Interview with Adachi Tomomi

Abstract

Interview with Adachi Tomomi Scott Gleason THIS INTERVIEW took place on April 8, 2007 in Greenwich Village, after twoperformances (at Experimental Intermedia Foundation and thenow defunct Tonic), and before Adachi's concertsat Wesleyan Univer sityand Anthology Film Archives. Scott Gleason (SG): I enjoyed verymuch your concert at Tonic, and I look forward to your concert atAnthology. Adachi Tomomi (AT): Thank you verymuch. SG: At Wesleyan and Anthology, you will perform with Butoh filmsby Takahiko Iimura. I'd like to ask you about Butoh. 76 PerspectivesofNew Music AT: So it'smy firsttrialwith dance film. Sometimes I have worked with film,but not somuch because inmost cases it's not easy. I impro vise something, but filmdoes not improvise. SG: How then does interaction occur? AT: Yes, it's a problem. In this case, Takahiko Iimura is a very interest ing filmmaker, and he is really a pioneer of Japanese experimental film.When I was younger [laughs], I was highly influenced by his films, as concepts, so I thought, "This is a very good chance to work with him." Also, dance isone ofmy main interests. Though it's not easy to talk about the history of Butoh, at the beginning itwas very interesting.We know about the early days of Butoh only through these films.Butoh has changed its ideas and of course technique, and now, it's quite congealed already, so it's not so interesting forme. It is also a good chance to think, "What can I do with the recordings of interesting early Butoh?" SG: What do you think about Butoh-fu, by Yukio Waguri? AT: Yukio Waguri is one of the second generation; he's not bad as a dancer, not bad. But I cannot talk about his Butoh-fu because it's oracular. We cannot findorthodox Butoh through Butoh-fu. I can not imagine an answer for the question, "What is precise Butoh?," through his work. Butoh still exists in personal thought. It is difficult to manifest the essence of Butoh. As you know, a typical image of Butoh for Western people is as something very dark, and sometimes very dirty,with slow movements. I think these kinds of public images are not correct. It had fast changing movements. At least, at the beginning of Butoh theywere highly influenced by, first, German Expressionism, and second, Neo-Dadaism, though there are many objections by some people. These kinds of radical mixtures were very interesting for me. At the beginning of Butoh, they knew John Cage, and it's the same generation as Japanese Fluxus. The Butoh group had a very good and deep relationship with Japanese Fluxus, but this aspect was lost after the 1970s. SG: How does this relate toHijikata Tatsumi's work? AT: Hijikata also changed his ideas after the end of the 1960s. Interview withAdachi Tomomi 77 SG: How do you interactmusically, electronically, physically with the Butoh films? What have your preparations been like? AT: Sorry, it's better to ask me after the performance [laughs]. We [Adachi and Iimura] had just one rehearsal, but we exchanged our ideas many times. We will not create a direct relationship between sound and image: a kind of simultaneous performance. But we share concepts and maybe I will react to themovements of dancers in some situations.We will tryto be a kind of representation of the idea of the beginning of Butoh and Neo-Dadaism. * * * SG: Giacinto Scelsi once said he didn't like theword "improvisation," because it implied too much back and forth (Randall 2007). You do something, I do something in response. AT: But in some cases I really like improvisation. SG: Of course. In relation to your solo performances, with your Infrared Sensor Shirt and Tomoring, you have spoken of the bor ders between pure vocal sounds and words, but I'm wondering also about the relationships between the borders of the body because you're a very physical performer, very intense. But your voice has an intimacy (shinmitsusei) to it. I'm interested in your thoughts about the notion of improvisation between the body and perfor mance. AT: In the case of the performance at Tonic, itwas almost improvisa tion. I emphasized one aspect...