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The voice of Yujuku Onsen /KOTOBA Sketch

2019

Installation, video 9min24, performance 15min

Selected Works, The 14th Gunma Biennale for young artists 2019

6 performances | duration 15 min

Consept, Choreography, Performance | Masumi INOUE Cooperation| local residents of Yujuku Onsen in Gunma prefecture

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I found the Yujuku Onsen dialect hear like “sounds”.  So I created the choreography from the sounds of “Yujuku” dialect . In 2019, the dance was developed into dance notation drawings, video and performance, and I exhibited at the Gunma Prefectural Art Museum. This work has been in progress since 2015, and performed two past performances. For the first time in 2015, I visited Yujuku Onsen. I started by visiting the home of the elderly people who live there. When I went theirhome, they said "Agarassai!!"(It means “Please come in!” ) . And their conversation was a mixture of dialects, and I felt as if there were holes in my head. My mind had a mix of understanding and misunderstanding. This experience gave me the feeling that I was on a different land. And I discovered that the dialect lost its meaning as a word and sounds like a sounds. At the same time, I felt familiarity with the sound of the dialect, and I felt less anxious about going to the home of others alone. The distance to others was felt very close. The dialect has the charm that makes us feel the nature and the peace. Words are spoken, heard, seen, and gestured through the body. Those physical expressions are dances to me. I express the attraction of words as "sound" by dance through such experiences.

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