CONCEPT

A S Y L

Past is smoke. What’s burning is now.
Why did I run away to come here?


An en kiri temple was a shelter for women who had to run away from
their men during the Edo period. = ASYL
The past and the present of a woman who came to this ASYL.
Her visionary story will be presented in layers accompanied by
shamisen, singing, dance and motion pictures.


Written, directed, and filmed by: Naoto Iina
Shamisen and singing by: Fuei Nishimatsu
Choreography and dance by: Misako Terada

CAST

Naoto Iina was a cinematographer, editor, and director for “The Video Dance Version” of DANCE x MUSIC! in 2008. This time, he will be the writer, director, and film director for this new creation called “ASYL”.
Iina is the founder of Dance and Media JAPAN, has organized DMJ International Video Dance Festival for seven years, which has attract major attention and received many international entries.
In addition to his work as a producer, in 2009, Iina began earnestly on his artistic work as a director and writer. His realistic sense of portraying what is happing in the present gives him a unique perspective on dance, and his point of view as a filmmaker makes him the best choice as director/writer/film director for this DANCE×MUSIC×MOVIE! creation..

Fuei Nishimatsu, headmaster of Nishimatsu School of Japanese Traditional Music will be in charge of the MUSIC for this piece. Her shamisen work is not limited to the traditional music scene; she also collaborates with Butoh dancers and contemporary poets. She has set avant-garde poet Katsue Kitazono’s poems to music, and she is also singer-songwriter herself. She is an evangelist of culture and life from the Edo period, singing Edo girls’ love songs in her own style of Kouta and Hauta, bringing the spirit to the present day.

Dance is by Misako Terada who has an excellent reputation for her technique and originality in movement. She is a choreographer/dancer who has opened up a new era in the Japanese contemporary dance scene. Her dance will certainly charm you with its beauty, and sting you so you will never forget.

This best combination of the three artists will open a new page in the history of performance art.


VENUE

We chose temples that have the atmosphere of “en kiri ” which means a temple you visit to get rid of an unwanted relationship.
Dance movie is projected on four huge Sho-ji (paper doors) on the stage, giving a dynamic movie effect for the performance. Imaginative film, Edo songs and the sound of the shamisen, and dance, surrounded by burning red autumn leaves in an eerie temple (Eiun-in in the ancient capital of Kyoto, and historical Ikegami Jisso-ji in Tokyo) will bring you through a labyrinth of entertainment impossible to experience in a theater.



FEB 2011
Creation | Eiunin (Kyoto)

25 MAR 2011
Studio Performance | Hatsunekan Stduio (Kyoto)

18-19 NOV 2011
Performance Premiered at EiUnIn (Kyoto)

10-11 DEC 2011
Performance | Ikegami JiSsoJi (Tokyo)

19-20 OCT 2013
Performance | MyoKoJi (Niigata)

2-3 NOV 2013
Performance | SenGuIn (Hirosaki)