Yasuyo Omoto: Dancing the Swan — Voice of Yasuyo Omoto
Yasuyo Omoto, who was active as a leading member of the Momoko Tani Ballet Company and has led ballet classes since Session House was founded in 1991, returned to the stage at Session House and in Yokohama last year after a long absence. In "Dance Bridge," she presented a solo dance titled "Song of the Swan."
Yasuyo Omoto
A year passed between Naoko Ito’s suggestion, "Would you like to dance something on the theme of ‘the swan’ for Dance Bridge?" and the performance itself. Ideas for what kind of work to create did not come readily, so I consulted Mia Tomano (苫野美亜), who is active as a young contemporary choreographer. I had had several opportunities to see her works over the past few years, and each time I had been drawn to their worlds.
2022 marked 50 years since I joined the Momoko Tani Ballet Company in 1972 and began performing, so I felt strongly that I wanted to attempt some dance expression that I could achieve as I am now. But I developed spinal canal stenosis about ten years ago, and although I have been recovering, the reality was that even when my heart danced at the thought of physical expression, the techniques I could physically execute were limited. After spending time in discussion with Tomano, toward the end of summer we went to the coast of Kanagawa Prefecture’s Miura Peninsula to shoot video for the work. Standing on that breathtaking shore, I felt I had received energy. Then, by the performance on December 3, various ideas—video, costumes, lighting, music—came together and took shape, creating "Song of the Swan." When I dance in Session House’s basement studio, I feel a distinctive atmosphere unlike anywhere else. With Minori Sakai (坂井美乃里) and the members of Magnum Madam (マグナム・マダム), who also danced on the theme of "the swan," "Three Swans" came together. In the dressing room over the two performance days, each of us had our own tension, but we also enjoyed talking about ballet.
After the performances at Session House, I had another opportunity to dance "Song of the Swan" on December 29, as the year drew to a close, in a DANCE Performance LIVE titled "mid/point," produced by Mia Tomano. The venue was Yokohama Landmark Hall. In contrast with Session House’s intimate basement studio, where you can feel a sense of unity with the audience, it was a space many times larger. The audience did not have fixed seats; instead, they watched in a circulating format, moving to the centre of the venue, alongside the walls and into a space with black curtains. In this performance, two works featuring young contemporary dancers, butoh dancers and musicians preceded "Song of the Swan." The third work began with the dancers from the previous work holding the skirt attached to the black dress I was wearing and spreading it across the floor.
People who saw both performances told me they received slightly different impressions although it was the same work. In the revival I was somewhat conscious of the difference in space, but I danced with the same pleasant sense of tension. Even without my being aware of it, perhaps my heart perceives different sensations and makes new discoveries each time I dance. Having been able to dance this work, I am sincerely grateful to everyone involved from the planning through the creation of the work, to everyone who shared the same space in the audience, and to everyone who watched the stream.
