(Although there was a photographer taking pictures during the performance, I believed it was her personal photographer, so I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures myself.)
My first day in the dance classes, the manager of the studio was happy that I had come all the way from New York for the class. There certainly seemed nothing special about that since there were so many other international students there as well. She was very happy to pass on some information, however, about a New York based Japanese dancer who was going to perform tonight in Shibuya, Mana Hashimoto. So, in addition to taking some dance classes, I could experience a dance performance as well.
Despite my coming here the previous night, I still got lost. But because I knew where I was supposed to be, and what landmarks I was supposed to pass, I found my way back on the right path fairly quickly.
When I got to the place, I was happy to see some of the students from the dance class. It was the one guy whom I thought was the best, and the most serious, along with what seemed to be his dance partner and/ or girlfriend who also attends the class. Because he speaks a little English I tried to start a conversation with him, but he didn't seem very interested for whatever reason. It might be that he is one of those artists who is always very serious and in dance-mind mode, or perhaps he was just shy, or insecure about his own English language abilities. Either way, I didn't mind too much.
The space was rather small, simply an open space with a wooden floor on the fifth floor of this building. It reminded me of any number of small spaces in which I have seen independent productions in New York City.
I was also very happy to see our dance teacher there, Yoshito Ohno. I didn't want to invade his space too much, but we did exchange nods, acknowledging each other. He seemed to be the superstar that I had envisioned him to be, because when he walked in, everybody seemed to realize it. Many of the people from the venue rushed up to greet him, and introduce him to other people. They laid out circular cushions so that everyone could sit on the floor comfortably, about three rows deep. Along the back wall, there were chairs or stools where people could sit. Mostly these seemed to be reserved for the older people in the audience. I think that before the performance began, there were probably about 50 people in the audience. Along with the 500 yen (five dollars) admission fee, a free drink was included, so I started off with a beer. I felt that I might need to be a bit intoxicated to really get the most out of whatever I was going to see.
While I was waiting alone for the performance to begin, I read over the performer's bio and program notes. The performance was called "Presely" after Elvis Presely, and the spirit of the show was to somehow acknowledge or communicate with or honor her father, who passed away in the 1980s and loved Elvis Presely to the point of even being a bit of an impersonator. Furthermore, she had moved to America in 1993 to study music composition. In 1998 she became completely blind by some previously undiagnosed defect in her optic nerves.
Mana Hashimoto began the performance with a long monologue. I suppose that she was trying to explain what the performance was supposed to be about, and what she planned to accomplish with the performance. Or something. Because it was all in Japanese, I didn't understand a thing, so I just sat quietly and stared. Because she became blind later in life, here eyes looked like they were normal, except that they seemed to be staring off into a space very far behind us.
When she began to dance, there was no music accompaniment, but she simply sat on a fur covered stool in the middle of the room and moved her arms and legs. She really used her hands and feet when she danced. She then stood and violently threw the stool aside after seeming to analyze its texture.
A man came in and rolled up like a bug on the floor in front of her, holding up a blindman's cane as if it were a tree, and he were the rock it was growing from. She felt her way towards him, and crawled on him, almost in a loving manner. After a few moments, the man threw her off and walked away. She then used the cane, and seemed to be convulsing with it. I couldn't quite make sense of it, but I wonder if I was supposed to.
When she stood up with the cane, it seemed as if she was using it as an oar, and rowing an imaginary boat upon which she was floating. Was the boat on the ground? In the water? In the air? Before I could answer that question, she seemed to stab herself in the throat with the cane. She fell to the foot of the audience, who all seemed to be startled, and scooch back, even moving their drinks so that nothing would be spilled.
When she finally makes herself stand back up, I she seemed to walk with the cane as one might imagine a blind person walking with a cane down the street. She then folded up the cane neatly and carefully, and then uses the short prod to analyze and feel the texture of her face and neck. She then used her hands and fingers to feel the silk texture of her shirt, along the jewel studded collar, before she took it off, and folded it neatly, wrapping the cane with it and setting it down nicely. (I forgot to mention that earlier she had taken off her pants, and threw them off to the side.) Now she was wearing only a sports bra and sports underwear. After turning her back to the audience, she then pulled her bra off over her head, set it down, and walked towards the wall, all while her back was to the audience. That means that we never got the opportunity to see her naked breasts while she was dancing against the wall and before another attendant came in and dressed her in a cream colored blouse and pants, a contrast from the red blouse and black pants she was wearing to being the performance. Perhaps this was to signal a significant transition in the performance. What we were transitioning from or to, however, I could not tell you.
She then stood straight up and approached the audience and began to speak to the audience with another monologue. I supposed that she was saying something about Elvis and her father, and the relation he had with Elvis. Again, I could not understand much of it at all. This monologue seemed to reflect the openning monologue, and I guessed that it might signal the end of the performance. It did not. While the openning monologue seemed long and lasted several minutes, this one wsa shorter, and lasted only a few minutes.
She then returned to dancing, and remained in a pose with her back arched backwards, and arms behind her while looking to the ceiling. It seemed that she purposefully kept herself from blinking. Perhaps this helped bring a single tear to drop down her face as she remained in the statuesque pose that was supposed to represent some deep emotion that usually illicits tears.
She the seemed to dance with the spirit of her father for several minutes before falling to the ground. When she got back up, she seemed to hug her father in a caressing and loving manner. Even groping for his legs when she was still on the ground. After she embraced him for a hile, it seemed that she was thrown back, by what, I don't know. Was it supposed to be her father pushing her away, or some other force that was seperating them forcefully?
She then danced to the Elvis' song "I can' Help Falling in Love With You." (In fact, I am fairly sure that is not the name of the song, but that is the line that stands out most in the chorus.) To be sure, though most of the performance was unaccompanied by any music, there were a few spots throughout where some Elvis song or another was playing. However, these were few and far between, and the music only lasted for a couple of minutes. When the music was playing, she seemed to dance responding to the music, but her movements were not very different from the movements she performed when there was no music. The excerpts she selected seemed to be about some emotion that perhaps she felt for her father, but what Elvis song does not express such common emotions?
After the song finished, she stood straight up and announced that she was done. She then spoke for several minutes about Helen Keller and her essay "Three Days to See." I suppose that Mana Hashimoto, being blind but still wanting to participate in the world find some affinity with Helen Keller and the struggles she overcame.
I have my own feelings and opinions about the performance, but I can leave that for a later time. I have already talked for long enough. I will make a serious effort to see her perform the piece again in New York City in December. I introduced myself to her, and asked some questions, and I was very happy to be in the audience for this performance, and meet her.
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