The kabuki dancer
She had been visiting Kyoto, as a tourist. She had walked along the river running right through the city. On the shore she noticed a statue of a woman. It was a proud and powerful looking woman. At the base of the statue she found the following inscription: “Izumo no Okuni In 1603, Izumo no Okuni presented her Kabuki Odori (Kabuki Dance) here on the Shijo Gawara the dry riverbed alongside the Kamogawa River near Shijo. At a time when Kyoto was in disarray a.er the Battle of Sekigahara, Okuni’s performances dressed in +amboyant men’s costumes delighted and caught the imagination of the people, receiving tremendous acclaim. Okuni is considered to be the founder of kabuki, but her birthplace is unknown. She was a miko (shrinemaiden) at Izumo Taisha Shrine in Shimane who brought her troupe of performers to Kyoto to solicit contributions. Here in Kyoto, she (rst gained fame for her shows on the Noh stage at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, then toured around amid growing popularity. Later, in the beginning of the Edo period, onna kabuki (kabuki played by women) was banned as a corrupting in+uence on social morals. Men took over, even playing the female roles (onna-gata), and the resulting shows developed into the kabuki of today. 400th Anniversary of Kabuki, November 2003 Kyoto Prefecture…” (In: Belgrano 2011:152)
"Note by note.
Letter by letter.
The score arises as a corridor. Walls covered in letters.
Lines.
Shadows. At first narrow. Closing eyes. Holding
on to breath as if something would
break the very next moment. Momentum
is growing. A slide leaps out all of a sudden.
Its face is not any longer making (her) fear.
Instead it embraces (her) on all sides
and the choreography resides behind her back.
Around the L1 vertebra the leap finds a refuge,
and in a window the light linen curtain expands
along with (her) expiration.
Air has found a new direction. Silence cannot find any free seat
and sound must make space
inside the basket by (his) feet.
Darkness comes with the wind. Clouds covering (her) body,
telling (her) to rest.
Rest and sleep. Death is close now. Death keeps sounding.
Into
the darkness of the sun."
Laasonen Belgrano & Price (2020 -)
Laasonen Belgrano, E. (2020). Mapping the Burden of Vocality: French 17th Century Vocal Lamentations, Japanese Meditation and Somatic Intra-Action”, in: Somatic Voices in Performance Research, Kapadocha C. (ed), Routledge Voice Studies: Research Monographs. (Introducing chapter: film)
Uehara, M. & Laasonen Belgrano, E. (2020). 'Performance Philosophy seen through Nishida’s ‘Acting Intuition’. In: The Routledge Companion to Performance Philosophy, Cull, L. & Lagaay, A. (eds), Routledge Press.
some further thinking is now brewing through the following words: nothingness as overflowing grace, kire, kotodama, yūgen, cuts, heart-voice-breathing, body-thinking... and silence (as in "voicing as if silencing")... and how to live and to keep voicing together in this world...
please, if you like to think with along, let us know...
