Hara Museum ARC

Bestiaire (Bestiary):
A Performance in Five Movements for Film, Cameras, Dancers and Saxophone

The innovative collaborative performance Bestiaire took place at the museum on the evening of June 9. As the day of the performance approached, it became clear that there was no avoiding rain. So all the collaborators agreed that the only logical thing to do was to continue with the performance, outdoors, in the rain. And rain it did, throughout the performance.

The audience experienced not only a true communion between the performers and the rain, but also many magical moments that engaged all of their senses. A big thank you to those who braved the elements to witness this special event!

Dancers: Maroussia Vossen, crewimburnny, Contact Gonzo
Saxophone: Yasuaki Shimizu
Film: Chris Marker.

Created by: Maroussia Vossen and Etienne Sandrin, in the collaboration with Antoine Miserey, based on Bestiary by Chris Marker
Choreography: Maroussia Vossen.
Direction and Installation: Etienne Sandrin, in collaboration with Antoine Miserey

Organized by: Hara Museum of Contemporary Art and Hors Pistes Tokyo 2012
Supported by: Pola Art Foundation, The Asahi Shimbun Foundation
Special thanks to: Yutaka Endo（LUFTZUG）

Maroussia Vossen　
Born in Paris, Maroussia began dancing at the age of 5. She underwent 9 years of classical ballet training under the direction of Lucien Legrand (Opera de Paris) and took part in the Dance and Culture Association, directed by its founder and president Jean Dorcy. She is also a student of Ginette Bastien. When she turned 15, she began studying contemporary dance under Linda Diamond (a student of Martha Graham and Jose Limon) and Trudy Kressel. A passion for travel and an interest in a diversity of cultures and arts led her to study other dance techniques (jazz, character, tap-dance, Brazilian dance, duo with a whirling dervish). Her creations are inspired by her life experiences. She collaborates with artists from various disciplines–especially musicians, painters, sculptors, poets and photographers–in various spaces, included traditional scenes.

crewimburnny
crewimburnny approaches the movements of women from two different points of view: the delusional fantasies of boys and the lovely and aesthetic viewpoint of girls. They depict the dreams, reality and emptiness which lie between those two irreconcilable perspectives. In their performances, they combine, in part, feminine movements with ironic venom to captivate the audience and immerse them in their crewimburnny world. The dancers are also at times raw and relaxed, creating a unique lazy aura on the stage.

Contact Gonzo　
Contact Gonzo engages in a unique type of performance that involves constant physical contact that at times looks like street fighting, at times dance. Equally unique are the places they perform in, such as parks, city streets, woods, nuclear shelters and underground malls. Their form of improvisational performance grew out of the experiments of dancers Masaru Kakio (presently involved in other activities) and Yuya Tsukahara using the contact improvisation style and Systema style (often referred to as “Russian aikido”).

Yasuaki Shimizu
Composer and saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu is a vitally inquisitive artist whose musical explorations range from classical to free improvisation. Prolific in recording and live performance since his virtuosic saxophone first attracted attention in the 1970s, he collaborates on video, multimedia and dance projects, as well as scoring television drama, commercials and films. His groundbreaking interpretations of J.S. Bach include the first-ever tenor saxophone renditions of the entire “Cello Suites” (1996, 1999) and most recently the “Goldberg Variations”, which he arranged for saxophone and contrabass in 2010. Shimizu also records and performs with his saxophone quintet, Yasuaki Shimizu & Saxophonettes, with whom he released the album “Pentatonica” (2007), a collection of original compositions based on the five-note scale.

Chris Marker
Born in 1921, Chris Marker is a filmmaker, photographer, writer, and artist. Marker met Alain Resnais in 1952 and collaborated with him in Statues Also Die. He has traveled all over the world and shot many documentaries. In 1962, he directed The Pier, which he made using still photos. Today, he has become a cult figure. His works include a wide range of art forms, such as films, multi-media installations, novels and essays. Hors Pistes Tokyo will screen his works on June 3, 9 and 10 at L’Institut, Tokyo.

Date

June 9, 2012, 7:00 pm (Door open at 6:30 pm)

Venue

Hara Museum Courtyard Garden

Fee

General 3,500 yen, Hara Museum Members 3,000 yen (includes museum entrance)