Rituals in Wonderland/ Pilar

29 June, 2011

Pilar from Colombia is the third time in Himalaya. At the first time, 6 years ago, she was an archtect, and danced her nightmare which she was shot bu terolist and die repeated. The second time is four years ago, she seemed in the middle of self reseach travel.
After then she has traveled in the under water world in Middle America, and she might experienced to meet her abyss.
In this year she danced a lot around water, river, pool, bathroom and so on.
She guided us to approach the water with becoming a Gurdian of water.
I felt that she grew up to a guide to her special behind world under water, and increased transparency a little bit through releasing from the bind of her nightmare and ego.

In the festival, she created a spaceship by double black curtain, and guided us into another planet passing through a black hole experience which we were pressed by strange Gravity. And we reached an unknown planet where witchs are living.
Her Abyss under the water conncted to various other worlds through unknown wormhole
Each which showed own Ritual, Ikuko ate stones and dropped. Isabelle make flowers and killed. Syv went and came passing through in front and behind the mirror. Natasja made cray and painted us.

The main part of the chocorate party by witches grew up to the sacrifice of burnt whithes.
At the last she danced a solo in the small darkness of duble curtain. It was a quiet solo as if we were under the deep water.
In the watching I remembered her long travle in htese years, and moved by the very necessity with resonance.
She will continue the travel with trasforming various being. She may appear from a small puddle nearby you or from your tea cup.
Be carefull!.

Affliction/ Natasja

24 June, 2011

Natasja from Holland, completed one hour butoh piece which traveled around almost of whole self.

It contain a transparent secret.

In May, she tried to create another piece including proto dream body.

The dream was sinking into a deep room which was full of strange naked bodies and she was atacked by those. She tried to dance it several times.

But it might so hard that she felt not able to integrate it right now. It was a deep edge which she met during the travel in the darkness of body.

She decide to step back from them and wait with keeping safe distance.
The principle for life how to solve the facing an edge is to wait until life will be ready to solve it. Until then we have to wait with keeping safe distance. We have to decide to dance only what can we do right now. We should not force ourselves to overcome it immediately. To wait the best timing is the deepest wisedom of life.

Then it was able to integrate almost of subbodies in her darkness of body except of the edge qualia. She digged and digged in the darkness of body. She met so many hidden characters, some of them attacked her. Some of them surprised her. She could overcome them and shift them to her creation.
So many strange faces, creatures, characters, comes out on after another from her daekness.

What is able to dance, and what is not able to danced, this is a secret of each dancer. The qualia what we could not dance yet gives us big pain. In her case all of us share it, because the process which she tried, tried and stepped back was transparent for everybody.

In this piece, cobody appeared only as a back ground of feet dance at the beginning.

The balance between subbody and cobody is the most difficult thing through the whole process.  Each one has to solve it out in own way.

Natasja's solution is to limit cobody in minimum, and she could succeed to integrate almost of subbodies which she met in these months with exchanging the big pain.

In this piece the affliction which she could dance, and the pain which she could not dance are muddled and become oneness in the unknown realm. The mystery deepens this piece.  

In long "Jo" part, she danced various subbodies with using the Hijikata's method of "Carrying densitiy" and "Jumping wild", from a qualia to another qualia without nn,j,thhinking logic.

In the short "Ha" part, she opened human relationship channel. She danced with black masked guy. He may be growing up to her Animus. That duet with Kats is on the way of growing up.

Her "Kyu" is typical Kyu of "Momiyose" which all elements are condensed in short time/space.    

Anyway when she could dance almost of her whole self, everybody could share the  ending together with a deep satisfaction which we could resonate with a whole life.

The qualia of whole is very clear for life without any explanation by word.   
Normally we need at least twenty different kinds of self to create a whole self solo. She could put countless numbers of subbodies in this piece. I have never seen like this infinite variations of hidden bodies butoh dance in my thousands of experiences to watch butoh and dance.
This subbody piece will be her lifetime dance. She has to dance it for many times in different conditions. And it will grow up as the most reliable sworn friend in life who gives her the most presious suggestions.

Eldest studetns, Eleanor from Australia started performance of the Festival.
She is so energetic, I couldn't beleive that she is five years elder than me.

When we survive over sixty years, qualia of the past become strong as qualia of present or stronger than present qualia. I didn't know this fact until I become over sixty actually.
My grand mother who died at 90 years old, was floating for 90% time of a day in her illusion of past qualia.

Maybe the following fomula is worth to understand what happens in life of old age.

Percent of illusious qualia of a life= number of the real age /100

I am 62 years old. My life is resonating 62% with illusious qualia. Eleanor's life is resonating 67% with dead's or past qualia. This formula is seemed so rough, but very important to understand the aging.
It may be unable to understand about this fact of life untill we really become over sixty years old.
Eleanor might live in love with many family, her life is strongly resonating with the qualia of love. I can understand the reality of those life resonance.
She inlayed four dancers as a two dimensional poster of picture of her family on the wall.
She used Hijikata's method of "Reduction by X and regeneration" which transform flexiblly between 2 dimensional picture and 3 dimensional being, and she created a piece which come and go between illusious world and real world, between death and life.
Another scene is her grandfather's last erection which is imprinted in her memory strongly. Kats became the favourite prostitute of grandfather.
Those are the impressed qualia on her life.
She could dance almost of various archetypes who lived in the darkness of body; shadow, animus, great mother, girl, son, trickstar, and so on.
They are needed to be danced for long years.
"What do you want to do the most?" She continued to ask her life, and her life responsed these double world structure swaying between death and life, between illusion and real.
This doubleness is one of the deepest Mystery or Numinousness of life and qualia. That's why we have to investigate in it unavoidably for solving the secret of life. Zeami who was a originator of Japanese Noh dance, Ancient Greece tragedy, Shakespeare, Hijikata continued to try it beyond the times.

Another unexpected intersting thing happened at the night theater in Summer of India.
So many bugs came to fly toward the strong stage light, and continued crawling on the body of audience. Everybody was faced to experience the real Bugs walk here.
Though it disturbed to concentrate on watching, it was so interesting to see audience transformed butoh dancer inevitablly.

Bugs walk

1. A bug is crawling on the back of your right hand,
2. A second bug is crawling down from your left side of your neck to your back,
3. A third bug is crawling up along your inner thigh,
4. A fourth bug is crawling down from your left shoulder to your chest,
5. A fifth bug …   Ah, where is it?
6. You're so itchy, here and there. You can’t stand still.　
You're pushed away from here by itchiness.
.....

The second international Butoh Festival Himalaya has started. Students did a parade, butoh photo exhbition, street performance, butoh movie theater and so on.
Mcleod ganj, a small town on the mountainside of Himalaya in the monsoon was hit and shaked by untimely strange events.
From tomorrow, a workshop and two butoh performances will be held in each day for two weeks.
How can we open this subtle life resonance toward the world?

Today, the second international Butoh Festival Himalaya starts from Butoh Photo exhbition and video theater.
All students co-create the festival, 24 butoh perofrmances, 10 open workshops, photo exhbitions, movie theater, parade, installation, Ning Tob Ling and so on.
Through these process we will learn so many things. Especially, one thing becomes clear that the necessity of life resonance from the depth. When we could resonate from the depth of life we can co-create eleven world as Life.
Otherwise co-creation change to role-playing theater. If we use too much explanation by words, or too much physical practice, it accelerate other's daily mind and body, it is too rough and too gross for subtle life resonance.
At the last stage of co-cration, we need absolute subte resonance. For this we leaned the importance of Abyss conditioning. We take off our Ego and Self, then become Life. It has transparent body. We pass through eleven differnt worlds as a "Shisha( the dead) with transforming into various being; bug, fish, animal, bird, ameba, stone, ghost, monster, chimera, archtype, whereabouts and so on.

“Shisha transform their shapes quietly yet infinitely. It is not rare that they borrow the shapes of things on the earth with unexpected nonchalance.”
(Quiet House)

I investigated in Transparent body for these twenty years, finnaly we get the place where we can be it. Transparent body and Shishais is the same.

Today, we finished last rehearsal for the second butoh festival.
Students created eleven different butoh worlds, and all students co-created them. Each world is totally different, from Heaven to Hell, dead world to dream world, Nightmare to Utopia.
And each student pass through eleven different worlds with becoming bug, animal, fish, stone, spirit, goblin,vapor, shisha, wherabout, and so many nameless beings.

“Shisha transform their shapes quietly yet infinitely. It is not rare that they borrow the shapes of things on the earth with unexpected nonchalance.”
(Quiet House)

When we passed through these processes, we will approach to the Shisha though only one small step.

Tomorrow, the second international Butoh Festival Himalaya starts.

Bottomeless fear--Ikuko has experienced it at the East Japan Big earthquake and tsunami. Her house is so close of the focus of the earthquake, she could survive but so many people died and missed in her erea.
The earthquakes continued after the biggest one many times, the wall of her house was broken by the first one and the second one worse.
Ikuko started her rehearsal from telling the reality of the extreme misery at her home place.
All students resonated with it. Her peice was born from the experience of the bottomless fear.
This week we try the "Abyss conditioning" to share the deepst qualia of each subbody and cobody world. Subbody who initiated the piece shift role from initiater and choreographer to midwife to share the abyss with together. We need to take off our Ego and Self at the last stage of creation of Butoh of Life. After the taking off, we can co-create each piece as a life.
It is not easy to accept the necessity of taking off Ego and Self, but students try it to overcome the extreme hardships.
The real process of co-creation starts from here.


(These pictures are taken by Honza)

Nest week the Festival begins. This week is the last week for co-creation. The structure of 26 peices are almost done through initiating each subbody. The last stage of creation is deepening Flower, Secret and Mystery into non-dual realm of life by all 11 students together. We create 26 butoh peices as life together. We enter the non-dual realm of life where is no boundary between self and others.
Until here each subbody initiated each piece. But now the role of subbody shifts from intiator to midwife to support all cobody to open full creativity in each piece.
Subbody guide cobody into the Abyss of each own behind world. It may be completely unknown chaos where is neither clear orientation nor direction.
It may connect to collective unconsciousness and various archetypes.
Let cobody find novel andunique Flower, Secret and Mystery among this world and behind world.
Everybody can find each own " Peacock of Mr. Yanagida's graden" and inlay Flower, Secret and Mystery in various space and time in every piece. This is real co-creation in the non-dual realm.
We are attacked by infinite dizzyness and shivering here without any orentation.
It is the most exciting place for co-creation as Life. We can become stray nomad in the infinite chaos. It is the very place for us to need to be transparent body. We need to be pure Life.
This is the first time which we can enter this realm in the history of Subbody school.
Nobody knows what will happen.

Details:

Exhibition: During the festival you can see photographs taken at the school during performances and practice, and of some well known Butoh-pieces, along with information about the practice.  At the opening there’s also a chance of meeting the performers. At the Moon Peak Café in Temple Road.   

Films: Famous Butoh-pieces, and some recordings from the school, will be shown at Cinemaa1, just downstairs of CarpeDiem restaurant in Jogiwara Road. Time to be confirmed, check web or Cinemaa1.

Workshops:  All workshops are open for anyone. No previous experience required. All of them will take place in and around the hall and be around 2 hours. Come and have a taste, explore your body! For the music workshop you are welcome to bring an instrument, but
it’s not necessary.

Performances: Doors of Subbody Butoh hall opens at 18.30 and performances begin
around 19 pm, with a short break in between. Dinner in Wonderland will start around 3 pm flexibly according to rain. The Live water Installation will take place in the Temple Pool in Bhagsu Nag. Please come in time, and open your mind… (s) means solo piece.

Tickets: Tickets will be sold at the door, 100 rs per workshop or performance night. Festival passes can be bought at the Moon Peak Café in McLeodGanj & OneNest and Tree Of Life in Bhagsu Nag. A festival pass costs 500 rs and gives you entrance to all activities the whole two weeks, great deal! You are always welcome to give an extra donation if you think we are worth it.

Note: Schedule changes may occur. Check the homepage and the Butoh hall for updates.

Skeleton Consciousness workshop: Movement is beyond life and death. Bringing our consciousness to our bones we get in touch with the part of us that exists beyond the difference of being alive or dead. Skeleton is the materialistic name for the soul, our base
for creativity, for freedom and selfless movement. Then we don't dance anymore, we become the dancing itself.

Fall after Einstein workshop: How does it feel to be an apple, to fall after Newton?
This question gave birth to contact improvisation, a dance where the dancers explore the effects and possibilities of gravity on their bodies. What if there is no space to fall into but, rather, we are part of the spacing itself? What happens with gravity when up and down become relativistic concepts, when the space shrinks and time dilutes? When the ground
starts moving and the body dissolves itself into the realm of the unknown?

How does it feel to be an abyss, to fall after Einstein?

This June is the final creation month, all students dig a tunnel toward own Abyss in the darkness of body.
We sink into the each depth; underground, deep sea, deep forest, well, and so on. We meet a necessity of dance at the bottom of the darkness of obody.
Then our dance can take off our Ego and Self expression, and get the possibility to be a necessary butoh at the risk of one's Life.

We need this process absolutely.
I felt there are full of shallow dances in the world, though I traveled and watch so many pieces of butoh and contemporary dance in the world for long year at the end of 20 century. I have disapointed completely. Somehting is wrong.
What was the deepest impression which I recieved from Hijikata's butoh performance in 1972? I have never met it again.
This is the main reason I decided to retreat in Himalaya twelve years ago.
To reseach the depth in the darkness ofo body with students, it is the most thing what I wanted to do for long years. Now it is realized in front of my eyes.
Every week each student took off a surface skin one by one and deepen own dance clearly. To see it is the happiest experience for me and maybe for all students.
Until now, the many years experiments were just trials and errors toward here.

Julie is a student of Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. She left Japan only one day before of the Big earthQuake to see her sick grandfather in France. Her guest room in Tokyo was bloken by the earthquake. Her parents don't want to her back to Japan. She has lost place, and finally decided to join Subbody School.
But, half of her body was still in Japan and resonated to the deseaster. Her friend's family in north japan was still missing. Her inner organs resonate with it, and could not accept any foods. She lost weight and weakened at Himalaya.
Moreover her student of French in Japan had a miscarrige, she resonated with it and had difficulty in breathing.
She has so deep resonant body that she can just hurt herself.
I have also similar resonativity then understand well, we have to endure it untill life find out a safety distance to the misery at the risk of our life.
Julie danced with showing her thin body, not only surface skin she showed the sored inner skin of her inner organs with turnning over.
Hijikata 's ship of the butoh spirit of the 燔犠大踏鑑　(hangi-daitoukan) which show our body as a sacrifice of life is still sailing beyond time and space.
At the ending of the butoh, all students joined with telling "Notthing happened at Fukushima!" in each defferent language; French, German, Russian, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, and English.
Audience were on the verge of tears, including me.
We can just hurt our body as a resonant life.

The second Butoh Festival Himalaya is coming in three weeks.
Eleven Students's creation are continuing Build and Crash, Cut and Polish.
We will dance two times for each piece, during the fastival.
Twenty two dances will be shown.
All students co-create them as a subbody and cobody.
Also many ideas how to open resonance way with the public are coming out.
Street performance, exhbitions, marathon dance, open workshops, visitting Ning Tob Ling (Tibetan various abled people's house), and so on.
Totaly, It will be a big experiment for life resonance.
What iill happen?
Please enjoy all of them together.