Hortense/Dazaifu

Brewing tea like dancing and sharing dancing like tea.
In this poetic ambience where the subtle connection between the body and the surrounding environment is woven together, the musician’s breathing gradually becomes harmony and colors nature.
This different tea party by French choreographer Catherine Contour was held at the Dazaifu Tenmangu Bunshokan on November 26 and 27, 2022.
Please enjoy the video installation created during artist’s residency in Dazaifu in the summer of 2018, and performance of the day, in a beautifully documented video.

Catherine Contour | Choreographer
Born in Paris, lives near Grenoble
A graduate of the Paris École nationale supérieure des arts-décoratifs in scenography, and went on to train in contemporary dance in the boom of the 1980s in Paris and New York.
From dancing, her main anchor, she constantly explores the body, the gesture, and ways to establish relationships by forging subtle links with places and environments. In 2008, she founded Maison Contour, a tailor-made, artisanal trademark of site-specific pieces. Her work has a strong research dimension, in close dialogue with artists and personalities from other fields and cultures, including Japan.
Since 2002, she has been passionate about the artistic and educational possibilities of the hypnotic technique. She designed the hypnotic tool for creation and the Dancer brut choreographic practice, in collaboration with a team of artists and research professors in the Bain laboratory. From dance to gardens, from the art of the siesta to the tea ceremony, from photography to ceramics, from film to hypnosis, she transforms these experiences into objects or “rituals”, proposing a shift towards fantasy and the imaginary. Her pieces in various formats invent new ways of inhabiting in which choreographic forms and ways of coming together can be deployed, intensifying our presence in the world.
https://maisoncontour.org/fr

Yuki Nakagawa | Cellist
Born in 1986, Yuki Nakagawa plays and performs using the cello, electricity, and various recorded sounds. His work explores the themes of measuring the “distance” that exists between the act of performing and the sound that appears through that act, and investigating how the self can exist “there/here” while playing (as well as quick wit regarding this). Through the act of performance, he reflects on the attack on music that contradictory acts (measuring the distance about oneself, by oneself, by moving) emit and the attack (that is, the response) from music.
Alongside his solo career, he also performs as a band, creates music for stage performances by the likes of Karasuma Stroke Rock, and collaborates with other artists.
https://www.yukinakagawa.info/

Misa Ishibashi | Event organizer / Costume designer
Born in 1969. After working as a fashion designer in Japan, she moved to France in 1993. In France, she created costumes in various fields, such as contemporary danse, theater, and movie. She also developped improvisational performances in which clothes are customized and transformed into objects. After returning to Japan in 2010, as a person in charge of cultural planning at French cultural institution “Institut Français du Japon-Kyushu”, she has been involved in the planning of events introducing diverse French culture events, such as performing arts, music, film festival, exhibitions, and debates. Since 2019, working as a freelancer, organizes events international.

Film
Naoyuki Kondo (Freelancer)
Hirotaka Yasuki (Freelancer)
Naoya Momota (Casaage Inc.)

Recording/Editing
Casaage Inc.