Movements of interweaving

An East Asian Paradigm of Interculturalism

“…Tamasaburo encountered Kunqu Opera and The Peony Pavilion when he was studying Mei Lanfang because The Peony Pavilion was one of the classical plays that influenced Mei the most while he was learning Kunqu Opera. Therefore, the experience of performing Yokihi foreshadowed Tamasaburo’s so-called ‘first’ encounter with Kunqu in The Peony Pavilio n. As Gabriele Brandstetter put it, ‘ [A]t the same time the allusion to these “first encounter scenes” makes clear – with the resources of the theatre – that in our age there is always a pre-history to every “first time”, which means that referencing or quoting it under the conditions of contemporary culture is to transform it.’ 15 We may therefore conclude that Tamasaburo’s performance in the Sino-Japanese The Peony Pavilion was anticipated by his own experimentation in different cross-cultural performances as well as by the exchanges between Kabuki or Japanese theatre and Chinese opera.…”

Migratory Choreography and Spaces of Resistance

“…While the combination of narration and movements succeeds in rendering the asylum seekers visible as individuals with a past, a present, and a future, their performance alongside the ballet dancers also becomes an (unintentional?) example of the observation made by Brandstetter et al that “migrating bodies are often bodies in crisis or in unstable conditions, in unfamiliar (infra-)structures and constellations” (2019, 5; parenthesis in original). While the words of the asylum seekers grant the audience generous glimpses of the events and hopes that had them flee their homes, what is corporeally revealed is that they are displaced and their dreams put on hold, a bit like their breathing, while they wait to find out if they are in or out .…”