Chihan Art Project: Izu House 2008

Showing posts with label Izu House 2008. Show all posts

Sep 8, 2010

News from Chihan-an 20100908_02

The five artists who performed the site-specific contemporary dance work Izu House for Chihan Art Project 2008 will re-unite in Philadelphia this week to create a new site-specific piece at Shofuso Japanese House and Garden in Philadelphia, USA (http://www.shofuso.com/). Tokyo artists Hideo Arai and Mika Kimula will once again work with American artists Leah Stein, Roko Kawai, Toshi Makihara and several members of the Leah Stein Dance Company. Japan House/Philadelphia will premiere as part of The Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Sep 9 -11. For more information, please go to: http://leahsteindancecompany.org/

From Tokyo dancer/performance artist Hideo Arai:

"The bonds and connections that we created at Chihan-an will travel across the Pacific Ocean. I believe that this is just as Mr. Chihan hoped -- to keep art making and collaborative searching moving forward, like the passing of the baton in a lively relay race. Also, we are delighted that Mr. Shiba will be attending Japan House/Philadelphia! We all look forward to hearing his report!!"

From Philadelphia/San Francisco artist Roko Kawai:

"Leah and I are thrilled to welcome Hideo and Mika (and the Chihan spirit!) to our 'native' Philadelphia. While on the surface the similarities between Chihan-an and Shofuso are strong, our research reveals a different story. First of all, Shofuso was never lived in! It was a gift, a 'good will gesture,' a political maneuver in 1953 between Japan and the U.S., just a year after General MacArthur's occupation ended. It was designed as 'the ideal' traditional Japanese home from circa 16th century and built by master craftsman from Japan. First on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, it found its a permanent home in Philadelphia's renowned Fairmount Park. It has, and still remains, a beautiful 'symbol,' a place to visit and be curious about. In contrast to Chihan-an, there is no family oral history, no birthing room for successive generations, no memories of a returning sister or a community funeral or an art piece left behind by a grateful guest. Language like 'tadaima' and 'okaeri' have no place here. Thus, Leah and I felt that it would be impossible to 'import' entire sections of choreography from Izu House to Japan House/Philadelphia, even though it was tempting to re-utilize our 'favorite' scenes.

On the other hand, Shofuso's history offers new possibilities. It harkens to the surprising connections between Meiji-Taisho Japan and Philadelphia, the birthplace of the United States. For instance, the Mississippi, one of the four ships that Commodore Perry steamed into Uraga Bay in Shimoda, was built and launched from Philadelphia. The Iwakura Mission, during their symbolic tour to the West, stopped by Philadelphia for four days in 1872. Now, for this new project, we are exploring themes of embarkation, gifting, negotiation, disorientation, curiosity, encounters, retreating, relationship break-throughs and good-byes.

One thing is certain -- that the many hours and days and nights we spent at Chihan-an gave us an intimacy and understanding of the traditional home in ways that otherwise would never have been accessible to us. For that and more, we want to thank Nobuko-san and Junji-san and everyone at the Chihan Art Project!!!! Sending hugs and kisses from Philadelphia!!!" -- Roko Kawai

*

For those of you who missed Izu House 2008 at Chihan-an, please read more about the history of the project in both Japanese and English at our Chihan Art Project blog, go to the Leah Stein Dance Company website (http://leahsteindancecompany.org/)
or check out creative process and artist interviews on YouTube:

Nov 3, 2008

Special thanks Izu House 2008

The artists of Izu House dance project would like to thank all Ohito who supported our creative process at Chihan-an this fall. With spectacular weather and Ohito town's sounds of buzzing traffic and festival firecrackers, we enjoyed each presentation as its own story. We'd like to extend our special thanks to Nobuko Awaya, Chihan-an's caretaker and project director, for her vision and generosity. In addition, we owe much to the greater Chihan Art Project staff and board, its community and the Suganuma family. Please stay tuned to new blog updates such as video interviews with audience members and beautiful photos by our resident photographer and blog-master Eiichiro Iwasa.

Roko Kawai comments

Roko Kawai comments on the performance.

Leah Stein comments

Leah Stein comments on the performance.

Hideo Arai comments

Hideo Arai comments on the performance.

Mika Kimula comments

Mika Kimula comments on the performance.

Toshi Makihara comments

Toshi Makihara comments on the performance.

Chirstpher Yohmei Blasdel comments

Christpher Yohmei Blasdel, Shakuhachi player and performer of the first Chihan Art Project, comments on IZU HOUSE 2008.

Nov 1, 2008

KYOTO Journal

The performance "IZU HOUSE" is appeared on the article of Ten Thousand Things, KYOTO Journal.
This article is on the following web page of KYOTO Journal;
http://www.kyotojournal.org/10,000things/218.html

Oct 31, 2008

IZU HOUSE

Schedule

Sat. November 1, 2008 @ 1pm and 4pm
Sun. November 2, 2008 @ 1pm and 4pm

For reservations, please send a fax or email with the following information:
1. full name of contact person
2. number of tickets you wish to reserve
3. your email address or fax #
4. which performance(s): specify date/time
5. alternate date/time, just in case we cannot accommodate your first choice.

Tickets: ¥3000 (advance reservation); ¥3300 (day of show)
We will accept payment in cash at the box office on the day of the show. Doors open 30 minutes before each show. Please be sure to arrive by the start time. No latecomers will be admitted.

Directions to Chihan-an will be included via fax or email when we confirm your reservation.

For more information (English):
Tel 090-8306-9766
Fax 03-3718-4666
Email chihan.project@gmail.com

"Izu House" creative process #02, 2007

October, 2007
© IWASA Eiichiro, Chihan Art Project

Oct 11, 2008

INTERNATIONAL Herald Tribune/The Asahi Shimbun

The performance "IZU HOUSE" is appeared on the article of Weekend|
arts & MORE, INTERNATIONAL Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun on October 10, 2008.
This article is also on the following web page of The Asahi Shimbun;
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200810100054.html

"Izu House" creative process #01, 2007

Views of Chihan-an, Kano-gawa, Joh-yama

Leah Stein

Leah Stein comments about site specific.

Roko Kawai

Roko Kawai comments about Chihan-an and herself.

Roko Kawai (dancer/choreographer and project leader)

Roko Kawai investigates the relationship between the specificity of traditional dance and the craft of improvisation. Her work includes international collaborations in Bali, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Japan, and she has performed nationally in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Hawaii, New York, Chicago, at the Florida Dance Festival and Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out. Roko has been supported by the Artists Exploration Fund of Arts International, Dance Advance, Independence Foundation, the PA Council on the Arts, DanceLINK, and others. In 2003, she was awarded The Pew Fellowship in the Arts for Choreography and, in 2005, a 7-month Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Fellowship in Tokyo during which she trained in Classical Japanese Dance with Hanayagi Kazu, and pursued artistic research on the contemporary dance scene in Japan as well as on kagura in Shimane prefecture. This Fall, she performed as part of the Philadelphia cast in Jerome Bel's The show must go on at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. She is also currently working on a writing project, an 'Artist's Workbook' to be published on the web, that reflects upon issues of “categorizations and collisions,” “belonging and longing,” in the 15 year arc of her career.
© IWASA Eiichiro, Chihan Art Project

Leah Stein (dancer/choreographer)

Leah Stein has been living and making dances in Philadelphia since 1987. She has created dances on site and on stage in Indonesia, Canada, Poland, Romania, Japan and Scotland. She founded the Leah Stein Dance Company in 2001 and in 2004 established a program for annual local on site performance projects called “On Site Philadelphia”. In 2007 she collaborated on a film documenting the making of GATE, a seminal site work at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site in Philadelphia. She has been awarded grants from Dance Advance, the Leeway Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts including three Fellowships in Choreography.She has been in residence at Yellow Springs Art Institute, the American Dance Festival and Djerassi Resident Artist Program in California where she received an honorary award for her work “Barn Dance”. In 2001, Stein was awarded a Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland for In Situ. Stein has collaborated with dancer/choreographers Sean Feldman, Roko Kawai and Gus Solomons jr, sculptors Jeanne Jaffe and Edward Dormer, poet Josie Foo, and composers/musicians Pauline Oliveros, Robert Maggio, Mark Weber, David Forlano, Dave Burrell and Dan Peterson. She has been collaborating with percussionist Toshi Makihara since 1989. She currently teaches at Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore Colleges. http://www.leahsteindance.org
© IWASA Eiichiro, Chihan Art Project