After studying design at Tokyo University of the Arts, Hara moved to Berlin alone and began her career as a contemporary dancer and choreographer.
"In Japan, when you study dance, the main focus is on the dance department of a sports university, but what I wanted to do was to work with dance as a creator rather than as a performer. In Berlin, there were many people who shared the same aspirations and were studying contemporary dance, not just in the niche but as part of the mainstream. Even though they were all dancers, their styles and ways of thinking were all different, and I think it was because I was surrounded by such a wide variety of artists that I was able to live in Berlin for so long and continue studying contemporary dance."
Why did Hara, who said this, return to Japan?
"Going back and forth between the two countries made me realize that I didn't belong to either. In Germany I was treated as an Asian artist, but when I performed in Tokyo I was often described as 'active in Germany' (laughs). I wanted to put an end to this indecisive position, so I decided to move to Japan. However, perhaps because my life in Berlin allowed me to look at myself from a broader perspective, I now feel more like I'm 'establishing a base in Asia' rather than returning to Japan."
Just as I returned to Tokyo, I received word of this performance. The venue was Theater Tram in Sangenjaya, a public theater run by Setagaya Ward.
"For an independent choreographer like me, it's not an easy opportunity to present my work. The timing of the offer made me very happy, and as someone who started dancing late, I felt like I had finally become a figure on the domestic dance scene."
The movements gradually become more intense, but rather than moving their bodies blindly, the practice continues as if they are having a conversation with themselves.
The title of the performance piece is "Play Modulor." Modulor is a standard measurement for architectural design created by the architect Le Corbusier. It is a concept that aims to achieve an ideal harmony between rationality and humanity by designing buildings and furniture by combining the scale of the human body with the golden ratio.
"Since this was decided to be a solo performance, I thought about what I do when I'm alone. This reminded me of the time when, as a child, I liked to play alone and think about the ideal floor plan (laughs). I moved around 10 times in Berlin, and each time I felt like I was always thinking about the layout and interior of a place that would be comfortable for me. From that experience, I used the idea of a 'home' as a starting point for the concept."
"My work has a theme of 'a body that perceives its environment,' and perhaps because I often thought about the environment, such as space, color, and shape, through my design studies, I often use things that surround the body as inspiration for my choreography.
When I first began researching the concept of the "house," I came across a book called "The Philosophy of the House" by the philosopher Emanuele Coccia. It mentioned Le Corbusier's Modulor. It's a concept of designing by combining the dimensions of the human body with the golden ratio (standard), and I felt that in today's world we need to rethink our "body measurements" and our "way of dealing with standards and rationality," so I decided on the title and theme of this performance.
"In my experience, the world is currently driven more by the virtual dimensions of the internet than by real-world dimensions, including the human body. In a society where you can do anything with just your thumb, I thought it was important and interesting to re-measure the actual length of your thumb."
"Having people come to the theater is also connected to the theme of this work, because they have to turn off their cell phones. Before the advent of smartphones, I think theaters were places where people went to see something unreal or virtual. They were spaces where you could forget about reality for a little while.
But things are different now. You can access the unreal world from your bed, and you can use avatars to become whoever you want in a virtual space. Of course, it's convenient, and I don't intend to deny that, but I feel like somewhere along the line we've forgotten how to return to reality. The theater holds the key to getting back. I hope that you can forget about the virtual world for a little while and return to reality."
This autumn, Hala Saori will be conducting research in Taiwan for her previous work, "P wave." We hope you will come and see her quietly continuing her successful career from her own perspective in the "special place" that is the theater. Of course, cell phones must be turned off.
