Below please find a translation from Japanese to English for Selected Interviews only by Yuki Weston.

 

Fukuoka 1

Q1. Ok, so, first, would you like to introduce yourselves?

A1. I play piano and compose. My name is Miki Tsukamoto. Nice to meet you. Bass player: Kiyoshi Mamura - jazz wood bass, double bass player. Dancer:  I’m Satoko Fukuda. I do contemporary dance and choreography and stuff like that. I’m a dancer.

Q2. So how did you get into improvisation?

A2. I started playing piano and composing when I was about 6. In the music class, everyone got given a short melody and we had to develop the composition and improvise. The end performances from the students resulted in several different genres expressed as jazz, classical, and rock. I remember I was surprised how the music gets completed and I was inspired. I started to learn jazz when I was about 17, I learned that jazz improvisation takes place in a certain form, and then I got into jazz heavily.

Bass player: I studied jazz bass, researched, and listened to many musicians. I felt something which was new and surprising, and I realized it was improvisation based. I was taking the notes wondering if there is any system in this improvisation style. From my research I was fascinated how to express something with shape or without shape, and how to express within the bass. I still remember the initial feeling of improvisation and I continue playing this style.

Dancer: I started performing improvisation when I was at junior high school. There is a method called ‘Gaga’ developed by Ohad Naharin from Israel, which offers a framework for users to connect to their bodies and imaginations. When I had this Gaga method in the lesson, it opened a new door to me as I only danced classical ballet until then. I felt like I never moved my body like this. This was my first experience to get into improvisation. I went to summer course at Joffrey ballet in the US when I was 16. There was a contemporary dance teacher called Ron who gave us a task of improvisation - if you open your palm after you rub your hands you feel a warm ball in your hands, then we had to eat this ball, then the ball moves inside of your body, and you feel it and dance. I found it very interesting how to move my body freely and looked for new moves within certain tasks.

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Fukuoka 4

Q1. What are your personal aims and ambitions as an artist?

A1. I want to let a global audience know the real essence of jazz to all ages. This pandemic influenced us in different ways and changed things for all generations. We must open our minds and communicate with each other. “I have this feeling and I express it with my own performance.” I think this kind of exchange or communication is the real essence of jazz. This is not only in the category of music or art. At the moment, we are working hard to share this type of jazz improvisation through play to children. I am passionate about this, and I would like to continue this for the future.

Bass player: Like traveling, go somewhere there is something you don’t know, listen or see something that you have never listened or seen before, or play in front of people you don’t know. I like finding new experiences not only in music, but in my personal life too. Success and fame is not my driving force. It’s the experiences of discovery which will be my eternal inspiration.

Dancer: I’m still looking for my personal aims to be honest, but I want to be sharing my sense or feeling through my own dance, and communicate through all aspects, either together with someone or perhaps people watch my performance or even watching someone else. That’s what I think.

 

Itoshima 1

Introductions

Masumi: I’m going to introduce myself. I’m Masumi Endo, a dancer, a choreographer and sometimes directing stage performance. Sachiko: I’m Sachiko Teshima, seventeen years old, second grade at high school. I dance house, UK jazz and Bebop. Anne: I’m Anne Tatematsu, grade 6 at junior school. I dance UK jazz and I play drums.

Q1. How did you get into Improvisation?

Masumi: when I saw a street dance team at the beginning, I thought it is cool to see the routine and with other members together. However, when I saw one group where an individual was dancing with improvisation, I simply wondered how they are doing it? They dance freely in a solo performance without choreography, and the person passes to the next dancer, and he or she starts their own dance improvisation. I was deeply amazed with this connection/dance circle, and I thought I wanted to dance freely like them. So, I was just playing the music and practicing by myself to dance freely without any plan.

Sachiko: when I started dancing I learned the routine and choreography first. Then later I had opportunities to dance freely in dance battles and circle sessions. I like the atmosphere of sharing the moment with other dancers, and then I got into improvisation.

Anne: I normally adapt the steps along with the music first, whilst listening to the lyrics to express myself.

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Itoshima 3

Q1. What does improvisation mean to you? And how do you feel when you are improvising?

Anne: When I’m improvising, I often think how to pass my performance to the next person or if I combine different types of steps together that would make it easier for the next person to continue improvising. Different from routines, I can think of the next move by myself while dancing which is enjoyable. Additionally, I can exchange my steps with others through improvisation.

Sachiko: I can express myself at every moment through improvisation. Additionally sharing the moment with others to be influenced by which helps to improve my own performance. After improvisation I think I should have done something this way which pushes my feeling to the next opportunity, and I feel that this is helping me to develop as a dancer.

Masumi: Improvisation to me is about feeling the ‘moment’, sharing the energy, and feeling with others, exchange, communication, a place where I can express myself and accept others. It’s a deep conversation through dance without any words. Feeling the moment almost like a meditation. Improvisation is for me to live this world, my life

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Tokyo 3

Q1: Who are your heroes and role models?

Kenji: My heroes for improvisation dance are William Forsythe and Irven Lewis. When I was in London, I had some lessons with Irven which influenced me a lot. After that I was dancing mostly improvisation in Japan, and I felt that it was going beyond music genre. When I was dancing with some contemporary dance companies, I was studying many contemporary dancers and one of them was William Forsythe. The video must be quite old, and he was dancing solo improvising and when I saw his performance I was like ‘This is it’.

Takahiro: When I saw the performance of Japanese dance team called Sound Cream Steppers, the style of dance was completely different from others. That was when I got deeply into improvisation and for me, Sound Cream Steppers are the ones who influenced me a lot.

Yoko: My hero is Takeshi Wakamatsu. He is an actor and also a contemporary dancer who I had a performance with once on the stage for Rock Opera Hamlet. In such a short scene with line, songs and some moves, he was expressing a mixture of many different emotions such as sadness, happiness, anger etc, which I had never seen. He is the key person for me in regard to improvisation and he is my inspiration.

Yuki: My hero is Mr. Horie from the dance group called Sound Cream Steppers. Sound Cream Steppers are not only dancers, but they are artists who rap, sing and play instruments. I personally like to sing, and dance, creating something new so I respect them as an artist.

Motoji: My hero is also Mr. Horie from Sound Cream Steppers, and Yoshie from Bebop Crew. To me it’s important that dance fits with the music and how dancers are reflecting the music they hear. I always loved animation and when I was a teenager there was a popular game which inserts your favorite music into moving images in animation. I feel dance is similar to this and synchronizing with music rather than showing a great move. In my head, dancing improvisation is like VJ, thinking how to move my body to react to this music. This is the biggest influence on my improvisation.

 

Tokyo 5 Part 2

Q1. What does jazz mean to you & Do you know about the history of Jazz?

Yoko: I have danced with so many different types of music such as classical, pop music, house, drum n bass and I feel most comfortable to dance with jazz. I can imagine and express myself easily with jazz and jazz is like my partner. It’s not only the musical technique in jazz, but I can feel each musician’s background or even life in their music. I never get bored with listening to jazz and want to continue dancing with jazz. I want to connect with jazz musicians and dancers globally. About the history, I used to do modern dance and I was looking up to Isadora Duncan who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance. She was dressed in what she liked and was not like a typical ballet dancer, and she was famous for dancing barefoot. I really like the spirit of her freedom. I think jazz dance starts from traditional swing jazz and moves to lindy hop, then bebop, fusion, free jazz where dancers can express themselves more openly. I like 1960-70’s free jazz artists such as Pharoah Sanders, Barry Harris and McCoy Tyner. I saw Jon Lucien’s performance once at the Jazz Café in London.

Yuki: I thought jazz dance was something traditional with fixed routines however, when I came across bebop dance, I felt that it was more respectful to the individual. It’s much more free than I thought. Some musicians told me that they add their personal parts on top of the traditional notes and make their own music. This was completely different from what I thought originally. I think all the jazz musicians start from basic jazz and through their life path, they will add more colours to the music and that becomes something special - this is what I think jazz is.

 

Tokyo 6 Part 3

Q1. What are your aims & ambitions as an artist?

Motoji: as a businessperson, I’m planning events which help the bebop scene to expand more in Japan and I’m always thinking how to pass the baton to the younger generation. I have to say some jazz dancers can be philosophical and strong-minded sometimes, so I’m also considering this part when I work with my planning. Personally, I think the process of improvising dance moves is to help you to become a role model as a person. The more you practice and better you get in turn brings more respect from others. There is an American psychologist called Abraham Maslow who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs (physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem and self- actualisation), and once people achieve those needs, they feel happy which leads to a more harmonious society. So, if there are opportunities in society to dance at any time it should make everyone happy. I don’t mean dance solely creates a happy society but there is a chance if people communicate and accept each other more it may put people on the right path. I think our life can be improvisation - there is a relationship with others, and we connect using these collaborations. This is something I always have in the back of my mind, and I try everything I can do to get other people to know about dance and improvisation.