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A Letter to Eiko from Koshiro Nakao

Hi Eiko,

I have read the dialogue between DonChristian and you.

Before I read the text, I watched the videos of your early two pieces that DonChristian posted on his page. Frankly, there was something about Trilogy that appealed to me, but it was hard to keep watching Nurse's Song.

As I watched Trilogy, I felt my body being convoluted by your dance. “Convolution” means anticipating, accepting, and assimilating into the object. When you raise your feet toward the small dolly at the beginning of the stage, my body watching it anticipates the motion of “riding”. Then you slowly landed your feet on the dolly, and at that moment I feel the texture of the wood and the wobbliness of the dolly. Gradually my body and senses begin to accept what your body feels like. As I let myself go with the flow, my body unconsciously assimilates into yours. I think this might be close to “staring” (凝視) that you said in our class.

In the dialogue, both of you talked about music. I think the music used in Trilogy helped me to immerse myself in the performance. You wrote that “music is dangerous”, and I agree with that. Music is dangerous because it often obscures what is to be listened to in the space and incites us to ignore the differences that might really be there. So I could also say music is dangerous for it helps viewers to feel involved and they do like to be involved. Without it, we will risk alienating the audience.  

I, too, sometimes feel uncomfortable and conflicted about using other people's music in my own work. As a matter of fact, I’ve used a lot of music in every theatrical production I’ve made. At one time it was Bach, at another time it was Velvet Underground. The music certainly made the audience more engaged, and the receptions were actually good. However, after making a few pieces, I started to feel about myself unprincipled and almost vulgar about using “good” music.

This is because I don't think it's that hard a job to take an audience in one direction by using great music or strong image. Some directors say that the essence of directing is to integrate diverse work into one ensemble and to unite the audience, actors, and the space, but I don't think so. That would be similar to uniting the people during wartime, and it's not a difficult task at all.

The most important and difficult task for those who create stage productions is to ensure that each individual being remains different and yet shares the same space. In order to do so, each person involved in the creation needs to persistently think about the boundaries and strive to not easily become one whole. I applaud you when you said you have “secrets” that you do not share with your audience. We do not want to sing along “We are together,” the chorus that the Internet and the surveillance society promotes.

In order to avoid invading the boundaries in collective creation, individuals must choose the work for themselves. You wrote that “in terms of making their own spontaneous decisions to ‘betray choreography’, I tend to not quite fully trust bodies driven by music unless it is the body of a musician.” A dancer is a person who chooses to dance, not a person who does what others make him/her do. I believe this is true of all artists, not just dancers.

I also believe that an artist should trust coincidence and value secrecy in order to dance on his or her own feet. A choice to participate is not to accept all is managed together. Creating together is not about sharing anything and everything. So I find the relationship between DonChristian and you to be healthy as artists and as human beings.

I could not be there when DonChristian sang in Bodies. But I imagine it was beautiful for people, while remaining different individuals, to stop sometime to listen to him sing.  

In closing, I was encouraged to see that you are willing to reflect on long-ago pieces that you feel embarrassed about. I too would rather take on difficult challenges without fear of shame or failure than making works smartly.

Thank you,
Koshiro