Based on Osamu Dazai's short story "The Runaway Appeal," the complex relationship between Judas and Christ depicted in the work is woven into a world of ever-changing movement and music. The interchange of linguistic senses between Mirai Moriyama and Ella Rothschild, who are of different genders, nationalities, and cultures, leads to unexpected interpretations.
While staying in Israel as a cultural envoy, actor and dancer Mirai Moriyama collaborated with up-and-coming choreographer and dancer Ella Rothschild on a piece based on Osamu Dazai's short story "The Runaway Appeal," which premiered in Tel Aviv in 2014. It was performed at the Uchiko-za Theatre in Ehime Prefecture in 2015, and in Yokohama as a special program for Dance Dance Dance @ YOKOHAMA 2015. This much-anticipated revival of the much-anticipated work will be performed at Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse Number 1 in January 2017.
Date and time: Wednesday, January 4th, 2017, 7:30pm start / Thursday, January 5th, 3:00pm start / Friday, January 6th, 3:00pm start *Doors open 30 minutes before the start of each performance Venue: Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No. 1, 3F Hall | 1-1-1 Shinminato, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture
Admission Fee: ○Advance tickets: 4,000 yen / Same day tickets: 4,500 yen ○Students/high school students and younger: 3,000 yen (Advance tickets only, limited quantity)
Planning, co-production and performance: Mirai Moriyama Direction, art, choreography and performance: Ella Rothschild Music and performance: Shuta Hasunuma Organized by: Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No. 1 [Yokohama Arts Foundation]
Partner: Wacoal Art Center Co., Ltd. Supported by: Yokohama City Culture and Tourism Bureau / Yokohama Arts Festival Executive Committee, Embassy of Israel Supported by: Mifal HaPayis
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Excerpted from the pamphlet on the day. This is my contribution.
Thank you for coming today.
I play music from a booth located on the right side of the stage, and at the same time, I create an invisible presence with sound.
The music for this performance is based on the songs that were composed, recorded, and created for the previous performance in Honmoku.
If the music for a performance has already been created, then the performance could be realized simply by playing the recorded music. However, there are several reasons why I choose to perform music live. First of all, the only way to instantly keep up with the changes occurring onstage is for me to produce the music myself. I need to change the stage environment by creating an atmosphere through live performance, rather than recorded sound. Also, the movements of the various instruments I play can be considered physical expression. The movements of the performing body are also an element in creating a spatial atmosphere. The relationship between stage and music can thus be seen from various perspectives, but in this performance they are intertwined on a delicate and complex level.
For a musician, when a body moves in front of them, "time" is always born. Time is born the moment a static state changes into dynamic motion. My job is to capture this time at ever smaller time intervals. It can be said that this is the act of capturing time at a microscopic level, as if looking through a microscope. Through these minute actions, I search for the particles of sound and the elements that precede music.
For example, by stretching a recorded sound on the time axis and breaking down a 1-second period into even smaller intervals, such as 1/1000th of a second, we can edit the minute duration of the sound. Dynamically changing phenomena are meticulously analyzed and processed, and then instantly output as sound. The accumulation of this chain becomes music.
"Working with Mirai Moriyama and Ella Rothschild is always stimulating. The subject matter of the work often involves differences in communication, but the relationship between the two artists is very beautiful. I am grateful to be involved in such a contemporary production."
Shuuta Hasunuma...