Voice of Session House 2020 — Shiori Nakajima

Shiori Nakajima: “In 2020, My Relationship with Kagurazaka Session House Became Closer Than Ever.”

〇 March 22, 2020 — Mademoiselle Cinema performance
“Her Chair (or, the Dance of the Heart’s Emotions Created by Your Unconscious).” After this performance, Kagurazaka Session House closed.
Then, in a flurry, a declaration called a “state of emergency”—something I had never heard of before—was issued. Kagurazaka Session House closed not just as a theater but as a rehearsal space, and its lights went out completely.

 

〇 April — My heart became empty.
I am just a company employee who usually plans all kinds of projects, including video streaming and events. I am just a company employee, but at my core I am a Mademoiselle Cinema dancer. When I was sad, when things were hard, when I was having fun, when I was happy, I always danced. I do not think this is true of me alone. And above all, I love people. I always draw people into dancing with me. The place where I danced was taken away, and I could no longer meet people directly; I became empty. While I was feeling empty, Session House contacted me: “We’ve bought equipment for online streaming. We want to think about what dance can be in this situation.” Perhaps I could put the know-how I had acquired as an ordinary working person to use in dance. Even under these circumstances, we can deliver dance. We must not let Kagurazaka Session House, this theater, or dance come to a halt. That feeling took root in me.

 

〇 When I visited Kagurazaka Session House for the first time in a month, it was pitch-dark and dusty.
I felt a little frightened by this stopped time in a place that had kept moving for 30 years.

 

〇 May 16 — Session Online Theater began.
Solos only, two cameras. Three staff members; restrictions on music because we were using YouTube. After the dance, we would hold an after-talk using chat. And suddenly “Shii-chan” found herself acting as MC. Of course, Naoko knew I had no speaking experience, but she told me, “Because it’s YouTube, I think Shii-chan is just right!” I had no confidence I could do it, but no reason to refuse either, so I accepted. The dancer who kindly went first was Mariko Kakizaki (柿崎麻莉子). I do not think I will ever forget the moment when, together with the dance overflowing from Mariko Kakizaki’s body, time that had stopped in the theater called Kagurazaka Session House began to move again.
The after-talk using chat felt very fresh. In a theater after-talk, people inevitably become conscious of others watching them and hold back from speaking. But making use of the anonymity characteristic of the web makes it easier to post questions and impressions. Also, the dancers performing solos had thought about so many things while making their works during the stay-at-home period. Those feelings came pouring out in the after-talk. We were able to offer an enjoyable time for conversation. And people watched from all sorts of regions and countries: people we had met in countries we had toured before; people who had moved from Tokyo to other parts of Japan or overseas; people who had no choice but to stay in hospital. The ability to reach all kinds of people is a strength of being online. After completing our online theater earlier than anywhere else, as the state of emergency was lifted, staff numbers gradually grew, and equipment was put in place, we became accustomed to the online theater and were able to improve its quality little by little. (This much I want to take pride in! [laughs] The number of streams we put out in such a short time was extraordinary.)

 

〇 July 18, 2020 — Mademoiselle Cinema performance “Stopover”
On this day, we once again invited an audience, limited to 40 people, into Kagurazaka Session House for a performance. The next day, we held an online streamed performance. Creating a work for online streaming alongside preparing a regular performance was something very new. This was surely work that only a resident company could do, and we had the luxury of rehearsing with cameras set up. Precisely because our everyday life has vanished and the world is gloomy now, we must not let entertainment or art stop. Over this year, I felt that in my bones. We do not know what kind of everyday life awaits us. We do not know whether those days when we did not wear masks will return. But in 2020, we acquired many new technologies. We acquired new emotions. We acquired new habits. Holding these things close, I want to move forward into 2021 with new tools in hand.

 

Shiori Nakajima, Mademoiselle Cinema dancer
Excerpt from Voice of Session House 2020