Upcoming Events YASS HAKOSHIMA PREMIERS HIS NEW DANCE THEATRE WORK RASHOMON
(Encounter under the Cloudgate) with Whitney V, Hunter and the Da Capo Chamber Players and guests and a commissioned score by composer Raymond Lustig.  Ailey Citigroup Theatre
Rashomon (or Encounter Under the Abandoned Cloud-Gate) is choreographed for two dancers (Mime, Yass Hakoshima and Whitney V. Hunter), five musicians wearing black outfits that characterize Japanese court musicians and features a ceramic sculpture by world-renowned artist Toshiko Takaezu. Inspired by Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s short story Rashomon, Yass’ newest movement theatre work explores the relationship between a professional, but personally weak or small-minded thief, and a jobless, rather depressed samurai and demonstrates what these two individuals must do to survive. The performance is made possible through a grant by the American Music Center’s program “Live Music for Dance.” This is the fifth year in a row that Danmari Ltd. has received support from the American Music Center for Live Music performances. Rashomon utilizes a performance technique that Gia Kourlas described as “…suffused with humor, pathos, gentleness and precision that remains entirely his (Hakoshima’s) own.” (New York Times - March 22, 2008). While hiding in the shadows, the thief, who lives as a poor stranger at a corner of the Rashomon cloud gate, tries to rob the samurai of his only remaining treasure, his sword. Eventually the two argue and a fierce duel begins. The samurai overcomes the thief, who barely escapes with his life and limps away, but in a final twist of fate, something unexpected happens to the samurai. Yass Hakoshima drew on techniques from Japanese stage dramas including Noh, Kabuki, and Kyogen, which use movement and music to tell stories of human behavior. In the Noh drama the action is symbolic, stylized, pared down to aesthetic quintessence. In Kabuki the action is pompous and over-dramatized. Kyogen is used as farcical interludes in the dramatic plays of Kabuki. Major characters can be sometimes comical but at the same time they deliver a deep philosophical message to the audience. The traditional musical ensemble, which accompanies these theatre forms, includes flute, percussion, shamisen, and a low chant of men's voices, singing without words. Raymond J. Lustig’s commissioned score is also inspired by traditional Japanese aesthetics. Although performed on Western instruments, the piece utilizes a unique blend of Eastern and Western idioms sometimes requiring the instruments to imitate Japanese musical sounds. “There is a close interaction between music and dance in this work,” Mr. Hakoshima explained. “The minds of the two characters are always affected by the music, by its rhythms and textures. There is a kind of psychological interaction between dance and music; the latter reinforces and leads the psychological development of the characters, gradually building up to the intense dramatic climax of each scene.” Although Yass has set Rashomon in 16th century feudal Japan, Hakoshima believes the issues raised are relevant today. “During the samurai era many kinds of warriors lived in constant fear and alertness. As a result, the attitude of self-defense became present in their everyday behavior,” Hakoshima remarked. “Those who were able to overcome their fear, and fight back, had chances to win. Even today, we often live surrounded by enemies and have to fight for ourselves and our dear ones. We have to be fearless, physically and mentally strong, and have the ability to laugh and enjoy life even in the most difficult circumstances---only then do we have chances to win.” Artist Biographies: Yass Hakoshima was born and reared in Japan by a mother who was an opera singer and a father who was a literary historian as well as an accomplished athlete. Yass brings a rich background in dance, mime and literature to his art. His background is a combination of a solid Japanese theatrical training and Hojoryu-Noh Theatre, Japanese classic dance, interpretive dance and Western classic and corporal mime technique. While dancing with a ballet troupe in Japan, Mr. Hakoshima discovered his first chance to perform mime in a professional setting during the ballet intermissions. His initial success led him to come to the United States where he studied modern dance with Erick Hawkins and mime with Étienne Decroux. His three decade long worldwide touring work received numerous awards and favorable reviews. The 2010 season marks the fifth year in a row that Danmari Ltd. (which sponsors the Yass Hakoshima Movement Theatre) has received funding from the American Music Center's program "Live Music for Dance." Yass Hakoshima is also the founder and director of the New Jersey Center for Mime, founded in 1981. The Center offers annual workshops in mime, movement and body expression that are attended by students from various international backgrounds, Raymond Lustig, (www.raymondlustig.com) who was born in Tokyo and raised in Queens, New York, is also the winner of the 2007 ASCAP Foundation’s Rudolf Nissim Prize. His music has been presented at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, New York's Symphony Space, the Bowling Green New Music Festival, the Norfolk and Caramoor summer music festivals, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, the New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute, and the Juilliard Beyond the Machine Festival. Lustig has collaborated with choreographers Peter Quantz, Melissa Barak, and Brynt Beitman and his music has also been used at the New York Choreographic Institute, the Juilliard School's Composers and Choreographers concert, and Barnard College's Spring Dances concert. Whitney V. Hunter (www.linkedin.com/in/whitneyhunter) performs the role of the Thief. Named one of Trace Magazine’s 7 NYC Dancers on the Rise in 2007, Hunter has performed with the Kankouran West African Dance Company, in the companies of Doug Hamby, Rod Rodgers, Pearl Lang, Reggie Wilson, Pascal Rioult, Martha Clark, Martha Graham and at the Metropolitan Opera. . He defines his choreography as character-driven, dance/theater works that investigate the life experiences of people through movement. Hunter appeared in Yass Hakoshima’s “Daybreak in a Buddhist Monastery” at NJPAC in 1999 and last year in the world premiere of “Rashomon.” Winner of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award in 1973, the Da Capo Chamber Players (www.dacapochamberplayers.org). are committed to building a strong heritage of present-day American chamber music. The group has performed at international festivals and has more than 90 chamber music works written especially for them by composers as varied as Joan Tower, Philip Glass, Harvey Sollberger, Philippe Bodin, and many others. Since their founding in 1970, Da Capo have presented an annual New York City concert series that has included gala concerts honoring major composers and groundbreaking programs that stretch the definition of chamber music. Future Da Capo projects include a CD of chamber music by Chinary Ung – including his epic Oracle written for Da Capo – issued this season by Bridge Records. Commissions/premieres for next season (the 40th) include world premieres by George Tsontakis and Keith Fitch, and the NY premiere of Shirish Korde’s chamber opera, Bandit Queen. All three works are being written for the Da Capo Chamber Players. Toshiko Takaezu is a master ceramist who holds a monumental place in the post –World War II craft movement in America, helping to transform ceramics into a major medium of artistic expression. Born in Hawaii, Takaezu attended the Honolulu Academy of Arts and finished her studies at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. For ten years she taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art, moving to New Jersey for the next 25 years to join the faculty at Princeton University. Toshiko Takaezu has collaborated with Yass Hakoshima for more than two decades in a number of works, and her work was recently honored by the National Endowment for the Arts with the “American Master Pieces” title. If you would like to get reminders of our activities, please join our email list, and we will send you updated information as it becomes available. Recent Performances Yass Hakoshima was joined by by alumni members of the NJ Center for Mime in two performances of Snapshots and More at the Montclair (Montclair, NJ) for First Night celebrations December 31, 2009. Snapshots and More incorporates Japanese themes and allegory as well as imaginary and hilarious situations. It exemplifies Mr. Hakoshima's belief in body movement and expression as a vital vehicles and tools to break barriers such as misunderstanding and lack of knowledge that exist in our multi-cultural society. Yass Hakoshima performed Kinetic Illusions on October 20, 2009, in Durham, NC. Humbolt State University (Arcata, CA) - Artists Yass Hakoshima and James Donlon appeared on Saturday, July 11 to help launch the Richard Rothrock Memorial Endowment fund at Humboldt State University's Theatre Department. Mr. Hakoshima performed his program Passing Scenes. The New York Times has called Mr. Hakoshima's performance: "elegant and stylized, an impressive physical facility, with eerie, almost surreal tangibility." Mr. Donlon's clown and physical theatre has been called by the Times, "...an extraordinary blend of skill and lunacy."
See more information about this work. On Sunday, April 19, 2009, Yass Hakoshima performed at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Branch Brook Park, Newark, NJ. He treated family audiences to an informal performance of Breaking Barriers. From March 23 – 27, 2009, Yass Hakoshima was in residence at Rancocas Valley Regional High School in Mt. Holly, NJ. He worked with students in the drama department on the development of a movement theatre production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde specially designed for Rancocas Valley students. A public performance was given on March 27 at the Performing Arts Center. The Yass Hakoshima Movement Theatre treated First Night audiences in Montclair, NJ to performances of Kaleidoscope in two performances at the Montclair Art Museum on New Year's Eve, Wednesday, December 31, 2008. The Yass Hakoshima Movement Theatre presented Breaking Barriers in three performances at Montclair State University's Centennial Celebration on September 20, 2008.
Wings — Yass Hakoshima (choreographer, performer) with Samir Chatterjee (composer, tabla player), Min Xiao-Fen (pipa player), and Masayo Ishigure (koto player) “ Don’t kill him! The fly it wings its hands, its feet.” — Issa In a series of solo pieces inspired by Haiku poetry, Yass Hakoshima expresses his personal interpretations of Japanese traditions and theatre forms. Japanese fables and themes are illuminated with the cycles and rhythms found in nature. Samir Chatterjee’s experimental score reflects these influences as well as other minimalist accompanying pieces by T. Sawai Toronoyoni performed on the koto. Hsu Po-Yun’s Pipa, performed on the pipa. Wings was performed on February 16, 2008 at the Puffin Foundation (Teaneck, NJ) and March 20, 2008 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater (Joan Weill Center for Dance) in New York City.
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On April 29, 2009, Yass Hakoshima performed the premiere of Rashomon (Encounter Under the Cloudgate) with Whitney Hunter, the Da Capo Chamber Players and guests,
and a commissioned score by
composer Raymond Lustig. He also performed Underwater Fantasy (in photo by Sherry Rubel). The performance took place at the Dolan Performing Arts Hall
at College of St. Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ.
