INTRODUCTION

New-born Noism

The first production is a poem of “the wanderer”

 

Poems of the wandering people spun by Schubert art songs. The dancers rose to their feet with silent cries. Noism’s new journey begins here.

[Niigata]
Friday, 20 January – Saturday, 4 February 2023
RYUTOPIA Niigata City Performing Arts Center – Studio B

[Tokyo]
Friday, 24 February – Sunday, 26 February 2023
SETAGAYA PUBLIC THEATER

 

Organizer: Niigata City Art & Culture Promotion Foundation

Partnership: Setagaya Arts Foundation, SETAGAYA PUBLIC THEATER, Supported by: Setagaya ward (Tokyo performance)

Grant: Subsidy for the Promotion of Culture and Art by the Agency for Cultural Affairs
(Project to Promote Enhancement of Functions in Theaters, Music Halls, etc.) | Japan Arts Council

Production: RYUTOPIA Niigata City Performing Arts Center

 

ABOUT

 
Founded in 2004 as the first dance company with a permanent residency at a theatre in Japan, Noism Company Niigata is in its 19th season this year. From this September, based on RYUTOPIA residential system established by Niigata City, we started a new two-division system.

Sawako Iseki as the Artistic Director of the International Activities Division, leads Noism0 and Noism1 and conducts performances and creative activities in Japan and overseas. Yuki Yamada as the Artistic Director of the Community Activities Division, leads Noism2 the trainee company and in addition to fostering young dancers who aim to become professionals, develops outreach to schools and other organizations and guides open classes for citizens. Jo Kanamori serves as the General Artistic Director who oversees the entire activities. We will continue to develop activities that are unique to Noism Company Niigata, a more flexible and fulfilling company, by balancing the two wheels of activities that are leaping forward in the world and activities that are rooted in local communities.

The first performance under the new regime will feature new works directed and choreographed by Jo Kanamori and will be presented in Niigata and Tokyo.

 

On the occasion of the performance

Sawako Iseki
Artistic Director
International Activities Division

 

This is my first performance since I was appointed as the Artistic Director of the International Activities Division.

Can I live in this moment when I am plunged into an unknown world with uncertain future, together with all the members of the company? I think this will be a very important turning point for the future of Noism. In that sense, this work “Der Wanderer" created by Kanamori by looking the company from a slightly different perspective, will be a big challenge for each member as well. The group we are aiming for is not “identical” but “unity”. I want this company to be the group that values individual personality, respects each other and walks together facing the same direction. “There is breadth in the group. There is depth in the individual.”

We are living together in this era and experiencing various things happening in the world together. However, each person has their own values, and emotions that arise are also different. Through dance, we look at these differences, connect with each other, and new values arise. That is the power of art that I believe in.

I believe that this work will be handed down in the long history of the company. “The conception of the theatre culture that continues 100 years and ahead” which Kanamori has always said, is still only halfway there, but while being close to the future genarations of this country, I would like to firmly convey to them so that they will understand the essense of the theatre culture and inherit it.

 

Jo Kanamori
General Artistic Director

New-born Noism

 

In accordance with Niigata City's new residential system, new-born Noism will entrust the discretion of the International Activities Division (Noism0&1) to Iseki and the Community Activities Division (Noism2) to Yamada, and will start activities in a new two-division system. On this new journey, I was thinking about what I would create as a director and a choreographer. In order to come up with an answer, I objectively analyzed the issues of the group Noism.

Noism's strengths are, above all, collectivity. This is because there is no other group in this country that has a place where group activities can be conducted from morning to night, has its own training methods, and has a life security that allows them to concentrate 100% on their activity. However, strengths sometimes become weaknesses.

Group strength creates a sense of belonging and solidarity, but it can also deprive individuals of the opportunity to be independent, responsible and prepared. The power of the group and the power of the individual, that balance. The way of taking it determines the uniqueness of the group, and that maturity is the maturation of the group. If so, as part of the method, I decided to create a solo for each member.

 

Solo

 

In past works, there have been scenes where dancers dance alone, and there are also works where everyone has solo parts. But those were with a group of people around, or dancing solos in one song, and were not a solo performance where you stand completely alone on the stage and dance to one song. Even if there were, it was an opportunity that would only be given to dancers who had worked with me for many years.

This time, as “staging constraints” for myself, I dare to have all the members bear it. At least at the creative stage. I don’t even know what kind of work it will be at this point. However, what I can say at the moment is that a group of individuals who each person has the ability to stand up solo, is the collective nature that new-born Noism is aiming for.

 

Art songs

 

I have been fascinated by art songs for the past few years. “The Last Rose of Summer”, ”Near Far Here”, “Les Noces de Madame Chrysanthème”, for some reasons I am attracted to art songs. When I listen to art songs, I can see the dancing body. And before I knew it, I was only listening to Schubert. I first heard Schubert art songs while I was in Rudra Béjart School. I think I listened to it on the occasion of learning Béjart's works at school. In short, I danced, not listened.

The choreography for art songs clearly expresses the competence of the choreographer, the uniqueness of the vocabulary, and above all, the musicality, in accordance with the minimum relationship between the singer and the dancer, and between the music and the body. The presence of lyrics (poems) in them also expresses the relationship between the language and the body. So, this creation is also a challenge for me to face my own choreography (not directing).

 

Schubert’s World

 

Schubert is a musician of genius who created 700 art songs in his short life. This work is created by dividing his art songs into themes of love and death, and about 20 art song are selected. There is no theme that expresses the fact that one is alone and at the same time that one is not alone than the theme of love and death. And I don’t think there is a better theme than this one that expresses the spirit of the premature genius musician Schubert.

Art songs have lyrics (poems). Schubert drew inspiration from words of many poets, including the great writer Goethe. It is said that as soon as Schubert read a poem, he could begin composing. For Shubert, music is poetry.

Dance is poetry. It is not a mere movement, of course, nor is it a word that is limited to a specific meaning. Spinning by rhythm and melody, that is to say, music, it is the choreographer’s own poetry and the performer’s own poetry. And it will be the unique poetry that the audience will read. The poems spun by each member relate mutually and it creates a single world. That is the world that this work is aiming for.

 

Each poem

 

Even if the reality is that the unexpected things happen, who would have expected a big nation to wage a war of aggression in this time and age? A big nation with weapons of mass destruction, typified by nuclear weapons, slaughtering civilians with its weapons. With the push of a button, without sharing the same space, they instantaneously take many lives. What could be more painful and cruel?

At one point, I saw a video on the news and was stunned. I closed my eyes for a moment and exhaled deeply. Each of the corpses lying side by side had a life, there were countless involved, and each had its own living world. There is a poem spun not as a number calculated as 10 or 100 bodies, but as one and only “wanderer”.

　

 

The Language of Silence

 

Dance is a non-verbal expression. Nevertheless, it is a big mistake to think that you can say (express) what you like. Because it is a language that has no social meaning, it must be a language (dance) that appeals more to the imagination of the audience. It doesn’t have to be eloquent. Do not be afraid of silence. Human beings (audience) have the ability to hear words that cannot be heard.

We don’t dance to the music. Nor do we dance to express music. The music that flows throughout the body breaks through the silence and becomes a dance. It is the cry of the person deprived of words. It is the determination of the one who have renounced meaning. With a silent cry, stand in front of others. I want to see such dance. I want to see such dancers. That is my motivation as an artist for creating this work.

 

MUSIC CREDIT

-List of Art songs used-

 

Franz Peter Schubert

 

 

1. Der Wanderer, D.493 (op.4-1)

 

Poem by Georg Philipp Schmidt von Lübeck

Alto: Nathalie Stutzmann

Piano: Inger Sodergren

 

 

 

 

2. Der Schmetterling, D.633 (op.57-1)

 

Poem by Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Schlegel

Tenor: Ian Bostridge

Piano: Leif Ove Andsnes

 

 

 

3. Heidenröslein, D.257 (op.3-3)

 

Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Soprano: Barbara Bonney

Piano: Geoffrey Parsons

 

 

 

4. Rastlose Liebe, D.138 (op.5-1)

 

Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Baritone: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Piano: Gerald Moore

 

 

 

5. Minnelied, D.429

 

Poem by Ludwig Heinrich Christoph Hölty

Soprano: Elly Ameling

Piano: Dalton Baldwin

 

 

 

6. Der Musensohn, D.764 (op.92-1)

 

Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tenor: Werner Güra

Piano: Christoph Berner

 

 

 

7. Seligkeit, D.433

 

Poem by Ludwig Heinrich Christoph Hölty

Soprano: Lynda Russell

Piano: Peter Hill

 

 

 

8. Die schöne Müllerin, D.795 (op.25), No.14: Der Jäger

 

Poem by Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Müller

Tenor: Pavol Breslik

Piano: Amir Katz

 

 

 

 

9. Der Mondabend, D.141 (op.131-1)

 

Poem by Johann Gottfried Kumpf

Soprano: Margaret Price

Piano: Graham Johnson

 

 

 

10. An die Nachtigall, D.497 (op.98-1)

 

Poem by Matthias Claudius

Soprano: Renée Fleming

Piano: Christoph Eschenbach

 

 

 

 

11. Schwanengesang, D.957, No.4: Ständchen

 

Poem by Heinrich Fredrich Ludwig Rellstab

Tenor: Fritz Wunderlich

Piano: Hubert Giesen

 

 

 

12. Schwanengesang, D.957, No.9: Ihr Bild

 

Poem by Christian Johann Heinrich Heine

Alto: Nathalie Stutzmann

Piano: Inger Sodergren

 

 

 

 

13. Winterreise, D.911 (op.89) , No.15:Die Krähe

 

Poem by Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Müller

Baritone: Hermann Prey

Piano: Philippe Bianconi

 

 

 

14. Gretchen am Spinnrade, D.118 (op.2)

 

Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Soprano: Lynda Russell

Piano: Peter Hill

 

 

 

15. Erlkönig, D.328 (op.1)

 

Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Baritone: Matthias Goerne

Piano: Andreas Haefliger

 

 

 

16. Der Tod und das Mädchen, D.531 (op.7-3)

 

Poem by Matthias Claudius

Soprano: Renée Fleming

Piano: Christoph Eschenbach

 

 

 

17. An den Mond, D.193 (op.57-3)

 

Poem by Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty

Baritone: Wolfgang Holzmair

Piano: Ulrich Eisenlohr

 

 

 

18. Der König in Thule, D.367 (op.5-5)

 

Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Soprano: Barbara Hendricks

Piano: Radu Lupu

 

 

 

19. Wanderers Nachtlied, D.768 (op.96-3)

 

Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tenor: Ian Bostridge

Piano: Julius Drake

 

 

 

20. Schwanengesang, D.957, No.13: Der Doppelgänger

 

Poem by Christian Johann Heinrich Heine

Alto: Nathalie Stutzmann

Piano: Inger Sodergren

 

 

 

21. Nacht und Träume, D.827 (op.43-2)

 

Poem by Matthäus von Collin

Baritone: Matthias Goerne

Piano: Alexander Schmalcz

 

 

 

CREDIT

“Der Wanderer” Direction, Choreography: Jo Kanamori

Music: Schubert Art Songs

Costume: Kyoko Domoto

Décor: Masaki Kondo

Performed by: Noism0, Noism1

 
 
Jo Kanamori 　www.jokanamori.com
Choreographer, Dancer. General Artistic director of Noism Company Niigata. Moved to Europe by himself when he was 17 years old, he studied under Maurice Béjart and others. He began creating while studying at Rudra Béjart School Lausanne and made his debut as choreographer at the age of 20 while enrolled in NDT2. After ten years of playing an active part as dancer and choreographer for several dance companies in Europe, he returned to Japan. In April 2004, he was appointed as artistic director of the Dance Division of RYUTOPIA, and established Noism, Japan’s first residential dance company of a public theater. He is active in a wide range of activities, such as directing and choreographing an opera conducted by Seiji Ozawa at the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto. He has won many awards, including the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award for Artistic Encouragement, and the Niigata Nippo Culture Award both in 2008, and the 60th Mainichi Art Award. He received the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2021.

 

Kyoko Domoto

She designs costumes for contemporary dance, butoh, theater, kabuki, opera, etc. In 1999 and 2003, she exhibited at the Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space in Prague, Czech Republic. In 2000, she studied under Rakefet Levy, a costume designer of the Batsheva Dance Company, as the Artist Overseas Training Program of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. In 1999, she received the Ito Kisaku Award and the 36th Tachibana Akiko Award for Stage Creative Award.

 

Masaki Kondo

Born in 1979. After graduating from university, he acquired woodworking skills at Hidatakayama and made furniture at “Joseph Walsh Bespoke” in Irland. Since 2008, he has been creating works at the studio in Kannamicho Tanna. Utilizing the technique of bending wood and carving, he is good at creating furniture that balances organic line of beauty, lightness and comfort of seating. His representative work is sheep chair and chairs with animal motifs such as manta rays and cobras. In recent years, he has been active mainly in custom production and presentation of works at solo exhibitions, and is also actively collaborating with other fields.
www.masakikondo.com

 

Noism Company Niigata　www.noism.jp

Noism is Japan’s first dance company with a permanent residency at a theatre, basing its activities at RYUTOPIA Niigata City Performing Arts Center. There are three groups: Noism0 made up of professional selected members, Noism1 the professional company, and Nosm2 the trainee company. Dancers selected through auditions from Japan and around the world have moved to Niigata and are active throughout the year. Since its establishment in 2004, Noism has been performing works created at RYUTOPIA both domestically and internationally, and in addition to activities to develop globally from Niigata to the world (International Activities Division), it has also been engaged in community-based activities such as open classes for citizens and outreach to schools (Community Activities Division). The origin of Noism is “No-ism”. Without having a specific principle, Noism tries to pass on to future generations the various physical expressions that have been accumulated throughout history.