Choreographer Anan Atoyama pays tribute to the master Kazuo Ohno through Hidden Body, a work for four dancers and the Japanese musician Keiji Haino. Over 70 years ago, Kazuo Ohno made a huge impact in Europe with the legendary Hommage à la Argentina tour, directed by Tatsumi Hijikata, the founder of butoh. As a dancer, Kazuo Ohno possessed the extraordinary ability to create a universal gesture from a personal feeling and to fill the space with his energy. How, today, can we interpret his vision of dance without imitating or conforming to a particular style? This is the starting point for the production, featuring dancers from Africa, Asia and Europe. Without confining themselves to stereotypes linked to their origins, they draw upon their memories and stories in order to coexist on stage. Keiji Haino, composer and performer of the original music for Hidden Body, attended the premiere of Kazuo Ohno’s La Argentina and had the opportunity to work with him. Renowned for his explorations of cathartic sound, he performs live on guitar and vocals.
Japanese fashion designer Kunihiko Morinaga — the creator of Anrealage —has designed the costumes for Hidden Body. Known for his tech-savvy yet artisanal aesthetic, he is a participant in Paris Fashion Week.

The dialogue between all these artists, who draw upon their identities and diversity, offers a sensory experience composed of multiple layers of imagination and emotion. Hidden Body flourishes in the transience of existence.

 

“It is by watching his choreos and reading his writings that I perceive the vast kaleidoscope of human emotions. As a dancer, Kazuo Ohno had the ability to create a universal gesture starting from a personal feeling. He also had a remarkable ability to fill the space with his energy, as can be seen in the videos and testimonies.
This work cannot exist without genuine collaboration with the artists. My work as a choreographer begins with them, before I move on to ‘the choreography for the piece’.
It is essential to practise together in order to be ‘authentic’ and to feel ‘fully’ how Kazuo Ohno danced.
To engage with Kazuo Ohno is to discover or confront things hidden or forgotten within our own bodies, and to rediscover connections with life, the world, our origins and the universe.”
— Anan Atoyama