Program Note:

The Woman in the Dunes, based on the novel by Kobo Abe, is a multi media theater piece created by a collaboration integrating performance, video and music. The origin of the project occurred when my friend, the actress Midori Kanazawa expressed her desire to create a solo performance of The Woman in the Dunes. I was stimulated by an unexpected idea, and proposed the addition of visual images. I asked video artist, Kristine Marx, whose works have inspired me, to participate in the project. Thus, the collaboration by three women began.

In the sixties, Hiroshi Teshigahara, with libretto by Kobo Abe himself and music by Toru Takemitsu, made a film version of Abe's novel, true to the original story. In our collaboration, we intended to recapture the novel from the woman's point of view and create a work where performance, visual images and music respond equally to each other. This interactive concept informed our working process as well.

After starting the project, I realized that one root of Abe's novel is the idea of the naked woman figure overlapping the landscape of the desert. This is exactly what the photographer Edward Weston expressed in his work, nude woman as a landscape. More importantly, I imagined that perhaps this is what inspired Kobo Abe in writing his novel. In Weston's photograph I found many shared motifs with The Woman in the Dunes. It was a surprising discovery. I learned about Weston's work from photographer Michael Kenna whose work I deeply respect. I also had a feeling that there is a connection between this novel and the work of Ruth Bernhard, who became a photographer, influenced by Weston's art. These insights led to the realization of our concept in which we rethink the novel from the woman's side.

The libretto was initially prepared by Kanazawa and we elaborated on it, creating two performance versions, one in English and one in Japanese (thus eliminating the need to use subtitles). The stage direction, also by Kanazawa, included her idea of expressing the climax in Noh dance, which was choreographed by Noh performer Kanji Shimizu, and performed by Kanazawa herself.

The music is scored for percussion solo with electronics. The male hero from the novel does not appear on stage, but is expressed through the percussionist. In order to do this, I wanted a male percussionist and I asked Gregory Beyer to join us. The percussion expresses not only the man, but also the woman's psychological state and the desert landscape, her sand world so to speak. The structure of the percussion tree, on which hang various sized gongs, also, serendipitously, evokes the woman's house. I used several maracas which came from different countries, including Brazilian Caxixi to express the sounds of sand and insects. Beyer's inspired playing and special feeling to these charming instruments delivers a special impact of its own. The music for Noh dance was created in collaboration with the choreographer, each of us inspiring the other. In combining electronics, I intended to express the nuance of the Noh world, so called "Yugen" as a woman in the dunes. After completion of the music, Marx created her visual images, adding another dimension and enhancing the work as a whole.

During the process of the collaboration, the four of us became aware of a symbolic "circle" existing in the center of the work, from the shape of the gongs to the idea of eternal recurrence encompassing a core where spirits gather. Perhaps the spirit of my father, who died in April, is here too.

The work was premiered in English as part of the series of The Music With A View at the Flea Theater in NYC in May 2009. This work was funded in part by the Composers Assistance Program of the American Music Center.

Akemi Naito