FURO WORLD PREMIERE MARCH 24 AT THE JEWISH THEATRE By and Tabaimo. Produced by the Jewish Theatre.

SOUND DESIGN Ohad Fishof LIGHTING DESIGN Avi Yona Bueno ”Bambi” TECHNICAL PRODUCTION Tomas Franck and Kenneth Björk COSTUMES Rakefet Levy THEATRE DIRECTOR AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR THE JEWISH THEATRE Pia Forsgren A MEETING

The Jewish Theatre is a laboratory for per- When Naharin saw the Japanese artist formance art. Each and every production Tabaimo’s video work “Japanese Bathhouse” is intentionally jeopardised by the wish to in New York, he sought out the possibility to experiment and make new discoveries, both realise his idea of a unique encounter. artistically and technically. Furo is a comple- In the course of many meetings, discus- tely new experiment. A meeting between sions and technical and artistic attempts , visual arts and music. A collaboration together with the Jewish Theatre and spanning three continents and countries: Tabaimo, he created Furo, based on “Japanese Japan, and Sweden. Bathhouse”. Furo grew out of the Jewish Theatre’s friend- The space is that of the theatre. The move- ship with Ohad Naharin and his Batsheva ment and music are from the realm of dance. Dance Company. For Ohad Naharin experi- The projected scenes are from video art. The mentation has also been a motivational force, fusion of art forms creates the potential for making him one of the most important inno- experiments also for the onlooker. For the first vators of . At the age of 22, he was time, the audience at the Jewish Theatre is discovered by . In 198o, he encouraged to behave as if they were at an art made his debut as a choreographer and formed exhibition, to enter and leave the auditorium his own Ohad Naharin Dance Company. Since as they wish. 199o, he has been the artistic director of the Is it a theatre gallery? Is it a dance installa- Batsheva Dance Company, with dancers who tion? It’s Furo at the Jewish Theatre. practise Naharin’s own technique, Gaga. Welcome in! CONVERSATION WITH OHAD NAHARIN ...ON TIME AND SPACE By Lena Andrén

She came to me in a dream… Ohad Naharin giving the work the form that Naharin was smilingly interrupts himself. In reality, he was striving for, so he has decided to create a space wide awake when he first saw Japanese artist with the same proportions if he is presenting Tabaimo’s work “Japanese Bathhouse – Gents” the work in a larger venue in the future. at a New York gallery a year or so ago. This exquisite animated video work, with an aes- ABOUT THE TITLE. thetic evocative of Japanese woodcuts, inspired Naharin gave his work the title Furo, a in him the wish to create a based Japanese word meaning bath and a reference on Tabaimo’s animations. The opportunity to to both Tabaimo’s video work and the setting, a do this came when he was invited to produce a traditional “Japanese bathhouse”, that the video new work for the Jewish Theatre in Stock- depicts. Obvious, one may think, but since I holm. The surrounding space contributes to was familiar with Naharin’s complex approach to titles, I wanted to know what caused him to with time, in that its most dominating char- place than in chronological time. The move- themselves when to enter or exit the work. choose this title. It turned out that the word acteristic is that it runs out. The only thing to ment does not chase ahead towards an ending The audience also decides how long they want for bathhouse is “ofuro”, but he preferred the do about time, he says, is to split it up; you – temps mort – but rotates around its own to be present, and in this way each individual sound of the shorter word “furo”, which also can’t create time in the way that you can create axis, creating a potential for experiences to be can create their personal experience of the relates to traditional Japanese bathing. I am and shape space. What Naharin attempts to superimposed and deepened and become more work, an experience that is beyond the control also given to understand that if the word for do in Furo, can be interpreted as creating real. This heightened sense of reality can give of the choreographer. This is something new bathhouse had been different, say, “kubi ni time. By interrupting the flow of time in rise to a feeling of total presence and openness for Naharin, who has departed for the first naru”, he would probably have chosen a title Tabaimo’s animations and expanding an to the inner and outer world. This feeling time from the chronological format of the that had no to baths at all. existing time unit many times over he creates goes by many names, and Naharin calls it traditional performance concept and its defined a new temporal space. the “groove”, an essential component to his space, and consequently he is excited about TIME. feeling of being alive. finding out how the audience will deal with In Furo the choreography and the animation STRUCTURE. this work. are two autonomous units that together One could even see the shape of the work – a SPACE. form a unity, without losing their individual loop – as an attempt to break free from the Since chronological time is dethroned in Furo, THE STORY. integrity. The interplay of choreography and tyranny of chronology. Ever since the renais- space is the element that delineates the It is through an exploration of the space, in animation takes place on an abstract level, sance, western time has been formulated audience’s experience. Naharin has long had a the narrative of the site itself which is not for- and by manipulating time in the video chronologically, as a linear, forward progress. fascination for spatial design, since he is a mulated in words but in spatial qualities such Naharin expands time in the work. In these Contrary to this idea, the loop is based on a dancer and spatiality is central to dance. A as structure, inherent atmospheric charges, expanded time segments, which Naharin calls circular concept of time, on repetition, on dancer is constantly dealing with the concept the distance between points, and textures, “moments”, the narrative of the dance deve- returning to a certain point in time and space. of his or her own space, the space between one that the audience encounters Naharin. The lops in form and symmetry. The result of this body and the next, and between the body and abstract narrative contains fragments from process can be described as resembling a still- REPETITION. the universe. But until he created Furo, this Naharin’s own biography, and it expresses the life, an arrangement of objects that we know To walk into a loop is thus a way of liberating was something that went on at an intuitive humanly sensuous, the sensual, along with the belong to the real world although they are oneself from chronological time, but that does level. In creating this work, Naharin has pushed ridiculous. The associative form, liberated now immobile. not mean than circular time is synonymous himself to formulate this intuition in thoughts from the time-flow, evokes a state of mind When I read through what I’ve written so with immobility. Naharin describes how and words – and to implement it. redolent of dreaming, where the experience far, I see I have formulated a thought that was repetition resembles walking; the motion of The liberation of the dance installation is shaped by the space rather than by time. present in our conversation but remained placing one foot in front of the other is repeat- from the chronologically rigid time scale of The Jewish Theatre is an important factor, unverbalised. A thought that arose from ed, but the result is a movement in space. In the conventional dance performance leaves the since the venue itself constitutes the frame- Naharin’s repeatedly expressed frustration circular time another form of activity takes audience free to reshape Furo by deciding for work for the audience’s experience. It is fairly small compared to the spaces that Naharin is they can and should be challenged. No matter used to working with. Nevertheless, he expe- how I phrase my questions, Naharin refuses riences the Theatre to be an infinite space, to attribute characteristics and opinions to since the limitations he experiences here are people according to their geographic origins. merely the limitations he sets for himself. He experiences his audience as more similar Like time, space ultimately exists only in our than different, regardless of where in the mind. It is in our mind that the limits are set world they are when they see his work. – and dissolved – and it is only when our Consequently, it would be unthinkable for mind experiences freedom from limitations him to try to adapt his creative work to a that we can make our dreams come true. specific geographic place. This reminds me of Since time and space exist primarily in our an old saying: Home is not where you hang mind and can thus be regarded as constructs, your hat but where you are in your dreams. CONVERSATION WITH TABAIMO By Yukiko Duke

Over the past fifteen years, manga and anime “‘Japanese Kitchen’ was my first piece in a – Japanese comics and animations – have series that explores everyday Japanese life. grown popular in the west. This has led to an Like many other young Japanese, I feel there’s international breakthrough for a new genera- so much going on in Japan today that I don’t tion of Japanese artists. An artist generation understand. There are unsettling tendencies in which, coloured by growing up in the Mecca society that need to be examined more of manga culture, is refreshingly playful in closely,” says Tabaimo. borrowing elements from traditional Japanese art and the manga and anime imagery. EVERYDAY SETTINGS. One of the foremost representatives of this “I chose a few settings I think most Japanese generation is Ayako Tabata, 31, better known would consider ‘commonplace’, such as the as Tabaimo. At 24, she became famous in kitchen, the commuter train, the road cros- Japan for her animation “Japanese Kitchen”, sing. And then I filled these places with her graduate project at university. This won stereotype characters: bespectacled gentlemen her the Kirin Contemporary Award, a presti- in pinstripes carrying briefcases, sturdy house- gious prize for interesting new artists. Since wives with aprons and their hair in a bun, then, her works have been acclaimed in Japan school girls in uniform. Then I added ele- and internationally. Today, she alternates ments of threat and pain.” between working as an artist and teaching at Tabaimo’s exquisite, skilfully drawn ani- Kyoto University of Art and Design, where mations have an imagery and colour scheme she is a professor. that evoke the old woodcarving masters. Her works start with an ordinary, everyday situa- “I often get asked about my relationship to tion but soon change character and become traditional Japanese art. But the fact is that I dreamlike, absurd, forming complex, pessimis- haven’t studied it especially. I was always sur- tic visions of contemporary Japanese society. rounded by books on art at home when I grew “From childhood my generation has had a up. I discovered Hokusai and the old master close relationship to comics. For many of us in wood engravers there and liked them a lot. this generation, absurdly, manga and anime When I started developing a style to convey often feel more real than the tv news broad- my own intentions, I was reminded of the casts. We are living in an era of information woodcuts,” Tabaimo continues. overload, which makes it difficult for many of “My generation’s approach to traditional us to sort the information. It is easier to turn Japanese culture is not that different to how away and immerse oneself in a more coherent foreigners approach it. Sadly, we don’t have world,” Tabaimo explains. the same immediate link to our tradition that previous generations had. The Second World THE MANGA WORLD. War runs like a thick dividing line between “My works are based on events in the news. I generations in Japan with regard to a lot of want my animations to shock the viewers, to things, including art. The postwar genera- get them to understand that the action in the tions are simultaneously drawn to tradition film has actually taken place in reality. The and feel alien to it.” thing my films deal with in various ways is Tabaimo explains that “Japanese Bathhouse”, the powerlessness of modern man. Even if we while being part of her series of explorations are all protagonists in our own reality, we have of Japanese society, is nevertheless an indepen- no way whatsoever of influencing the events dent work. that govern our lives. That frightens me.” “Unlike the other settings I’ve chosen, I Tabaimo’s classic style and colour scheme have no personal bond to the bathhouses. Very have prompted Japanese and foreign critics to few people in my generation do. But since the compare her to the great master wood engraver, bathhouse has played such a central part as a Katsushika Hokusai (176o –1849), mostly social space in Japan over the ages – and is known in the west for his “36 views of Mount now on the verge of disappearing – it was Fuji” and “The Great Wave”. tempting to use it as a setting,” she says. At one time, the bathhouse was the heart this. I was pleased that Ohad appreciated my tabaimo, biography group exhibitions of the small community, a place for discus- work, but worried about handing my work 1975 Born in Hyogo 2oo1 International Triennale of Contemporary sions and encounters. In the mid-196os, there over to someone else. At first, I was actually 1999 Received Grand Prize, Kirin Art Yokohama 2oo1: mega wave – were still 23,ooo bathhouses in Japan, but going to say no,” Tabaimo reveals. “When I toward a new synthesis, Yokohama in the early 2ooos only 9,5oo remained. deliver a work, I consider it to be completed. Contemporary Award 1999 th No wonder Tabaimo was intrigued by the If someone else uses it for something other 2oo1 Received Sakuya-konohana Prize 2oo2 The 25 São Paulo Biennale: metropolitan thought of using the bathhouse as an image of than my original intention, the work changes, (Art Department) iconographies, São Paulo traditional society. In “Japanese Bathhouse” and I didn’t want that to happen. I had pre- 2oo2 Received The Goto Memorial Prize forwart: a choice, Musées royaux des Beaux- the artist primarily looks at the dissolution of viously had bad experiences of that.” (Art department) Arts de Belgique and other places, Brussels identity and norms in contemporary Japan. So, what persuaded her to change her mind? Lives in Tokyo 2oo3 how latitudes become forms: art in a “My animations are created mainly for a “Somehow, all artists, who sit there alone in global age, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Japanese audience, but I’m happy and grateful their rooms creating, dream of doing things solo exhibitions odoro odoro, Tokyo Opera City, Tokyo that they also seem to have an appeal abroad. together with others. And dance is an artistic 2ooo Kirin Contemporary Award 1999: nipponn no nanakamura, But since the bathhouse is such a typically form of expression that I am very fond of.” Grand Prize Commemoration Kirin Plaza Osaka, Osaka Japanese phenomenon, I imagined that ‘Japa- Tabaimo decided to visit Ohad Naharin Exhibition, Kirin Plaza Osaka, Osaka nese Bathhouse’ would be a bit tricky for a in . After discussing the project in 2oo4 mediarena, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, 2oo3 tabaimo yumechigae, non-Japanese audience to understand,” says depth, and taking the opportunity to see some New Zealand Hara Museum arc, Gunma Tabaimo. of Naharin’s work, she decided to say yes to 2oo5 fairy tales forever, the project. 2oo5 tabaimo, James Cohan Gallery, ARoSAarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark AN E-MAIL. “I realised that this was something I could New York rising sun, melting moon, That was not the case, however. One day, she not achieve on my own, a way of developing yubibira, Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo The Israel Museum, Israel received an e-mail from Tel Aviv. It was sent my work. I also felt I could confidently hand 2oo6 ars o6, Kiasma, Finland by the dance artist Ohad Naharin, who was my work over to Ohad, knowing that he (2oo6 planning to have solo exhibition at proposing a collaborative project. Naharin would deal with it respectfully. I hope the Hara Museum in Tokyo and Fondation future exhibitions had visited a gallery in New York and had audience will have as much fun as we had in Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris) 2oo6 Hara Museum, Tokyo – Solo Exhibition, been enthralled by “Japanese Bathhouse”. He the process,” Tabaimo says and smiles. opening June wanted to create a choreography in which the dancers would perform in Tabaimo’s installa- Biennale in Sydney – Group Exhibition tion. opening June “Initially, I had very mixed feelings about Cartier, Paris, opening October

JAPANESE BATHHOUSE Finns på altarskåpetBy Lars Vargö

The Japanese tradition of having a hot bath that all communities throughout the country before bedtime has been around as long as and roads leading to Edo must build inns, people have inhabited the Japanese islands, ryokan, where travellers could take rest and that is, for thousands of years. The prevalence refresh themselves. Since the entourages were of hot springs in Japan has led to the develop- huge – a self-respecting lord could hardly be ment of a unique bathing culture. expected to travel alone – and the road to Edo Up until the mid-198os, public baths were was long, numerous inns were soon built. a common feature in Japanese cities and com- From the very start, the bath was an essential munities. People rarely had convenient bath- element of these inns. rooms at home, and it was easier to go to the public baths, sentô. The hot bath itself is called LISTEN. ofuro, where the ‘o’ is a polite prefix, “the A ryokan without an eye-catching water honourable hot bath”. You step down into an feature was and is unthinkable. Water is more ofuro, both at home or at the public baths, also important than one might think at first glance. called furoya, “hot-bath-shop”. An inn is designed so as to achieve a harmo- The more organised form of bathing origi- nious balance of all the impressions where no nated in the Japanese Middle Ages. In the mid- single feature is too dominant, but even if the 17th century, when the Japanese rulers, the sho- bath is tucked away in a corner of the inn, it is guns, started demanding that their lords spend perhaps the most essential part. two months of the year in the capital, Edo The bath and the water are somehow the (now Tokyo), a law was also introduced stating whole point of the stay. Before eating you wash. In the garden the water is perhaps not nudity was no big matter, and there used to be apparent to the eye, but you can nearly always roten-buro, hot outdoor baths where men and hear it trickling. Some ryokan offer their women bathed in the same pool, all over the guests a tea ceremony. This requires pure country. In modern Japan, however, nudity is water. Thus, we are constantly reminded of more charged than it used to be. water at the inn, and the most important thing is usually the access to the hot springs FRAGRANCE. that determine where the inns are built. Since an inn has nature on its doorstep, smell In modern society, the little walk to the is inevitably of great consequence. The salt sea public bath has come to be a pleasurable air, a pine forest, the moss in the garden after a pastime in itself. People step confidently, tub rainfall, wild flowers, or simply the intense in hand and small towel on head, to their furo. August heat, stimulate the olfactory sense. In the past, the special Japanese wooden The hot springs nearly always smell slightly shoes, geta, were more common, and many of sulphur. In general, the same is true of the people associated the clopping sound they public baths, which may not be able to provide made with bathing. Nowadays, you don’t hear as many fragrances, but instead illustrate this as often, and the public baths are also nature with paintings on the tiled walls. becoming more rare as bathrooms grow more Foreigners have always found the rules of common and standards improve. bathing a little difficult. You have to start by The public baths are always divided into washing yourself before stepping into the sections for men and women. In between, an bath, and you are not really supposed to wear a attendant sits with a full view of both sec- swimming costume. Foreigners who visit a tions, but with a knack for seeing without bath will therefore usually be regarded with seeing. Peeking into the other section has, of some degree of suspicion before they prove course, been known to happen over the years that they can master the rules of bathing. and is the subject of many jokes in Japan. The public baths are disappearing, but Usually, the culprits would be young men bathing in various kinds of ofuro will never who climbed up and poked their noses over cease in Japan. The Japanese culture is a cultu- the dividing wall, but even women have joked re of purity, and to break against this tradition about the same thing. But in older times, of cleanliness is very serious. FURO THE JEWISH THEATRE 24 MARCH–18 MAY 2006

byOhad Naharin and Tabaimo the jewish theatre www.judiskateatern.se dancers: See separate flyer theatre director and artistic director: Pia Forsgren project coordinator, press and marketing manager: Leif G. Östman technical concept, coordination, production director’s assistant: Katja Finkel and video design: Tomas Franck and Kenneth Björk accounts: Anna-Karin Mårtensson costumes: Rakefet Levy web editor: Catharina Nilsson lighting design:Avi Yona Bueno “Bambi” sound design:Ohad Fishof batsheva dance company sound technician: Oskar Johansson www.batsheva.co.il lighting technician: Pontus “Bullen” Lagerbielke artistic director:Ohad Naharin stage technician: Pär Lundholm executive director, co-artistic director: Naomi Bloch Fortis dresser: Stina Näslund production manager: Irit Sturm artistic coordinator: Eldad Mannheim programme photographs: Mathias Johansson advertising coordinator: Kobi Nathan idea, concept and graphic design: Voice the Brand Liberation Company technical manager: Roni Cohen printing:Wassbergs Tryckeri company manager: Yaniv Nagar repro: Dog special thanks to: stage sets and technology: Philipson & Franck Imoimo, Anja Palmgren, Proventus and Voice the Brand Liberation Company projection: Vello Hermann, Video Unlimited AB sound technology: T-Record lighting technology: Starlight Stockholm stage textiles: Royal Event in-house construction, carpentry, paintwork:Westerlund Bygg the jewish theatre Djurgårdsbrunnsvägen 59, s-115 25 Stockholm ticket office and bar: Marie-Louise Larsson, Ariella Pass, Eva Fattal, Telephone: +46 (o)866oo271. Fax: +46 (o)8 663 o249 Filippa Sjögren, Louise Gräslund, Samuel Titelman, Natalie Luxemburg [email protected], www.judiskateatern.se selected previous 5 concert weekends productions Scenes from the opera by Brian Ferneyhough shadowtime and Charles Bernstein, 2oo6 Scenes from the opera by Brian Ferneyhough lol and Charles Bernstein, 2oo6 A dance performance by Ohad Naharin, 2ooo we’re not falling!/ stockholm jewish vi faller inte! film festival by Kerstin Perski, In collaboration with Zita Cinema, 2ooo directed by Michaela Granit, 2oo4 ashes to ashes/aska spoonface steinberg by Harold Pinter, directed by Pia Forsgren, 1999 by Lee Hall, directed by Pia Forsgren, 2oo3 still waters/stilla vatten beat nights/beatkvällar Written and directed by Lars Norén, 2oo2 Allen Ginsberg and his generation in film, photography, music and poetry, 1998 crystal road/kristallvägen by Katarina Frostenson, yom kippur/ directed by Pia Forsgren, 2oo2 försoningsdagen by Marianne Goldman, but what about the future?/ directed by Pia Forsgren, 1998 men i framtiden då? by Jonathan Metzger, zahava ben directed by Maria Blom, 2oo1 and her orchestra present songs by Oum Kalsoum, 1997 jewish woman/ Film festival and solo exhibition of works an evening on djurgården by Channa Bankier, 2oo1 Dance, music and poetry, 1995