Session House Annual Report 2018: Challenge Award Goes to Mako Egami’s “Juliet”!

Session House Award 2018: Challenge Award
Awarded to Mako Egami (江上真子) for “Juliet”!

　

In 2018 again, ten groups selected from the Theater 21 Fes series and other programs as “dances we want to see once more” appeared in the Dance Flower Award.
This year’s ten works were all worthy of a Performance Award. Their attitude toward dancing moved us, and we felt that in recent years the level of dancers’ technique, the individuality of works, and other aspects has risen. Contemporary dance presents a variety of values, and I think the criteria for what counts as “good” are not fixed either. Past winners, too, have had diverse attractions: individuality, personal qualities, the power to transform. In contemporary dance, where selecting a winner is difficult, we decided to face the works again, starting by reexamining why we want to choose an award at all.
This year, we awarded the “Challenge Award” to Mako Egami (江上真子) for her “courage in attempting transformation and achieving a metamorphosis.” This is a personal quality that advances dance, an attempt and a task that cannot be accomplished merely by improving technique.
Believing that courage is an important element for a changemaker, and looking forward to further progress, we established the Challenge Award for the first time. Dance has many things it should do: entertain audiences, make an era visible and raise questions, and more.
I feel that the purpose of the Best Award is not selection itself, but communion with dancers who ask us, as on this occasion, why we make a selection. Nothing would make me happier than to keep joining forces so that dance fills society. (Naoko Ito) 　

 

Judges: Ryohei Kondo, Taiju Matsumoto, Naoko Ito

 

—Acceptance Words—

　It is an honor beyond what I deserve to receive the “Challenge Award” this time. I became interested in something called “tragic heroine syndrome,” which I happened to come across, and it sparked the inspiration from which I began creating.
I think the title “Juliet” made many people think of Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet.
First, I wanted to strip the name “Juliet” of the concept of “a beautiful tragic heroine.” I moved at full throttle from the beginning, hoping the audience would feel surprised.
This time, the judges gave me the words “courage in attempting transformation and achieving a metamorphosis.” I was happy, feeling that this connected precisely with the recognition I had been seeking. I will be staying with “Juliet” for a while longer, and want to let it evolve further.
I will continue to apply myself and work hard to be worthy of this award.
Mako Egami (江上真子)

 

Excerpt from Session House Annual Report 2018
Photograph from the performance on September 17, 2018
Session House Award, Dance Flower vol.30: Mako Egami’s (江上真子) “Juliet”