| Questions on his experience performing in Fukuoka, Japan Me: when did u go japan? Fared: i think it was 4 years back. me zai, kudo and another friend did a performance for the opening of asian art museum in fukuoka Me: was that a very grand event? Fared: kudo and zai has their own followers there.. kind of fans and they were willing to travel from as far as hiroshima just to see the performance Me: are the audience close up with the performance Fared: extremely close!! like just about 4 steps away.. Me: how many ppl did u reckon in the audience Fared: hmm... probably abt 100 and wats interseting is that abt 7-70 years old Me: i wonder if the kids run up the front since theres no stage Fared: its an all-round theatre style with a platform at the centre for the performers. the audience were very obedient in a way.. its actually a collaboration between us (the s'pore grp), kudo and a japanese musician (i forgot his name). we rehearse separately n anly meet up about 2 days before the performance. the musician only send us his tape as a guide. he is zai's good fren.the choreography for the s'pore grp is done mainly by zai and its has that vicious and animal instinct character. i have to say that it was very demanding coz we had to throw our bodies around as if it was just a piece of meat. (going on to the technicalities of the dance form) Me: i read in an academic paper that the body has to be totally relaxed and de-tensed in the warm up but its not easy to totally let go because most ppl tend to hold on to consciousness tight. did u feel u r the force throwing urself around or do are u thrown around by forces not exerted by the consciousness Fared: as the character, its more of instinctual to let yourself go. i think there should be honesty. if i dont feel like throwing myself, then i think i shouldnt do it. basically, i shld know why things happen in such a way. i think as a performer, technically i shld know hoe\w and when to throw my body and make sure it doesnt really hurt, but...something like that lah... i can try n show you if you want hehehehe. for me, its not much of an imagery or trying to make an association.. but its how i see my body as energy or a force that is rather anonymous. Me: how do u build up that energy before the performance Fared: physically i have to take good care of the body and i think that is very important for any performer, especially a high demand ones like the one i did. and also...mentally and psychologically i have to understand why the body moves in such a way and how each shape changes my emotion Me: wat kinda shapes do u feel yourself changing into Fared: well... i can play with polarities like, big and small, hard and soft and it can get more complex like very intense but yet its soft.. and that require a different treatment How Butoh Affect Lives Me: so are u hyper conscious of your hand when u drink coffee, flush the toilet, digging your nose etc Fared: i must say that eversince i start doing butoh n hysical theatre, i has changed the way my body react or behave, like...my fingers will just move (isolation/solitude) when reacting to something or even when not reacting at all... its as if it has a life of its own..and my body can sometimes move slower than how it behave normally.. Me:so did u acquire any new perceptions from kudoh Fared:not much actually coz we work quite briely. but yes i do learn from him Me: so wats kudoh like? spiritual? Fared: hmm.... u can say that, but at times his work is very much in-ya-face Me: cant believe he's 37 till u said so. this must be the fountain of youth Sharing my pathetic experience with Fared Fared: so are you only gonna do literature of butoh and physical theatre or do you also wanna physically do it? Me: i am doing a writeup mah, and i dont have anyting other experience. i actually practice wat motofuji taght in my bedroom hahah Fared: hehehehe!!! how does it work for you so far? Me: sweat all over the floor. i tried the getting up part without hands but i cant do it (too fat), ended up straining my back Fared: i think you have to make your body understand what you are trying to do... n i mean conditioning. do simple exersices and stretching so that it will in time know how to react, naturally Me: i feel my body tensing up voluntarily and i cant understand why (end of interview as the rest is mostly crap) |
| Interview with the physical theatre afficando, Fared I had a little chat with him after rehearsals for the Butoh performance and found out he has quite a bit of experience in physical theatre and Butoh is one of the forms he explored. I was wowed by the fact that he had performed in Japan together with Zai and Kudoh (one of the main performers for this Butoh performance) and seized the oppurtunity to interview him to dig out his experience in Japan. The interview is done via MSN messanger and arranged in three parts complete with typo mistakes to recreate cyberinteractivty (and my smart readers will know I am crapping as usual) |
| back to photos (Fared is the 'ape' to your right in the last photo) |
| A write-up on my experience during the Butoh workshop>>>>> |