Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur

Having difficulty in finding the title you are interested?

Click here for "Japanese Literature in Translation Search"

Theatre Performance by “TAIHEN”

“Movements normally regarded as ungainly and awkward are turned to expression and beauty that no one ever seen is presented”.

Ms. Manri Kim, the artistic director established Performance Troupe TAIHEN in 1983 as the first company directed and performed only by the disabled.

With a lot of challenges for 20 years, Taihen has succeeded in creating the innovative performing art. The physical theater performance of Taihen is not dance nor Butoh, but taihen.

Ms. KIM will come to Kuala Lumpur to perform solo; her creative work entitled “My Mother”.

“My Mother” is a symbolic dance piece with the motif of longing for her deceased mother and succession of the mother’s soul. In this piece, Ms. KIM tries to absorb some spirit of Korean classic art into her own original physical expression. Late KIM Honju died in 1998 at the age of 86, was the most valuable asset in Korean classic music and dance, but a tide of fate brought her to Japan which was the very nation invades and colonizes her motherland.

This event is jointly organised by The Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur and The Actors Studio.

Workshop
Date            : 16 (Mon) – 18 (Wed) January 2006
Workshop A : 2pm – 5pm (including 1 hour lunch break)
Workshop B : 7pm – 10pm
Venue          : Pentas 2, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac)
                     Sentul Park, Jalan Strachan, off Jalan Ipoh, KL
Admission    : Free (first-come-first-serve basis)
                     please call Nala at 03-4047 9060 / nala@klpac.com

Performance
Date & Time: 20 (Fri) January 2006 @ 8:30pm
                    21 (Sat) & 22 (Sun) January 2006 @ 3pm
Venue         : Pentas 2, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac)
                    Sentul Park, Jalan Strachan, off Jalan Ipoh, KL
Admission   : RM30, RM15 (the disabled, students & JFKL members)
Ticket         : available at KLPac box office 03-4047 9000 / tickets@klpac.com
                    TAS @ BSC 03-2094 9400 / tickets@theactorsstudio.com.my

For further enquiries, please kindly contact Mr. Shimada at 03-2161 2104, or e-mail to jpcc@jfkl.org.my

My Mother (photo by Kohji Fukunaga)

TAIHEN
TAIHEN, the first performance art group in the world by physically handicapped people, has been actively performed professionally since 1983 in Japan. Ms. Manri Kim, artistic director, has found that the disabled body has an expression that no one else can create. Their twisted and distorted bodies, which normally considered as ungainly, will be transformed into peculiar beauty.

TAIHEN is a troupe of physical performers deeply expressing their inner self. The performers mobile time is far from standard ability, but they crawl, wriggle, squirm, walk, run and jump unaided. However, they will be assisted by the backstage crews, called Kuroko, to appear onto or leave from the stage. Though their individual expressive line may not look straight nor look stable in any case, their inevitable movement is directly connected to one’s most inner life. In their creation, the audience can unite with the performers to sense and to experience the unity of microcosm (physical body) with the universe.

TAIHEN also enthusiastically grappled with the activity to connect art and welfare, which had few good experiences to meet each other. When the disabled people, who have limit chances, meet art by their own will, their potential expression would bloom only through the experience to contact with core of art. According to Ms. Kim’s idea, the project “Kochu-Ichimannen-Sai”, which made a piece with many amateur performers with disabilities chosen through audition proceeded every year from 1999 to 2001. This experience gave them the opportunity not only for art but also for the acceptance of themselves. It sometimes leads to their independent life.

The word “TAIHEN” is a deformation of the Japanese word “hentai” means QUEER. But Ms. Manri Kim ventured to use the word “Metamorphosis” to define “TAIHEN”.

URL: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/imaju/taihen

Profile of Ms. Manri Kim
Manri Kim was born in 1953 as the younger daughter of Honju Kim, who was an excellent artist of Korean traditional dance and was active during the World War 2 in Japan. At the age of 3, she contracted polio, which have made her severely disabled since then.

In 1975, she started an independent living with a 24 hour attendance, which was the first case in Japan. She enthusiastically led anti-Eugenic ideology movements for 10 years.

In 1983, Performance Troupe TAIHEN was established, based on her idea that a unique beauty can be seen whenever a disabled body turns to expression. She is an artistic director, a performer and founder of the troupe. One or two pieces a year basis out of total 49 pieces, have been made public so far. She wrote and directed all of them.

Ms. Kim also holds some performances workshop for the disabled at concentration institution as well as for professional performers. Her method features the movement from the lying and sitting posture. She also holds workshops for training attendants or known as Kuroko – backstage staff. With these workshops, she radically proposed the rich diversity of the human beings.

Records of Major Performances

1983 Jun

1989 Jun

1992 Sep

1994 May

1995 May-Nov

1996 Dec

1997 Jun

1997 Aug

1998 Aug

1998 Nov

1999 Mar

1999 May

1999 Jul

1999 Aug

1999 Sep

2000 Mar

2000 Jun

2000 Dec

2001 Feb

2001 Mar
2001 Sep

2002 Feb

2002 May

2002 Sep

2003 Oct

2003 Nov

“FRAGRANCE OF HUE III – Unexpectation” Osaka /Kyoto
“Rebel in Galaxy ’89 – Just Wanted to kiss the moon” Itami
“Hevenly Forest” Nairobi, Kisumu, Kakamega (Kenya)
“Mountain Moves” Itami – Collaboration with Kazuo Ohno
“Embrace” Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya and Nagano
“BLOOM” Itami

“DEPARTED SOUL” Itami
“DEPARTED SOUL” Edinburgh Festival Fringe ’97, Edinburgh
“DEPARTED SOUL”, invited by Belner Tanztage, Bern / Berlin
“MY MOTHER” Edinburgh Festival Fringre ‘98
“MY MOTHER” Osaka
“DEPARTED SOUL” Okayama
“Kochu-Ichimannen-Sai” Osaka Theater Festival
-Colaboration with Gamla Ensemble, Video Installation and many extra Disabled Performers
“La Partida ~ Departure” Hiroshima
“MY MOTHER” Tokyo
“MY MOTHER” & Manri Kim Workshop, Berlin
“FRAGRANCE OF HUE III” Osaka Open-air Theater Festival, Osaka
“Kochu-Ichimannen-Sai” Osaka Theater Festival II, Osaka
“FRAGIL” and “MY MOTHER” Berlin
“MY MOTHER” Osaka
“BLOOM” Nara
“Kochu-Ichimannen-Sai 2001” Osaka Theater Festival III, Osaka
“Die Maha-Laba Dorf Histories” (“The legend of Maha-Laba village”) Berlin
“The legend of Maha-Laba village” Osaka
“The legend of Maha-Laba village” Okinawa
“The Midsummer Night Dream” Osaka Open-air Theater Festival, Osaka
“Hekiten Houkou” Osaka
“MY MOTHER” Little Asia Dance Festival, Taipei
“Hekiten Houkou” Tokyo


		Join our mailing list. Leave us your email.
	Email:
	Subscribe Unsubscribe