Permeation – Image and Movement. Cooperation with Tarinainanika Duo in Context of Biwako Biennale


I have been participating in Biwako Biennale since 2001. In the years 2010, 2014 and 2016 I was performing there in a show prepared together with the Tarananaica dancers: Tania Coke from England and Kentaro Tsuyama from Japan. In my presentation, I will show fragments of video recordings from these events and I will tell a bit more about this cooperation which was an absolutely unique experience for my artistic activity. Tania Coke and Kentaro Tsuyama use the fact that they come from different cultures in their choreographic quests. Their approach to dance is very interesting to me, as it stems from the tradition of mimes and connects choreography with very strong facial expression. Together we look for interchangeable signs – the dancers with their bodies and myself through this new material which their movement creates for me. I am interested in the way in which their technique can be influenced by an image. Through the mutual permeation of movement and the material of the installation and image, we receive a new, hybrid form of art. We try to make our own statement, with the use of an alphabet of signs that are universal. We want to find a synthetic form without narration, without text. The audience of our performance was mostly Japanese, present at the inauguration of Biwako Biennale. Therefore, in a sense, our work symbolizes a living clash of cultures. It is also an attempt to live through the creative process in the eyes of the spectators. This is accompanied by the feeling of uniqueness of the moment and subjectivity of the meanings. Our cooperation is work in progress, an open form, in which lot of things can change, depending on the place and the situation. From my point of view, a real-life movement, with its continuity and changeability in time as opposed to the movement fixed in photographs is fascinating, because it contains the idea of infinity. The aspect of time is also very clearly shown and intensely expressed in butoh theatre. This form of dance is close to me thanks to the performances of Sankai Yuku and also a cooperation with one of the dancers in 2006, which I will also try to present.