Voice of Miho Ishizeki
It goes without saying that a dance production, too, depends on staff working in lighting, sound, stage management, video, reception and more. Miho Ishizeki, who has handled lighting at Session House for many years, has sent us a distinctive reflection, perhaps prompted by its relationship to painting.
“What Is This?” — Miho Ishizeki
Since 1997 I have been responsible for lighting various performances, chiefly dance, at Kagurazaka Session House. I would like to share some thoughts about light.
The job of lighting is simply to “decide ① where and ② when to shine the light, and do it.” Just those two things. This time I will discuss ①. Where to shine it... “The place you light” directs the audience's gaze. It is the work of creating a focal point in the picture—a clue to what the scene before our eyes is.
Long ago, when I was studying lighting effects, I was told to observe paintings by Rembrandt, Caravaggio and others, and there was a period when I looked at them consciously. Among them is a painting that made a deep impression on me. I cannot remember either the artist or the title, so it is a rather unreliable story for something I claim is important, but it was a bust-length portrait of a woman.
She was not young, but her skin was fair and finely textured, and she wore a jewelled necklace. What made it unlike an ordinary portrait was that her neckline and necklace were painted more brightly than her face. It was still a portrait, so you could make out her features, but the depiction of light certainly guided your eyes towards her chest and the jewels. At that point, the woman's picture began to acquire a drama of its own in my mind. ...If it were a portrait of a wealthy client, it would not be surprising to make her face look twice or three times more flattering. Was the artist's refusal to do so ironic—emphasising how well cared for her skin was and how expensive her clothing and accessories looked, saying, “My clients are wealthy, you know”? Or was it praise: “This person may not be beautiful, but her skin is so lovely that even wearing jewels does not outshine it”? ...Depending on how I read it, the character of the woman depicted changed too, and the feeling of fantasies expanding from a single painting was enormously exciting.
At that moment I thought that creating light was this process in reverse. Lighting provides a starting point: “Under what circumstances would something look like this? What is this?” I hope it can kindle the different imaginations of different viewers and boost the puzzle-solving work of interpretation.
Since I see light as a booster, I think a performance that works outdoors or under plain lighting is the best—or the strongest—way of showing a performer's power, like, to use an old example, Maya Kitajima's one-woman play in a gymnasium. Ultimately, though, it depends on what you want to do with the work, so whenever it is needed I want to exchange and tussle over fantasies with the sound, lighting and other staff as we turn towards the audience.
There will surely continue to be an abundance of dance and other performances at Session House.
I look forward to being present where all those fantasies from creators, staff and audiences gather thickly and melt into one another.
Miho Ishizeki
Excerpt from Voice of Session House 2024
