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Space, Movement, Bodies, Testimony

Chiharu Kuronuma and Teruki Okamoto-I/O Volume 3

by Lorna Irvine

As life tentatively resumes to normality in our post-pandemic summer, art can remind us of the civilising factors which make us human. Japanese performers Chiharu Kuronuma and Teruki Okamoto's 'hybrid choreography' fuses natural elements with technology, using dance, space and object manipulation in these four beautiful short films, screened online as part of C Venues 'C Arts' strand during the Edinburgh Festival series.

The first two parts, Flow and Trajectories of Transitions, which are both performed by Kuronuma, focus on the curves of 2D calligraphy, emulating the curves of the female body. Speed and precision are key to understanding her movements, rendering the body 'other', in quicksilver movements like the elegant strokes of writing. The first piece is meditative and poetic; the second more blunt and staccato, with Kuronuma's arms pendulum like, almost violently slashing the air with scarlet, bloody trails of digitally rendered ink appearing. She balances on her side, limbs at angles, as the writing both enhances- and emboldens- her sleek gestures.

Co-Ordinated Distance, performed by Okamoto, is a study in complete fluidity. Okamoto's hands are front and centre, and seem to fly as he juggles against complex animation. Sometimes, he seems to be like a silent movie star, a Buster Kearon figure perhaps, as he slows to a catlike stance and stretches. Then, he gradually speeds up. This is where human and technology exist together in symbiosis.

Finally, A Part of Empties  takes on a theme somewhat akin to Artificial Intelligence, as Okamoto is  placed against the stunning, rippling animation, almost frenetically disappearing into it. Shadows, shapes and colours blur, and so too, Okamoto's body becomes not quite human, puppet like. Shapes are suspended like vapour trails. Perhaps this is a warning that we must resist becoming part of the machine, and that we take the time to return to simpler pursuits.

Both Kuronuma and Okamoto are beautiful performers, and these four kaleidoscopic film studies into Laban movement analysis and Principles of Motion, are augmented by the exceptional choreography and multimedia alike.It will be exciting to see how the pieces develop.

Performers: Chiharu Kuronuma and Teruki Okamoto

Music: Ayumi 'Ojo' Matsui

Lighting and sound: Takamasa Yamada

Film: Masahiro Sekiya

Available online throughout August at www.cvenues.com