Abstract
This thesis aims to reveal the characteristics of the representative dance series“Light” by Kei Takei (1939), which has been well received by Japanese critics. The results of this study are as follows.
1.After an analysis of 24 performance reviews, the characteristics of“Light”as considered by Japanese critics are summarized as such:
(1) Ordinary movements are used.
(2) The series employs Japanese primal scenes in our memories, such as children's plays and songs, festivals and farming.
(3) The performance evokes various images to the audience without limiting their understanding.
(4) The series describes human life with hardships such as heavy burdens, labor, despair and death and their relationship with nature.
(5) The dancers'bodies are specific and look pathetic.
(6) The creation is based upon Takei's Japanese sense of body.
2.After comparing the characteristics of “Light”considered by Japanese and American critics (Hosokawa 2003), the following results are revealed.
(1) The two characteristics of using ordinary movements and evoking various images to the audience without limiting their understanding are also regarded as characteristics of“Light” in America.
(2) Elements such as children's plays and songs, festivals and farming, which are considered as Japanese primal scenes by Japanese critics, are regarded as “primitive”by American critics.
(3) Both Japanese and American critics consider the theme of the series is a life filled with hardship, but Japanese critics tend to accept such a life in the relationship with nature.On the other hand, American critics understand this is an expression of strong human nature by finding humans' will to fight and confront the hardship of life in“Light.”
(4) The view point of focusing attention on dancers'bodies is specific to Japanesecritics (specifically, Miyabi Ichikawa).Both Japanese and American critics focus attention on the violent movements and ultimate status of the mind and body at the time.Although Japanese critic (Ichikawa) credited this as exposure to a new phase of the body and American critics evaluated the appearance of a new phase of mind such as primitive emotions.
3.Japanese critics recognized the characteristics of post-modern dance such as ordinary movements in “Light”, as well as Japanese characteristics such as the Japanese primal scene, to a greater extent than American critics.In addition, it is revealed that Ichikawa recognized the characteristic of the pathetic look of the bodies, which is common in Japanese Butoh.
