INDEX
Exploration of “Words” and “Body.” Do Words and Emotions Come After the Body?
-What was the video footage of?
Nagashima: It was a documentary film called “Koyaanisqatsi: A World Lost in Equilibrium” (1982, directed by Godfrey Reggio), in which Francis Ford Coppola is credited with lending his name, and Philip Glass is making music. American urban and natural landscapes are shot anyway, with images incorporating slow motion and fast turns. The two of us watched the film separately, and as we did so, we spoke as we liked.
Tamaki: Due to the structure of the performance, there are parts where Shimaji-san says what I said, but as a result, only the words I said remain in the text.
Shimaji：For my part, I shifted to translating most of my words into actual movement.
Nagashima: Tamaki-san rewrote and rearranged the transcribed text for his own speech, while Shimaji-san started using my compressed text for his own choreography.
-I would like to ask you about that. What do the words/body mean to both of you? You are a dancer who has often used words in your performances even before collaborating with Tamaki-san.
Shimaji：Well, as you can see in the dialogue of “Ai no te” (……), I have always thought that words, or rather narrative feelings, come later after the body. At the same time, I am interested in things like onomatopoeia. I have a sense that words are like hands, in the sense that the tongue moves, and I have a sense that they are terminal movements. After my body moves, I sometimes verbalize it in order to organize it.
-It is an interesting story that I cannot immediately say that I understand. You continue to deal with the existence of language, which comes to you after a certain delay, don’t you?
Shimaji：I don’t know, maybe I have a complex about language. I can’t handle them well. I can’t immediately say that there is a subject, a predicate, and a modifier.
Tamaki: But you can write it down in writing, can’t you?
Shimaji:That also takes time. …… Yes, I think words are something that takes time. Dancing can be done right then and there. That is exactly what I do, although I don’t know if these words are conveyed (laughs).
