What we do

Aoyama Experimental Workshop ♯1

  • Organization : Aoyama Experimental Workshop Committee
  • Section : Artistic and creative activity in Tokyo
  • Type of Grant Program : Single
  • Art Forms : Interdisciplinary

Outline

An experiment in modern music, dance, performance, and art, along with general activities of expression stemming from Noh theater. This first session will utilize elements from classical Noh through to the avant-garde to create and develop universal forms of expression.Paying respect to the highly influential postwar Jikken Kobo workshop, we will try to develop new works appropriate to today. Three programs, one based on the Noh play “Sumidagawa,” another combining representative postwar composition with a newly commissioned piece in music and dance, and a third uniting the world of Eric Satie and the Noh stage, bring together seasoned veterans and new faces in a once-in-a-lifetime performance.

Composers: Joji Yuasa, Toru Takemitsu, Noriko Hisada (commissioned work), Hideo Kanze (composition), Eric Satie (composition and setting)
Musicians: Aki Takahashi, piano; Akikazu Nakamura, shakuhachi, Kakujo Nakamura, biwa; Norio Sato, guitar; Mizuki Aita, percussion; Hirotada Kamei, okawa; Kyosuke Tanabe, kotsuzumi; Hiroyuki Matsuda, fue; others
Performers; Kanji Shimizu, Tessen-kai, Yasuhiko Takeuchi, Takashi Otsuki, Naoko Takimoto, Ayano Durniok
Narrator: Norio Akasaka
Directors: Kanji Shimizu, Tomoko Kawaguchi
Original Stories: Motomasa Kanze, Ryunosuke Akutagawa
Translation: Kuniharu Akiyama

Profile

Kanji Shimizu was born 1953. He studied under Noh actor Nobuyuki Yamamoto as a university student. After graduating from Waseda University in Tokyo Japan, he became a member of the Tessen-kai where he studied Noh under the Great Master Hisao Kanze and Tetsunojo Kanze the 8th & 9th. On the other hand, while performing the classical Noh mainly, and he is eager to participate in the newly written Noh plays and other revitalized Noh plays, which includes “An Okinawa diary of remaining moon” and “Holy Mother in Nagasaki” by Dr. Tomio Tada. He also organizes events combining noh with contemporary theater and modern dance, as well as other traditional performing arts from around the world. He is a part‐time instructor in Tokyo University of the Arts.

Contact

Tomo Saito
Producer
Aoyama Experimental Workshop Committee
Marmelo, Inc. 2-15-7-503 Hirai, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan 132-0035
Tel: +81-(0)3-5627-7583
Fax: +81-(0)3-5627-7584
E-mail: saitomo55@gmail.com

Venues

Noh Laboratory Theater, Tessen-kai, Minato City, Tokyo