Artists & Projects Directory
Yasuko Yokoshi
The
sound of the Gion Shôja bells echoes the impermanence of all things;
the
color of the sâla flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must
decline.
The
proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night;
the
mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind.
-the
opening lines of The Tale of the Heike (translated by Helen Craig McCullough)
Yasuko Yokoshi's art-making explores
the complex interconnectedness of culture and history that frames our perspective of contemporary life. Her
inspiration for Tyler Tyler comes from
The Tale of the Heike, a classic 12th century Japanese epic
of warring clans that documents the intense desire for domination and the
inevitable fall from power. The central
theme of the stories - the Buddhist law of impermanence - has special resonance for
Yokoshi; born and raised in Hiroshima,
she was often reminded as a child of the ephemeral nature of human life. These
stories continue to resonate in our own times as ambition and pride continue to
spawn war and greed.
As a contemporary dance artist,
Yokoshi is also driven by the question of how much culture within an art form
is transferable, particularly in a fluid, mobile world where the merging of
cultures is more prevalent than ever. Tyler
Tyler continues Yokoshi's unique collaboration with her revered master
teacher of Kabuki Su-odori dance, Masumi Seyama. Their previous work together, the critically
acclaimed what we when we, won a 2006 "Bessie" Award.
Tyler Tyler will be performed by a cast of six including Yokoshi, two American dancers and
three highly regarded Japanese dancers and actors, each of whom trained for
many years with Masumi Seyama. With the
American dancers, Yokoshi will apply a postmodern vocabulary to the scale and
structure of the Kabuki-style choreography.
With the traditional Japanese performers, she will explore the effect of
contemporary choreographic techniques on their Kabuki forms. With all of the dancers, Yokoshi aims to respect
their formal movement vocabulary, even as she experiments with stripping them
of their history and culture.
Tyler Tyler will feature music by Japanese
composer, Ryuichi Sakamoto, performed live on piano and violin, and a sound
score created by Yokoshi's long-time collaborator, So-Ichiro Migita. The production will feature a stage set
inspired by Kabuki stage design; and projections of video imagery gathered by
Yokoshi during her research travels in Japan, edited in partnership with
Marin Sander-Holzman.