THIN AS SKIN
is a collaborative choreographed musical work
with concept and performance by
Nguyễn Thanh Thủy and Hiromi Miyakita.
This video essay analyzes the working process
which encompasses two intense working periods
with the outcome of two premiered versions,
the first is in Japan (2018) and the second is in Sweden (2019).
During the working period many workshops and interviews
have been conducted by
the Vietnamese đàn tranh player Nguyễn Thanh Thủy
and the Japanese dancer/choreographer/visual artist Hiromi Miyakita.
By approaching habitual movement with the aim of seeking
its essence through an effortless performance,
Thin As Skin proposes ways of performing differently.
With reference to Trịnh Minh-ha (2011) I argue that such performance
“denaturalizes the body by disengaging itself from the quest for a so-called organic choreographic process, which often dwells on a narrow concept of the discursive, hence remaining blind as to how subject and object come into being” (p. 88).
Further, this subconscious search for the essence of movement also at times becomes a revelation of the musicality of dance. These perspectives are addressed in the video essay, which also combines the artistic outcomes of the two first versions of the piece.
References
Trịnh, M-H. (2011). Elsewhere, within here. New York: Routledge.