienced pregnancy and childbirth. I had the opportunity to see two successively born children grow up. Certainly, as human beings, it might be natural to see a child being born and growing up. Still, for me, these were quite miraculous experiences that drastically changed my concept of self. It was as if all of the muscles and brain I use for dance were completely replaced and I was given the chance to make a fresh start as a professional dancer and choreographer.
This suddenly opened a new door for me to train myself.
While being amazed at the wonders of my children growing up, I used my own body as the subject of my experiments. My eyes, which were earlier directed to the outside, were directed to the inside of my body and I started to explore the inevitabilities of each movement of the human body. I paid special attention to the condition of being half asleep as we wake up and fall asleep.
Building an Intellectual Body
In order to build an intellectual body, you must first deal with the following: dissatisfaction and the sense of inequality that you feel as you live your social life along many others; pressure from your surroundings and anxiety and fear about the unknown; conflict between social rules and your inner life that does not jibe with them; and even more trickier—your own desire and surplus energy as well as emotions that lurk in your unconscious and easily overpower your consciousness no matter how hard you try to suppress them.
For me, dance is a path I myself chose after agonizing over whether or not to. Although it seemed like the path was already laid out for me, it was quite the opposite. With a sense of resolve and will power, I had to cultivate the ability to determine the most desirable (beautiful, correct) path to take, cease opportunities, and take action. Or else, nothing would have moved forward or took shape.
When my body wakes up each morning, that is the starting point for building up an intellectual body. I always start my daily training with my mind and heart fresh as if I had just been born. In order to learn about my body, which is alive and capable of moving, I listen to the inside of my body, acknowledge my rousing senses, and grasp as accurately as possible the fullness of my senses.
Most importantly, building up an intellectual body leads to health, which takes precedence over dance. In order to do so, you must call upon the power of breathing and chi(life force energy), expand the senses of your entire body by using your imagination, and heighten your sensitivity. This is the beginning of your task of wisely using language to speak to your body and controlling it.
Since I have the body of a Japanese person, it is quite natural that I pay attention to physical theories based on Oriental views of nature—yoga, Zen, and Dr. Haruchika Noguchi’s Katsugen Undo(regenerating movement)—which I believe are treasures for human beings. In particular, yoga teaches us how to harmonize our life energy scientifically and how to stay sound in the mind and body. It is a multitude of wisdom that links breathing and physical exercises to enable you to send plenty of oxygen into the lungs in an efficient manner, maintain a balance in the blood in terms of quality and quantity, and harmonize cell metabolism. I seriously practiced meditation and yoga, both of which are important legacies from our predecessors.
It seems to me that the only way you can use your body and dance as you feel is to improve your perceptions and sensitivities, place importance on how you feel in the internal organs and the mind, and face the mysteries of the human body, which houses your mind.
I have learned a lot from methods based on Oriental views of nature that remove stiffness in the mind and body. When my body is free of tension, I feel like I can become closer to natural phenomenon. It became natural for me to be able to recognize the conditions of my body clearly, get intuitions frequently, and follow my inspirations innocently.
Only One Art
There is an endless number of human movements generated by psychological ups and downs. I have wanted to explore the truly inevitable ones and came to understand with my own body that there is only one art that each and every body since the ancient times has pursued and tested. It is striving to build a body that can harmonize its functions and mental balance with the vital energy of nature.
A comfortable sense of fulfillment with your own body leads to confidence to live life and enthusiasm to create things.
If you keep your mind and body in good condition and maintain sharp and healthy senses, you can express desires that fit you, in a way that is full of imagination.
My training method is to prepare a physical state that is able to sense inspirations and take hold of my intuitions.
Music and dance are words of the soul. Performing on stage has enabled me to actualize myself and creating dance works has given me the greatest source of power to survive.
Translated by Nanami Araki
