Monster Project, 2008

“Monster Project is composed of two artistic movements: the first part, Kaibutsu (“monster” in Japanese) is a solo choreographed by Kosei Sakamoto; the second part, Futago, (“twin” in Japanese) brings two dancers together in a duo created by Emmanuelle Huynh, using the same “monster” theme.

The result of a lengthy dialogue between two different choreographic styles, Monster Project is a project in which ways of thought, cultures and choreographic languages meet. Emmanuelle Huynh met the Japanese choreographer Kosei Sakamoto in 2001 when she was doing a residency at the Villa Kujoyama. He was director of the Monochrome Circus company and the founder of the Kyoto Creators Meeting, an international meeting place for artists at this art center in Kyoto. Monster Project came from their meeting and was constructed in 2005- 2006 in exchanges between the CNDC (where Huynh was director for 8 years) and the community of Japanese dancers brought together during the International Dance Workshop Festival held in April in Kyoto.

Sakamoto’s monster evokes reminiscences of Francis Bacon and Agota Kristof. I consider the form of the solo an overexposure which is in itself monstrous.

The idea of “twin-ness” also involves a kind of monstrosity. I created a unison phrase where the difference came from the synchronizing of steps. The terrible twins in Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining also were part of the work. Pierre Henry’s piece La Messe pour le temps présent was perfect, as the rhythm of the “electronic jerks” and the loud rock sound strongly underlaid the cozy interplay of the two young women as they imitated and followed each other, playing and struggling with each other, like diabolical Siamese twins creating a body with eight separate appendages.”

 

photos © Toshihiro Shimizu

Credits

choreography Kosei Sakamoto (Kaibutsu) and Emmanuelle Huynh (Futago)
dancers Aline Landreau and Yuka Saeki alternating with I-Fang Lin

music for Kaibutsu Daito Manabe/ music for Futago, excerpts from Mass for today by Pierre Henry
costumes for Kaibutsu Kyoko Domoto/ costumes for Futago Emmanuelle Huynh
lighting Tomohiko Watarikawa and Takayuki Fujimoto (Dumb Type)

Running time 60 minutes 

Production Compagnie Múa, coproduction CNDC Angers and Monochrome Circus Kyoto

World premiere March 15, 2008 at the Atelier Gekken, Kyoto, Japan