Arts Centre Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium

An international collaboration between Un Yamada, known for the peculiar sensibility of her “I-novel” (biographical fiction) -like compositions and Yukiko Shinozaki, who is based in Belgium but has performed all over the world. The title ‘Hibi” has different meanings. In “daily” e-mail exchanges they start philosophizing about movement(s). The result (as seen on January 8, 2007 at Kichijoji Theatre) shows them approaching the body as one would carefully handle a “cracked” object.

The low electronic sounds that filled the space until the beginning of the performance fadeout, complete silence. Two dancers stand fidgety on the stage, facing the audience, their glance somewhere between curiosity and anxiety. Yamada wears a black tank top, Shinozaki a grey one. Both wear ankle-length pants. And are barefoot.

Hesitantly, slowly swaying the body, stopping again. The conflict between wanting to move and not being able to is conveyed powerfully. The difficultly to move and the difficulty to exist, notions with meaning onto themselves, also translate into emotions. However, expressing this through the body, and in such a clear way is not a simple feat.

The body that doesn’t move the way one wants it to and the mind that easily falls apart are bounded by a very subtle and intricate sensibility. The two dancers, while moving separately, sense each other’s presence, concord, at times even move in unison. The clarity and quality of this shared sensibility produces a movement chord. This harmony-slightly-undone is truly exquisite.

In the middle, we start to hear a rain-like sound, while until then the stage was bathed in silence. The dancers’ movements become even stranger. Yamada places her head and shoulders on the floor as in a yoga position and bends a leg overhead. Shinozaki sits down on the floor and entangles her arms and legs up in the air. Unwittingly, sincerely, as if challenged by a great mystery, the self struggles with the body.

Yamada’s interiority and quietness contrast with Shinozaki’s movements, which are more outward-oriented and emanate a fluid energy. They share, however, the same ideas about movement, and because they execute them together and with equal strength, their movements create a subtle harmony of, really like ‘hi” and “bi,” similar but different sounds.

In a natural and seemingly random way, even with hesitation, this performance is a query into highly intelligent and minutely structured dance. A monotonous but extremely economical and clear-headed 50 minutes.