Kota Yamazaki Fluid hug-hug at Lincoln Hall (Thursday, Sept. 15)
[posted by Tim DuRoche]
Note: the following was written as part of Village Voice critic Elizabeth Zimmer’s Kamikaze Writing Workshop. In this three-day workshop, participants were assigned a dance performance and the task of writing an overnight-review of 300 words, which was read, revamped, revised, sliced, diced, etc.
The best thing about Kota Yamazaki Fluid hug-hug is the name—it rings with naïve optimism and a directness (like “have a sunny nice”) that makes you truly want to believe in the “exploration and exchange” on which the Japanese-based contemporary dance group was founded on. Rise:Rose, a world premiere, is the newest work by Yamazaki to meld modern dance, surface elements of butoh and club/hip-hop dance.
The ethereal premise of the piece, according to the program notes, was the creation of “unique images of a heaven. . .an exploration of a new oriental world and the sensitive human relationships that exist within”—the result was the new-age, white zinfandel-version of butoh, cloying, lacking depth or urgency. From the opening moments with Yamazaki and Mina Nishimura walking purposely back and forth, I was excited by the watching-the-weather-change tension of thrum and jarring stasis of the electronic score (by an uncredited composer), but all the rumble and hush, like the dance, was a mere threat. Exhilarating solo forays by Yamazaki, sped-up, St. Vitus versions of butoh’s usual paint-drying pace, Aikido movements on bended knee or Nishimura’s sense of gravity and contortion were rendered null and void by an inane trio segment in lovely whites that reminded me of the “here-we-come” opening credits of the Monkees.
Yamazaki, a well-traveled choreographer-dancer (he studied with, among others, Akira Kasai, the ga-ga hit of last year’s TBA festival), is an extremely fluid mover, with a sinuous, improvisational energy who’s absorbed a strong vocabulary of modern movement, but leans toward florid choreographic choices that ooze emotion. He was at his strongest, in those rare moments where he shrugged of any butoh presence and turned to unison partnering with the other dancers (the engaging Mina Nishimura and the vaguely unsettling Michou Szabo—whose understanding of modern dance seems to have been gleaned from Jerry Lewis). Unfortunately those moments were few and Yamazaki’s default was set to lugubrious gesture, what can best described as a “jam-band” approach to dance-making. I was neither under- or over-, I was just whelmed.
In his workshops last year, Kasai talked of the “unity of opposites”—the duality of beauty and horror, walking with a “stop feeling,” the poetry of the unsayable. While I wanted to like Yamazaki’s ” unexpected, abstracted forms of the human persona,” Yamazaki plumbed only skin-deep in his quest for identity, offering shallow visual metaphors, missing the opportunity to show us either heaven or its opposite.
–TIM DUROCHE
As I wrote elsewhere re: Kota Yamazaki, and as is noted above, he credited no author for the musical score used in his work “Rise:Rose.” Curiously, none of the production staff of PICA nor even The Oregonian critic Bob Hicks seemed to notice. But maybe it was intentional, for 1) the score was so weak, any self-respecting composer wouldn’t want his name attached and 2) I suspect that the sound was ripped off from various sources – all too common in today’s performance art – and assembled by Yamazaki. That’s a big NO-NO for orgs with boards whose pockets run deep. PICA will want to consult whichever attorney on its board knows copyright law. Go to the chapter titled Grand Rights Licensing.
At the end of the day, the breathtaking Yamazaki is a phenomenally talented dancer, and doubtless could walk before a TBA audience alone and improvise for an hour without any sound cloud, scenery or lighting and would be loved forever for it. With that in mind, the preciously talented dancer shouldn’t even bother to compose structured works. As an author he’s equally as wanting in guidance as whoever made the music he ripped off for “Rise:Rose,” which besides lacking structural cohesion was full of technical glitches and miscalculations — bad taste in creation and selection.
— blog dog
Paul Miller admitted to using samples from various sources. I am not a lawyer, but “rights needed to use music in a broadway style performance, and are granted by, and paid directly to, the music publisher” doesn’t seem to exactly apply here does it? I mean, if the music was sampled pieces and you didn’t recognize them… And of course, how do we know there was no permission?
The copyright issue is interesting, but I don’t think it needs to be used as a critical issue of a performance.
Can you point out some examples of this happening? I’d be interested in reading more about the RIAA vs. fine art.
RE: “…doesn’t seem to exactly apply here does it? I mean, if the music was sampled pieces and you didn’t recognize them… And of course, how do we know there was no permission?”
Oh Boy, applies like crazy. But right, we don’t know anything about the music’s authorship and whether someone recognized it or not makes no difference at all. Even if the “owner” (author or publisher) simply gave verbal permission, voila, that’s a license. As for more formal licenses, they are virtually never issued without the caveat that the author be acknowledged. And in this case, as I speculated, if the author knew, perhaps he didn’t want to be acknowledged. It’s structural weakness shows the piece to be immature, if indeed it’s all the same piece, which we don’t know — perhaps a known composer’s early work, he’d rather went away…one can only guess, unless Yamazaki-san would like to tell us, or the PICA staff who forgot to include it in the program.
More likely it was an unprofessional oversight. And frankly, all its self-congratulatory bravura aside, I don’t see TBA running in an especially professional manner. — blogdog
FYI Blogdog- artists provide all copy for programs related to their performances- PICA did not “forget” to include information. I have requested the score information directly from the artist. Perhaps this will put an end to this ridiculous debate seemingly built on equal parts conjecture and spite.
Dear kristan at September 20, 2005 07:49 PM, So you’re just now learning how flaky and unprofessional some (many?) artists are? You may call it ridiculous, but FYI: you’re the presenter. It’s your responsibility to get the licenses, and it’s your board’s ass on the line. None of this surprises me. I’ve seen this crap in Portland for decades. So-called professional organizations and presenters who don’t know dick about copyright law and don’t really respect authors’ rights. RACC (formerly MAC) has never included a line item in its proposal budget forms for licensing of copyrighted material. Incredibly, they used to have a line item titled “copying.” It don’t get any plainer. You’re all cut from the same cloth. But then Hicks didn’t even notice, did he? Well, when it comes to critics, who knows what the professional standards are?
Blogdog, you seem to have a very specific definition of what constitutes professionalism. I’m wondering, which arts organization are you running? It is easy to cast judgment on those who are not meeting our standards (and I’ve been known to gripe about PICA, or about critics, or about artists and their flakiness, etc) but more difficult to step into their shoes and do it the way it “should” be done. Would it be nice if PICA met every single person’s standards of integrity and professionalism? Yes. Is that possible? No. And I for one am glad that they have put so much on the line to create this festival in Portland, a festival that generates a level of excitement and discussion I rarely see here. That excitement is much more important to me than absolute professionalism, which in my experience is a fluid (perhaps a fluid hug-hug) concept anyway. Being a professional on Broadway is different from being a professional on an arts council in Kansas, or a newspaper in Taiwan, or in the offices of PICA. Or in the offices of Wieden + Kennedy, for that matter. It’s not the either/or scenario you suggest. So the fact that no sound designer was credited does not tell me that either the artist or the staff of PICA is rampantly unprofessional. It’s good to have standards, but you also have to know that there is not one overarching standard of professionalism. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were?
It sounds to me like you are a sound designer. I suppose I would be equally annoyed if they did not credit the dancers, since I am a performer. But can we separate that criticism from a blanket attack on the artist and his ‘flakiness’?
It remains to be seen if anyone was being flaky or unprofessional, we all wish to do better and continuously strive to do so. I appreciate your opinion of Kota’s recent production, and i hope to get you information about Kota’s score as soon as i hear from him.
OK, gang, if advice on professionalism is hard to take, what’s it to me? This wasn’t a debate. I critiqued what I encountered and offered honest opinions and professional advice. If it sounded spiteful, sorry, I’m too old to mince words. Yeah, I’ve been in the arts a long time, and work on a professional level, but that’s all I’m going to say about me. I’m not out to get on the committern’s blacklist. Anyway at day’s end, here’s the deal: If PICA want’s to play in the big league, not Bangkok or even half-baked PDX loft productions, but on the city’s biggest stages and to compare yourselves to Edinburgh, Venice, et al, you’re really going to have to step up to it. And that probably means not only on staff but in clearing the stages of post-modern posers who fear virtuosity like the plague. Again, sorry for the tough-love lecture, but it’s time to grow up.
Here is the list of contributors to the Rise: Rose score,
Masahiro Sugaya (original)
Ryoji Ikeda (original)
Pan Sownic
Michael Brook
RE: Here is the list of contributors to the Rise: Rose score,
Masahiro Sugaya (original)
Ryoji Ikeda (original)
Pan Sownic
Michael Brook
Posted by: kristan at September 23, 2005 10:56 PM
Licensing issues aside, this confirms one of my guesses…no wonder the score was so weak. Patchwork scores rarely make for mature works. Moreover, wasn’t Ikeda the Dumb Type sound sculptor on the PICA show in 02 (?) – the one who hammered the audience with gut-punch subsonics, not unlike Linyekula’s sound chap just did at TBA. Look, why not just drop the pretense and hire real martial ARTISTs to beat up your paying audience right at TBA Central’s ticketing office. Think what you’d save on hall rental.
From
http://www.ryojiikeda.com/
Ryoji Ikeda (b. 1966)
New York based, Japan’s leading electronic composer Ryoji Ikeda focuses on the minutiae of ultrasonics, frequencies and the essential characteristics of sound itself. His work exploits sound’s physical property, its causality with human perception and mathematical dianoia as music, time and space. Using computer and digital technology to the utmost limit, Ikeda has been developing particular “microscopic” methods for sound engineering and composition. Since 1995 he has been intensely active in sound art through concerts, installations and recordings: the albums +/- (1996), 0 degrees (1998) and Matrix (2000) have been hailed by critics as the most radical and innovative examples of contemporary electronic music. With Carsten Nicolai, he works the collaborative project ‘cyclo.’, which examines error structures and repetitive loops in software and computer programmed music, with audiovisual modules for real time sound visualization. The versatile range of his research is also demonstrated by the collaborations with choreographer William Forsythe/Frankfurt Ballett, contemporary artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, architect Toyo Ito and artist collective Dumb Type, among others. Ryoji Ikeda received the Golden Nica prize at Prix Ars Electronica 2001 in the Digital Music category.
RE: R.I.C.V.Posted by: kristan at September 24, 2005 08:36 PM …………and what’s more – Impressive discography, ne c’est pas? Which is your favorite? — BD
2005 Ryoji Ikeda dataplex Raster-Noton R-N 068
2005 Ryoji Ikeda formula Book+DVD Forma
2002 Ryoji Ikeda formula Book+DVD ICC/NTT Publishing
2002 Ryoji Ikeda op. Touch TO:60
2000 Ryoji Ikeda matrix Touch TO:44
1998 Ryoji Ikeda time and space Staalplaat STmCD009
1998 Ryoji Ikeda 0ºC Touch TO:38
1996 Ryoji Ikeda +/- Touch TO:30
1995 Ryoji Ikeda 1000 fragments cci recordings CCD23001
2001 cyclo. cyclo. (w/Carsten Nicolai) Raster-Noton
1999 Ryoji Ikeda 99 [for 20′ to 2000] Raster-Noton 20TO200003
1998 Ryoji Ikeda Mort Aux Vaches (live recording at VPRO radio) Staalplaat
2000 dumb type memorandum cci recordings cci 001
1998 dumb type OR Foil Records DTOR
1994 dumb type S/N Spiral 30CD-N022
2002 V.A. An anthology of noise & electronic music vol.1 Sub Rosa SR19
2001 V.A. Clicks & Cuts 2 Mille Plateaux MP 09
2000 V.A. Touch Sampler 0 Touch T_ZERO_0
1999 V.A. Microscopic Caipirinha
1999 V.A. Modulation & Transformation 4 Mille Plateaux MP 061
1999 V.A. END ID Digital Narcis DNCD 20C
1998 V.A. Stilluppsteypa Remix Fire Inc. SOME f15
1998 V.A. Modulations Caipirinha CAI-2018
1998 V.A. meme meme000
1998 V.A. Chill Out Sabotage Rec 30CD
1997 V.A. Tulpas Selektion SCD024
1996 V.A. Touch Sampler 2 Touch T_ZERO_2
1996 V.A. Night Passage: demixed Dorobo 011
1996 V.A. A Fault in the Nothing Ash International Ash 2.6cd2
1995 V.A. mesmervariations Ash International Ash 1.8cd2
1995 V.A. statics cci recordings CCD25002
1993 V.A. silence CD