Threshold

I removed one of the 'noren's in the house today for the wash. Noren is a Japanese curtain that hangs anywhere from one foot to several feet down from the top of the door opening towards the ground. It covers certain amount of the opening  from one room into another. After removing it, I noticed a dramatic difference in the degree of revelation. This particular noren covered about 1/3 of the door opening from my bedroom to the kitchen. Because of this 1/3, certain parts or the room I was entering was covered completely. Of course, when you go through the threshold and enter into the kitchen, what is covered by the curtain gets revealed, but it seems that something happens in the moment you go through the threshold. First of all, since this 'noren' covers 1/3 of the door, you are only seeing 2/3 of what is in the next room. So you are not perceiving what is in the upper 1/3 of the room. Somehow, when you go through the noren, some kind of magic happens to change your perception. After entering into the room, the upper 1/3 of the room gets revealed in a different light. What was hidden gets revealed in a completely different look. This is, of course, part of the aesthetics of the hidden and obscured.

As I was experiencing this change, I remembered what I read in the architecture book about the size of the door in old Japanese houses. The doors in old Japanese architecture are made very small and low. In order to go through, you have to crouch down quite a bit. (I remember that I used to hit my head a number of times, forgetting the size of the door even if I can actually see the size with my eyes.) The reason why the door is so small and low is because of the belief that there is another world in the space after you go through the threshold. It was also believed that a spirit goes through small openings, not big openings.

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Mary-webster dictionary gives the following meanings for the word 'threshold'"

1: the plank, stone, or piece of timber that lies under a door : sill2 a: gate, door b (1): end, boundary ; specifically : the end of a runway (2): the place or point of entering or beginning : outset <on the threshold of a new age>3 a: the point at which a physiological or psychological effect begins to be produced <has a high threshold for pain> b: a level, point, or value above which something is true or will take place and below which it is not or will not

The last one ' a level, point, or value above which something is true or will take place and below which it is not or will not'. Is it ok to think 'above' is beyond and 'below' is here? So after going through the threshold, I will be in a place where something is true or will take place? If that's the case, it makes so much sense that the opening, the threshold is small and challenging to go through in order to be in the place truth is going to be revealed. I cannot wait to get back my noren to make this opening smaller.

Definition of professional

I've been thinking about the definition of  'professional'.

The other day, I went back to my favorite liquor store to exchange a bottle of red wine. This is rather unusual since there is usually a wine specialist I've acquainted well with and he is very thorough and accurate about his recommendation. However, this bottle I purchased was through someone else's advice. Luckily, I located this wine specialist whom I don't know very well and explained the situation. The wine was too sweet. When I first brought it up, he seemed to be in disbelief. Then I remembered how confident he was when suggesting this particular brand over the other one I had liked in the past. Without hiding his disbelief, he bluntly said, "you can choose another one." After picking up the one I always liked, he guided me to the casher and glanced at the bottle I picked up. "You like that one and not this one?" "this one is too sweet" "it's not sugar sweet and this one is smoother" "I'm just used to drinking this other one." Throughout this exchange, he kept looking unsatisfied as if I knew nothing about wine.

Recommending a certain taste to someone you don't know very well is tricky. I remember the wine specialist I've acquainted in this same store and how he approached his work as an advisor. He always listened to me very carefully and selected several bottles and gave me very detailed explanation about each one. From the second visit and on, he remembered my face and came to help me with the selection. And his selection always hit the mark. I compared these two specialists and wondered why this new one was less successful in 'discovering and satisfying' my preference, which is his job. Perhaps it has something to do with 'service' - the spirit to 'serve' people. In order to truly serve people, you have to examine your ego. You have to disappear in service of others' needs. It requires deep study of the information you are sharing. It also requires deep study of who the people are you are serving. It's not an easy job to be a wine specialist. Whenever I am with my favorite wine specialist, I feel well taken care of. I have the trust and can even enjoy other conversations with him since I'm not worried if the one he recommends would be overpriced or not suited for my palate. He has cultivated an air to ease the customer who comes to his store, share his knowledge, and always gives room for the customer to make a decision. I sense his pride in his work. I haven't yet had to return anything he recommended to me, but if that ever happens, I'm sure what he would do is to listen to me, consult me, bring three more options to choose, and say, "don't hesitate to bring it back if you don't like it". He sure is in my eyes, a true professional.

I encountered another professional on TV. A while ago, I watched how an autism specialist works with children in a TV program called "Professional." She had opened a center, like a nursing home, where the autistic children can stay and spend time with other autistic children and the caretakers. There was one impossible child who kept escaping from this home. Noone seemed to have a solution to solve this child's problem. His manner was violent and his situation was clearly severe. After about the third escape of the day, the reporter asked the specialist, "what are you going to do now?" Without changing her facial expression a bit, she replied," I'm going to keep working with him until he becomes well because I'm a professional. I will never give up."

Am I professional? When things don't go well, am I not finding the excuses? Am I not making a leeway for myself? Being a professional means  to be able to take responsibility for your work. Professional means to pursue the goal of your work no matter how long it takes or how complex it is. Also, professional means to think about your work and its relation to the people who are affected by your work. It means to invest in the question, 'what is the relationship between my work and the world's present?'

Proof of existence

I participated in Dance Hakushu Festival last summer in Hakushu, Japan. As I was reading some of the e-mail exchanges amongst the staff members, I ran into one of this year's participants' blog. He was someone I had known from almost 19 years ago in Japan. At that time, he and dance seemed inseparable. I firmly believed that he was going to dance until the end of his life. I myself was just starting to make a serious commitment to the 'act of dance' and 'performance' without thinking too much about motivation or meaning. I clearly remember the time he faced me and asked me this question in a serious manner: "why do you have to dance?" He told me how 'he could not live without dancing". Dance was a proof of his existence. I didn't understand what he had meant at that time. Now I'm slowly starting to understand it. When asked, "what do you dance for?" after one of  his performances at PS 1 in November 2007, Min Tanaka answered, "first for myself, then for others, but I'm always in need of others's eyes." When I cast that same question onto myself, do I have an answer now?  I dance to explore. What is possible? Where is the boundary? Limit? How does inside and outside co-exist? How does past, present, and future co-exist in my body, through my body? How can I disappear and exist at the same time? How can I transcend this body? What is self? How do you reach ego-less body? Can I go there or am I staying here?

Dance is a quest to find the answers to myself. Answers to my existence. My existence in relation to the universe. The existence of the universe. It is a way to investigate what it means to exist. For me, it is a way to examine what this whole thing means, not to prove it.

In the blog, this dancer mentioned that he hadn't danced for quite a while since his ways of proving his existence has been shifted to his other business. After calling this opportunity his 'last time to dance', he casts a question, 'I wonder what might happen if I dance now. Would this really become the last time or not?" I wonder if this occasion is going to become a trigger to shake and move his existence and if that's the case, I wonder if the reason for him to dance might now be to find himself, not to prove himself.

Visible/Invisible

Recently, I attended one of my friend's mother's memorial service. The service was conducted in a church she used to attend.  While I sat on a pew and listened to the pastor's talk, one phrase caught my ears. "What's visible is temporary. What's invisible is eternal." It was a quote from II Corinthians and it does have a highly biblical meaning. However, for me who has been thinking visible/invisible, this phrase came as a revelation. Isn't it true that what's visible, what is on the surface, what is showing outside doesn't last long and what's invisible, what is in deep inside, what is unseen and unsaid lasts much longer? I wonder what happens to things we thought of saying but don't say? Where do they go? I often think of visible/invisible in dance. What is visible is very minimalistic, but what is invisible is vast, deep, and huge. The viewers 'sense' what is invisible, what is undefined, and what is hidden. Minimal action evokes indefinite, undefined, deep response inside of the viewers. This, to me, is a much richer experience and therefore, the phrase 'What's visible is temporary. What's invisible is eternal' resonated with me so strongly.

"Scent of Sky" review

I recently received two very different reviews on a piece I created with a sound artist, Alberto Gaitan. The first one is flat, descriptive, and doesn't enlighten the readers. The second one is much more articulate, poetic, and well thought. They feel like two completely different performances. It made me wonder what the role of a critic should be. How much subjective/objective view should he incorporate in the writing? How much information should be there? 1) DC City Paper

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/07/02/source-festival-mashes-art/

2) DC theatre source

http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/07/07/source-mash-ups-group-d/

Scent of Sky

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"Scent of Sky" was performed at Source Theatre on June 30th and July 2nd as a part of 'mash-up' series. We have one more performance left on July 5th, Sunday @ 2pm. This series 'mash-up' is an interdisciplinary project where artists previously unfamiliar with each other meet and create work together, finding a new and innovative (?) expression. Photo courtesy: C. Stanley Production (One thing I noticed and appreciate much about Colin Hovde's photos was that they capture a feeling of both old and new. )

My partner Alberto Gaitan is a sound and multi-media artist. He works with small-size sculptural medium such as sound bug and LED lights. I had an opportunity to 'wear' these devices on my body. Although the idea of 'wearing' certain devices is not new, how I was able to play with this new environment and how my body was affected was a new experience for me. 

The citypaper review (see the link below) made me think of what is 'innovative' now and does it really matter? Dancewise, we have already gone through the era of classical, modern, and post-modern. Now everything is called 'contemporary', reflecting what is happening in today's world.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/07/02/source-festival-mashes-art/

Speaking of what kind of combination could generate more innovative mash-up, I recall the performance called "Chat-dangerously easy liaison" I saw in Prague in summer 2007. From the description of the piece, I was expecting some 'already done, pedantic story-telling'. However, the performance was completely different from what I had expected. The way they told the story was so refreshing.

This performance was the result of Archa Theatre's collaboration series. This particular combination was: (2) beatbox performers, (1) jazz singer/actress, (1) graphic designer, and (1) puppeteer/actor. What they came up with was something i had never seen in the visual/physical/auditory/sculptural sense. It was both presentational/representational. It was both high tech (with live video projection) and low tech (using human voice). It was digital and analog at the same time. They played with the distance from the audience. The technology distancing the audience was combined with casual and intimate audience interaction. The language they used was mostly Czek combined with some sparse English, which also off-balanced the feeling of the piece and created a jarring tempo. Of course, Czech has a long history of optical illusions, but this piece really combined the exploding youth energy in the beat box with internet and computer age and still maintained the old feeling and the weight of history resided in the performer. The collaborators worked and created the piece together for 6 months in the performance space, so what came out was very organic piece blossoming with imagination and creativity. It was one of the series Archa Theatre (http://www.archatheatre.cz/en/menu/archa_lab/themes-and-projects/projects/159.html) fully supported the creation of.

One difference I noticed was that these performers were all multi-talented. The beatbox performers could have been easily stand-up comedians and actors. The jazz singer was a dancer and an actress. Even the graphic designer guy was a singer and the actor. The puppeteer was an excellent actor and a gymnast (later I saw his one man show and was blown away by his physical ability - use of trampolin, metal structure, and puppet). They seem to cross train the performers there - or is the boundary just much more blurry?

Scent of Sky

I'm preparing for a new solo piece, "Scent of Sky" to be presented at Source Theatre Festival's 'mash-up' series. This process has been very intriguing. I'm collaborating with a sound-media artist, Alberto Gaitan. The performance will be on: June 30 (Tu) @ 8pm

July 2 (Th) @ 8pm

July 5 (Sun) @ 2pm

I'll be playing with Alberto's sound and light interacting with my body. Please come to see it!!

naoko

For more info:  http://www.sourcedc.org/sourcefestival/html/mashups.html

Paraffin

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Paraffin opened last night at Baltimore Theatre Project. We had a great opening night crowd, thank you so much for all who came to see it! The show features exquisite and bold lighting design by Kel Millionie and vivid, intricate costume design by Kathy Abbot. Nine performers take you through multi-colored, multi-layered landscapes.  Please come to check it out!

Paraffin (world premiere)

A dance theatre piece that investigates the subliminal forces of formulas that affect our identity. Illuminating our fear and yearning for the hidden Paraffin takes you through an exquisite and hypnotic landscape charged with intense physicality.

Conception/Direction/Choreography by Naoko Maeshiba Lighting Design by Kel Millionie Costume Design by Kathy Abbott Sound/Object Design by Naoko Maeshiba Aerial training/aerial choreography assistance by Mara Neimanis

Company: Skyler Brungardt, Benjamin Buhrman, Elizabeth Cassedy, Todd Herman, Yuki Oba,

Andrew Peters,Lacy Reily, Jennifer Young, Naoko Maeshiba

June 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13 @8pm 7 & 14 @3pm

Baltimore Theatre Project

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Rain

Vestige

Rebirth

Tickets: $10-20 45 West Preston Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 410-752-8558 www.theatreproject.org

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Photo credit by Joe Castor

Inspection

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Paraffin

Dear all, My new show, "Paraffin" opens on June 4th at 8pm @ Baltimore Theatre Project. This is a world premiere. Please come to see it!

Dates: June 4-14 (Thursday-Saturday @ 8pm, Sundays @ 3pm)

Place: Baltimore Theatre Project (home for experimental theatre)

Address:  45 West Preston Street, Baltimore, MD

Phone # : 410-752-8558

Web: www.theatreproject.org (theatre project)

www.naokibi.com (Naoko Maeshiba/Kibism)

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Returning with her third production at Theatre Project, Naoko Maeshiba/Kibism will present Paraffin, a dance theatre piece that investigates the subliminal forces of formulas that affect our identity. Illuminating our fear and yearning for the hidden and the obscured, the piece explores man’s eternally unfulfilled thirst for illusion. In collaboration with the ensemble of eight performers, choreographer/director Naoko Maeshiba extracts subtle beauty and vibrant festivity from the seemingly insignificant and the lost. Paraffin, an allegory about our precarious state of being, takes you through an exquisite and hypnotic landscape charged with intense physicality.

Source performance

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Thank you so much for everyone who came to see "Numinous" at Source! The experience was entirely different from that of 14Karat. The audience' powerful energy seeped through my skin. And the dress...alas, every time I perform this piece, the dress regains its life. The spirit that took over the dress was really devouring me today. What is this battle?

dramaturgy of objects

Reworking on the piece done for 14Karat cabaret in February...the dress is so powerful that I sometimes wonder how I can exist on stage with it. It is amazing how a single object can have so much power. It definitely comes with its own history and memory smeared and imprinted in its flesh. How does my existence, my memory, my history imprinted in my flesh can mesh, merge, and reject those of the dress? Who is the dress? Who was in the dress? The shadow of the dress is much more amohprous than that of a human being.

14 Karat Cabaret performance

Thank  you so much for those who came to the performance at 14 Karat cabaret on February 13th. The first collaboration with the sound artist Steve Bradley proved to be very fruitful. We'll be doing this piece again at Source Theatre in DC on March 22nd - it is a joint show with Nancy Havlik and dance performance group. (http://www.sourcedc.org/playing/playing.html) We got a short write-up in Baltimore City Paper. (http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17522)