madness, love & mysticism

Marc Ribault: From which idea did you create this solo?

Anan Atoyama: I recently made the observation that the exponential use of digital tools changes my relation to the world and to myself, subtly but assuredly. The screen is becoming the new medium between the outside world and me.

A weakening of our natural mediums, the senses, results from it. Cerebral intelligence, the one of the calculation, gradually erases the intelligence of touch, the sensitivity of touch, the sensation of touch. And it is in the same way for smell, hearing, sight, taste, and of course instinct. Constantly depending on machines, I develop a certain form of logical intelligence, but my sensitivity atrophies. Through this work I wanted to rediscover my instincts, to dig within myself to bring out the link that connects me to my deepest being and allows me to be in contact with the primordial energy that animates us all. Doing so helps to free me from outside pressures, such as those from society, objects, or even from the person we live with.

M.R: There isn’t however, an explicit condemnation of digital tools in this solo?

A.A: The world is more complex than what people try to make us believe. Digital devices also bring us freedom of speech as well as access to knowledge once reserved for an "elite.” They make us more productive… and more controllable, because these tools as well as their content don't belong to everyone but to a minority, that of the media and technology companies. 

Let's pay attention to the pollution in our minds and to the possible manipulations of our consciousness. Interaction with the outside world and the composition of our immediate environment are essential elements in the construction of the individual, and we must not leave this responsibility to anyone else except ourselves, and especially not to a machine. But when I dance, I’m not interested in lecturing; lessons are ok when we are children. Dance, the body, and human energy have an extremely powerful communication, which is well beyond words for me. I want to get in touch with the audience in this way and invite them to wake this power up and trust in it. We possess in ourselves all the right answers, there’s no need to voice them, but it is often self-acceptance and confidence in our abilities that are lacking. The role of Art is also to offer everyone a time and place to make it so. Lectures are for interviews.

M.R: And the music of John Zorn for your production then? Why did you work specifically with this artist's album?

A.A: I met John Zorn completely by coincidence when I was living in New York. A musician friend had recommended that I go to an event at Tonic, a club on the Lower East Side specializing in improvised jazz. While I was waiting in line, a man said hello to me, and we started to talk. Within a few minutes, he told me that he was playing the next three nights at the club and he gave me two Freepasses to see him, just like that, after five minutes… So the next day I returned with a friend and it was there that I realized that the man on stage was John Zorn, and that he ran Tonic. John, accompanied by five musicians, all improvising together– the concerts were extraordinary; it was a remarkable discovery. We became friends afterwards and I immediately wanted to dance to his music. We had talked about it and his only request was to use a complete album and not scattered fragments. I feel that this album contains all the tension, abandon, struggle, and light that are experienced by the woman I personify.