An Abundance of Creativity: Japan’s Saburo Teshigawara
By Naomi Mori
Nothing can stop Saburo Teshigawara’s creative drive. Last year, he was appointed artistic director of Aichi Prefectural Art Theater, a major venue in Nagoya, in central Japan. Last summer, he choreographed Kaze no Matasaburo (Matasaburo of the Wind, based on a novel by Kenji Miyazawa) for young dancers in that district, and through his own Tokyo company, KARAS, he premiered Rashomon, based on Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s novel (also the inspiration for Akira Kurosawa’s classic movie). Although pandemic restrictions put a hold on his international work — in the past, he has choreographed for Paris Opera Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater, to name just two — Teshigawara has been busy at home.
When we recently spoke, I asked about the source of his fertile imagination. “I have experienced such curious things in my life and am still meeting with new things every day,” he said. “My interest in life gives me fuel for each creation. Like water springing from earth and clouds floating in the sky, my imagination starts to grow. In imagination, there are conscious ideas and unconscious ones, and when the unconscious become conscious, it finds the power to materialize.”
To facilitate his creations, he founded his own creative space, KARAS APPARATUS, in Tokyo, in 2013, used as an intimate playhouse, a rehearsal studio, and an art gallery. Karas means crow in Japanese (it’s his favourite bird), while Apparatus has many meanings for him. “Apparatus means ‘device,’” he explains, “but it can also be a hole, a cave, a place to hide and seek, a big lens, a cinema, a camera, a rest place and playground, a laboratory, museum, bar, telescope, diary, library, theatre. In other words, it is a place that is not essential, but a world without it would be boring.”
Even during the pandemic, Teshigawara constantly created work under the series title Update Dance. In 2020, he presented 11 pieces (nine were new) and this year there have already been nine shows. This series is unique in that the work, which is all choreographed by Teshigawara, is updated every day of the run. No performance is the same, with changes made either by Teshigawara or by his artistic collaborator Rihoko Sato, with whom he has worked for 25 years.
Some of the Update Dance works, such as Tristan and Isolde (2016) and The Idiot (2016), were so successful they later toured overseas. The Idiot, based on Dostoevsky’s novel, won him a nomination for Outstanding Male Modern Performance at England’s National Dance Awards in 2019. Teshigawara is still, at the age of 68, a strong, versatile dancer, with fluidity, control, and musicality.
For his recent major production, Rashomon, Teshigawara invited Alexandre Riabko, a principal dancer with Hamburg Ballet, to join him and Sato. The piece, performed at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and also at Aichi Prefectural Art Theater, was a critical success. Rashomon is set 1,000 years ago at an entrance gate to the ancient capital city of Kyoto, where many bodies lie dead from the plague. The work is constructed around three main characters: a commoner (Teshigawara), an old woman who strips clothes and hair from the bodies to sell (Sato), and Death (Riabko). There is also an ensemble of seven women who act as the spirits of the dead. Although the story takes place in the past, the theme, centred around the plague, evokes the present era of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In at a time of crisis, when human existence is especially fragile, people still cannot control their desires,” says Teshigawara. “What I got from the book Rashomon is the reality of pure evil. But what I wanted to express in this piece is that everything in life changes. The old woman lives in a place like hell, but I imagined that deep in her soul there was purity.”
Rashomon begins with the recorded voice of Sato reading from Akutagawa’s novel, and at first the piece follows his storyline. But after the commoner strips the old woman of her clothes and runs away, the main characters escape their bodies and begin to express their spirits freely. A pivotal moment is the duet between Sato and Riabko, who perform the same choreography in unison but with different expression, together creating a beautiful pathos.
“I had experienced quite a few creations with European dancers, but working with Sasha [as Riabko is known] was different, and was a special experience,” says Teshigawara. “He listened a lot to us, and took time to understand my concept and the work in detail. He does not just receive; he always puts himself at the zero point and moves toward the goal.”
Teshigawara describes their creative process as “a happy encounter,” explaining: “At rehearsals, we took time to create simple elements and collect them before tackling the final choreography. Because of Sasha’s careful accumulation of these daily experiences, he was able to begin to weave in original movement of his own devising. This is how I work as a choreographer.”
Rashomon has a strong narrative, a universal theme, and striking production values (Teshigawara designed the breathtaking lighting design, creating the gate using light and shadow). The imaginative choreography is enriched by Riabko’s ballet-based fluidity and the razor-sharp Sato’s dazzling expression. The soundtrack, starting with emergency sirens, ends with the heavenly echo of the sho (a reed instrument used in Japanese court music) played by famed musician Mayumi Miyata onstage, evoking humanity’s trust in salvation. The piece has an almost shocking impact through dance molded into emotion in a time of confusion and chaos.
Rashomon deserves to be performed on the global stage. Before the pandemic, Teshigawara and Sato spent half of each year overseas, touring for their performances and creating for other artists. “We have faced many obstacles in our careers, but this situation is something no one has ever experienced,” says Teshigawara.“We will carry on as before,” he adds optimistically, “and resume our European touring from the year 2022.”
