The Martin E. Segal Theater Center presents
Festival of the Body on the Road H!
At the Segal Theatre Film and Performance Festival 2024
A film by
Newcomer “H” Sokerissa!
Dance, Documentary
This film will be available to watch online on the festival website May 16th onwards for 3 weeks.
About The Film
Country
Japan
Language
Japanese (with English / Chinese / French / Spanish / Japanese subtitles)
Running Time
68
minutes
Year of Release
2023
2021-2022 Festival of the Body on the Road H! - Newcomer “H” Sokerissa! Yokohama / Tokyo Road Dance Tour
H stands for 'human', 'hope', 'homeless', and 'hurt'. Newcomer “H” Sokerissa! presented their works at eight venues, mostly public spaces, in Yokohama and Tokyo, hoping that the increasing number of people living in poverty and suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic will regain their abundant physical and mental health, and hope. In addition to the new dance performance “The Day of Nihilism”, the programme included film screenings, talks, workshops and exhibitions.
* Some music has been replaced in the distribution.
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Newcomer “H” Sokerissa!, led by Aoki Yuuki, is a unique dance company featuring actual homeless people. The members are naturally far from graceful as their backs have become stiff from years of sleeping on the streets. Still, those who consider dance to be fast, strong and skillful as in dance classes will have their notions overturned by the overwhelming presence of the dancers. What was once a body abandoned on the streets shrines through an earnest physicality unlike anywhere else.
This video is an edited version of a street performance tour in Tokyo and Yokohama. It is distinguished by uncontrollable elements like the night view of the port and the rain-drenched park. Talks offered along the way by Aoki and the performers will help viewers understand this unique group.
Dancing is not just the providence of the young and beautiful. The mission of contemporary dance is to rediscover the possibilities that are abandoned as dance techniques become more sophisticated. One essence of this is recorded in this video.
(Written by NORIKOSHI Takao)
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＜Performance Credits＞ Directed by AOKI Yuuki Performers：KOISO Matsuyoshi, HIRAKAWA Shuichiro, ITO Haruo, WATANABE Yoshiharu, NISHI Tokuchika, YAMASHITA Koji, HAMAOKA Teppei, AOKI Yuuki Collaborated with TERAO Saho, WATANABE Atsushi（I’m here project）, NISHIHARA Nao, TAGUCHI Randy Scenic Design by NISHIHARA Nao, AOKI Yuuki Sound Design by CODA Noriaki Lighting Design by OVER Cage（RYU） Stage Managers : KAWAGUCHI Makoto（Le Rayon Vert）, MITSU Hisashi Technical Cooperation: MITSU Hisashi, ROSHI (Sunagumi), MORI Noriyuki Photo by OKAMOTO Chihiro, OGIWARA Rakutaro Video Documentation and Editing : LAND FES Producer : KUREMIYA Yurika Organized by AOKIKAKU ＜Film Credits＞ Presented by: The Japan Foundation (JF) In cooperation with EPAD ＜Subtitling Credits＞ Multilingual subtitling： Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Goverment of Japan through the Japan Arts Council Chinese Translation (Simplified): Shu LIN Chinese Translation (Traditional): SWSG English Translation: YAMAGATA Mirei French Translation: Edouard Brena Spanish Translation: David TARANCO
About The Artist(s)
Newcomer H Sokerissa! is a dance group consisting of members with experience living on the streets. Dancer/choreographer Aoki Yuuki began recruiting participants in 2005 and held the group’s first performance in 2007. To date, more than 40 people who have previously lived on the streets have joined a total of nearly 150 performances. The group participated in 2016 in Celebra's "With One Voice", the official cultural program of the Rio Olympics. It won the Konica Minolta Social Design Award 2016 Grand Prix. A documentary film called Dancing Homeless that followed their activities won acclaim nationwide.