>Fumiyo Ikeda, Jean-Luc Fafchamps : interview
   
It is better to discover mystery in light than in the shadows.
(Arthur Cravan)

Never ask your way to the one who knows it : you might never get lost.
(Rebbe Nachman of Breslov)
 

This “chamber dance” performance leads us into the heart of Morton Feldman’s art (1926–1987): an 80-minute work for piano and strings, radiating a quiet halo of light, where “every something is an echo of nothing”.

The dancer-cum-choreographer Fumiyo Ikeda shares the same space as her fellow performers, the instrumentalists, as if she were a sixth musician. No stage set, no backstage, no frills: everything is laid bare. The “imprecise repetitions” of Ikeda’s movements are tantamount to a gentle creation of spatial sculpture, a temporal phenomenon, in common with Feldman’s music. The audience is out of its depth with this interweaving of the familiar with the unpredictable, where memory becomes unfocused, goes astray, and in the end agrees to succumb.


Fumiyo Ikeda : When I listen to the Piano and String Quartet of Morton Feldman, I like to close my eyes. And listen to the invisible sounds. I am floating, waving and they bring me in a new space and bring me back like in the womb. This music has no dramatic tension, but anything could be possible to happen like in a wave. 
The audience can close their eyes while they listen to the music, and open their eyes again whenever they want to see the dance, just like when you’re on a quiet beach and wandering.
December 2014, Brussels
   

      

Ikeda : biography

  
Fumiyo Ikeda, born in 1962 in Osaka, Japan.
In 1979, she entered MUDRA, Maurice Béjart’s dance school, where she met the choreogrtapher Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.
In 1983 she joined the newly-founded company Rosas.
Between 1983 and 2008 she contributed to the creation of (and danced in) almost all the Rosas productions: rosas danst rosas, Elena’s Aria, Bartók / Aantekeningen, Mikrokosmos, Ottone,Ottone, Stella, Achterland, Toccata, Just Before, Drumming, I said I, In Real Time, Rain, April me, the Repertory Evening, Bitches Brew / Tacoma Narrows, Kassandra, Raga for the Rainy Season, D’un soir un jour, Zeitung and the revivals of Mozart / Concert Arias and Woud.

Fumiyo also contributed to several of Rosas’ films and videos:
Répétitions, Hoppla!, Monoloog van Fumiyo Ikeda op het einde van Ottone Ottone,
Ottone Ottone I & II, Rosa, Achterland and CounterPhrases.
Alongside her activity within rosas, Fumiyo Ikeda also worked with Steve Paxton, Needcompany, Josse De Pauw and Tom Jansen.
She has participated in several films and theatre plays. In 2007 she created Nine Finger with Benjamin Verdonck and Alain Platel. This performance was selected for the Festival d’Avignon 2007.
She appeared in the production In pieces, a collaboration with the British playwright and director Tim Etchells that premiered in June 2009.
She performed in Life and Times, Episode 2, a performance in collaboration with Nature Theater of Oklahoma (2010).
Since last season, she performs in the reruns of Drumming and Elena’s Aria, and leads the rehearsals of Rosas danst Rosas and Bartók / Mikrokosmos. In 2013 she creates a new performance together with the Japanese dancer Un Yamada.
   

They said...

   
More than anything else her movement seems constantly weighed, as if there is some sub-micro-second (or unquantifiable attention-split) of contemplation involved in even the fastest move. Not all dancers give that impression but with Fumiyo it's very strong. For me it means that what happens counts. What's amazing too is how fast she picks up and drops a particular energy in her movement - so the tone of what she's doing can seem extremely fluid, changeable, unstable - light one moment, harsh or difficult another, with barely a boundary between the two.
Tim Etchells, artistic director of Forced Entertainment, London

With her straight black hair, smooth face and fierce technique, Ikeda flips in an instant from girlish to witchy, subtle to brash.
Lilian Baylis, The Guardian

Une formidable comédienne capable d'exprimer tous les sentiments, du rire aux pleurs, de l'espièglerie à la rouerie.
Guy Duplat, La Libre

To be able to witness the combined talent of this exceptional duo is a real treat; something that will surely stay on your own list of significant memories for a long while.
Oonagh Duckworth, Brussel deze week (about the duo in pieces)
       

SEE ALSO THESE PROJECTS :

"Piano & String Quartet" will be part of larger events :
Jardin Des Secrets, Opéra De Lille, February 3, 2017
Saint John's Eve, Handelsbeurs, Ghent, June 24, 2017

>Fumiyo Ikeda, Jean-Luc Fafchamps : interview
   
Het is eervoller mysterie te ontdekken in het licht dan in het duister.
(Arthur Cravan)
Vraag nooit de weg aan wie de weg kent. Je loopt het risico niet te verdwalen.
(Rabbi Nachman van Bretslav)
   
Deze “kamerdans-voorstelling” leidt ons naar de essentie van Morton Feldman's kunst. Centraal staat zijn 80 minuten durend werk voor piano en strijkers, waar een rustgevend licht van uit straalt en waarbij elke klank “een echo is van het Niets”.

Danseres-choreografe Fumiyo Ikeda deelt de ruimte met haar vrienden-muzikanten, alsof ze de zesde muzikant is van het gezelschap. Geen decor, geen coulissen, geen kunstgrepen: één en al naakte soberheid. De “onjuist herhaalde” bewegingen van Ikeda geven de ruimte vorm, op een zachte manier, net zoals de muziek van Feldman dat doet met de tijd. De toeschouwers raken de weg kwijt in deze combinatie van het vertrouwde en het verrassende. Hun geheugen raakt vertroebeld, slaat op hol en laat hen uiteindelijk in de steek.
   

   
Fumiyo Ikeda : Als ik luister naar het Piano and String Quartet van Morton Feldman, doe ik mijn ogen toe. En luister ik naar de onzichtbare klanken. Ik zweef, het golft om me heen… Ze brengen me naar een nieuwe plek, als naar een baarmoeder.
De muziek heeft geen dramatische spanning, maar toch zou gelijk wat kunnen gebeuren, als in het hart van een golf.
De mensen in het publiek kunnen de ogen sluiten terwijl ze naar de muziek luisteren,  en  ze ook weer opendoen als ze de dans willen zien. Je kijkt en luistert zoals je wandelt op een verlaten strand.
December 2014, Brussel
   

      

Ikeda : biography

  
Fumiyo Ikeda, born in 1962 in Osaka, Japan.
In 1979, she entered Mudra, Maurice Béjart’s dance school, where she met the choreogrtapher Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.
In 1983 she joined the newly-founded company Rosas.
Between 1983 and 2008 she contributed to the creation of (and danced in) almost all the Rosas productions: rosas danst rosas, Elena’s Aria, Bartók / Aantekeningen, Mikrokosmos, Ottone,Ottone, Stella, Achterland, Toccata, Just Before, Drumming, I said I, In Real Time, Rain, April me, the Repertory Evening, Bitches Brew / Tacoma Narrows, Kassandra, Raga for the Rainy Season, D’un soir un jour, Zeitung and the revivals of Mozart / Concert Arias and Woud.

Fumiyo also contributed to several of Rosas’ films and videos:
Répétitions, Hoppla!, Monoloog van Fumiyo Ikeda op het einde van Ottone Ottone,
Ottone Ottone I & II, Rosa, Achterland and CounterPhrases.
Alongside her activity within rosas, Fumiyo Ikeda also worked with Steve Paxton, Needcompany, Josse De Pauw and Tom Jansen.
She has participated in several films and theatre plays. In 2007 she created Nine Finger with Benjamin Verdonck and Alain Platel. This performance was selected for the Festival d’Avignon 2007.
She appeared in the production In pieces, a collaboration with the British playwright and director Tim Etchells that premiered in June 2009.
She performed in Life and Times, Episode 2, a performance in collaboration with Nature Theater of Oklahoma (2010).
Since last season, she performs in the reruns of Drumming and Elena’s Aria, and leads the rehearsals of Rosas danst Rosas and Bartók / Mikrokosmos. In 2013 she creates a new performance together with the Japanese dancer Un Yamada.
   

They said...

   
More than anything else her movement seems constantly weighed, as if there is some sub-micro-second (or unquantifiable attention-split) of contemplation involved in even the fastest move. Not all dancers give that impression but with Fumiyo it's very strong. For me it means that what happens counts. What's amazing too is how fast she picks up and drops a particular energy in her movement - so the tone of what she's doing can seem extremely fluid, changeable, unstable - light one moment, harsh or difficult another, with barely a boundary between the two.
Tim Etchells, artistic director of Forced Entertainment, London

With her straight black hair, smooth face and fierce technique, Ikeda flips in an instant from girlish to witchy, subtle to brash.
Lilian Baylis, The Guardian

Une formidable comédienne capable d'exprimer tous les sentiments, du rire aux pleurs, de l'espièglerie à la rouerie.
Guy Duplat, La Libre

To be able to witness the combined talent of this exceptional duo is a real treat; something that will surely stay on your own list of significant memories for a long while.
Oonagh Duckworth, Brussel deze week (about the duo in pieces)
   

SEE ALSO THESE PROJECTS :

"Piano & String Quartet" will be part of larger events :
Jardin Des Secrets, Opéra De Lille, February 3, 2017
Saint John's Eve, Handelsbeurs, Ghent, June 17, 2017
   

>Fumiyo Ikeda, Jean-Luc Fafchamps : interview
   
Il est plus méritoire de découvrir le mystère dans la lumière que dans l'ombre.
(Arthur Cravan)
Ne demande jamais ton chemin à quelqu'un qui le connaît. Tu risquerais de ne pas te perdre.
(Rabbi Nachman de Breslov)
       
Ce spectacle de "danse de chambre" nous emmène au coeur de l'art de Morton Feldman (1926-1987) : une oeuvre de 80 minutes pour piano et cordes, irradiant une lumière calme, où chaque son “est un écho du Rien”.

La danseuse-chorégraphe Fumiyo Ikeda partage l'espace de ses camarades instrumentistes, comme si elle était un sixième musicien. Pas de décor, pas de coulisses, pas d'artifices : tout est à nu. Les "répétitions inexactes" des mouvements d'Ikeda sculptent doucement l'espace, comme la musique de Feldman le fait du temps. Le spectateur perd pied dans ce tissage du familier et de l'imprévisible où la mémoire se trouble, s'égare, et finalement se laisse vaincre.
    

       
Fumiyo Ikeda : Quand j’écoute Piano and String Quartet de Morton Feldman, j'aime fermer les yeux.  Et je laisse entrer les sons invisibles. Je flotte, tout ondule, les sons m’ouvrent un nouvel espace et me font remonter le temps, jusqu’à l’utérus. Cette musique est dénuée de toute  tension dramatique ; on a pourtant l’impression que tout peut y arriver, comme en voyage à l’intérieur d’une vague. S’ils le veulent, les spectateurs peuvent fermer les yeux et se concentrer sur le flot musical,  puis les ouvrir à tout moment pour regarder la danse — exactement comme le ferait un promeneur sur une plage immobile.
Bruxelles, Décembre 2014
    

      

Ikeda : biography

  
Fumiyo Ikeda, born in 1962 in Osaka, Japan.
In 1979, she entered MUDRA, Maurice Béjart’s dance school, where she met the choreogrtapher Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.
In 1983 she joined the newly-founded company Rosas.
Between 1983 and 2008 she contributed to the creation of (and danced in) almost all the Rosas productions: rosas danst rosas, Elena’s Aria, Bartók / Aantekeningen, Mikrokosmos, Ottone,Ottone, Stella, Achterland, Toccata, Just Before, Drumming, I said I, In Real Time, Rain, April me, the Repertory Evening, Bitches Brew / Tacoma Narrows, Kassandra, Raga for the Rainy Season, D’un soir un jour, Zeitung and the revivals of Mozart / Concert Arias and Woud.

Fumiyo also contributed to several of Rosas’ films and videos:
Répétitions, Hoppla!, Monoloog van Fumiyo Ikeda op het einde van Ottone Ottone,
Ottone Ottone I & II, Rosa, Achterland and CounterPhrases.
Alongside her activity within rosas, Fumiyo Ikeda also worked with Steve Paxton, Needcompany, Josse De Pauw and Tom Jansen.
She has participated in several films and theatre plays. In 2007 she created Nine Finger with Benjamin Verdonck and Alain Platel. This performance was selected for the Festival d’Avignon 2007.
She appeared in the production In pieces, a collaboration with the British playwright and director Tim Etchells that premiered in June 2009.
She performed in Life and Times, Episode 2, a performance in collaboration with Nature Theater of Oklahoma (2010).
Since last season, she performs in the reruns of Drumming and Elena’s Aria, and leads the rehearsals of Rosas danst Rosas and Bartók / Mikrokosmos. In 2013 she creates a new performance together with the Japanese dancer Un Yamada.
   

They said...

   
More than anything else her movement seems constantly weighed, as if there is some sub-micro-second (or unquantifiable attention-split) of contemplation involved in even the fastest move. Not all dancers give that impression but with Fumiyo it's very strong. For me it means that what happens counts. What's amazing too is how fast she picks up and drops a particular energy in her movement - so the tone of what she's doing can seem extremely fluid, changeable, unstable - light one moment, harsh or difficult another, with barely a boundary between the two.
Tim Etchells, artistic director of Forced Entertainment, London

With her straight black hair, smooth face and fierce technique, Ikeda flips in an instant from girlish to witchy, subtle to brash.
Lilian Baylis, The Guardian

Une formidable comédienne capable d'exprimer tous les sentiments, du rire aux pleurs, de l'espièglerie à la rouerie.
Guy Duplat, La Libre

To be able to witness the combined talent of this exceptional duo is a real treat; something that will surely stay on your own list of significant memories for a long while.
Oonagh Duckworth, Brussel deze week (about the duo in pieces)
   

SEE ALSO THESE PROJECTS :

"Piano & String Quartet" will be part of larger events :
Jardin Des Secrets, Opéra De Lille, February 3, 2017
Saint John's Eve, Handelsbeurs, Ghent, June 17, 2017