College of Performing and Visual Arts Akiko Kitamura Professor Wins Grand Prize at the 20th Japan Dance Forum Award!

■The following are comments from Professor Kitamura

I am deeply grateful to have received the prestigious Japan Dance Forum Award.

Contemporary bodily expression, with its increasing diversity and depth, is nothing more than a "lens" that pierces the facets of human life from every angle. For over 15 years, I have been conducting field research that delves deeply into the lifestyles and cultures of various parts of Asia, and creating dance works that emerge from that research. Resonance with performers from diverse backgrounds forms the core of my creative work.

The award-winning work, "The Long Strong Happy Death," is a culmination of his long-standing, transgressive explorations.

This work is woven from an endless dialogue that begins with the deeply personal experiences of collaborators from Japan, India, and the Philippines, and moves back and forth between their respective realities and social histories. The bodies rooted in the local cultures bear the raw reality of living in opposition to social institutions and the framework of "law." At the same time, they possess the resilience of bodies that slip through existing systems, resist them, and yearn for a different kind of freedom.

By carefully piecing together these fragmented, raw records, the memories of distant lands eventually resonate with each other as a "universal murmur"—that's the moment I wanted to bring to the stage.

Inspired by this award, I intend to continue listening attentively to the "musings of the world" that flow at the boundaries of culture and the body, and to quietly contemplate the abyss of human existence through the expression of dance.

Photo ©Hiroyasu Daido