Dance as an Art of Bio-Cosmic Subtle Energies

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00119
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 01050:Aesthetics and art studies-related
• Research Institution: Saitama University
• Principal Investigator: Toyama Kikuko 埼玉大学, 人文社会科学研究科, 名誉教授 (80253128)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 気 / 身体 / ポストモダンダンス / 実験演劇 / 環境 / 現前

Outline of Final Research Achievements

My research focuses on the notion of Ki/Chi, which has a long tradition from the ancient China, still diversely observed in Japan. In the 1960s and the 70s, the Judson Group (namely, postmodern dance) distanced from ballet and modern dance technique and experimented with non-Western alternative methods, including Ki-based somatic practices (Tai-chi, Yoga, Aiki-do, etc.). Revisiting the historical as well as ideological contexts for this “anthropological turn,” I found it closely related to the shift from modern “art for self-expression” to postmodern “art for self-alteration” in the field of experimental art and music, while the “product” itself seems no longer valued more than the “process”, along with the technological evolution of media and information industry. The process, the experience by the bodily subject, works as a self-medicine/meditation, that is also a crucial part of the Ki system as a transformative art for our body-mind and our environment.

Free Research Field

美学　芸術学　舞踊論

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

コロナ禍を挟み、生成AIやSNS等情報技術革新がもたらした生活世界の激変の中で、生身の身体の介在する経験の意味を改めて問い直す必要が浮き彫りになってきている。気、及び、それに類する前近代から伝わる考え方は、代替医療や修行・修養とともに、「身体の思想家」にして実践家である舞踊や演劇の領域で命脈を保ち続けているが、身体を持って／身体として、個々の環境に埋め込まれて生きる基本状況を再考する上でも重要な視点を提供する。本研究はアヴァンギャルド芸術の一部の再解釈にとどまらず、身体感受性の開発が、過剰なメディア情報の被膜を破って世界に触れる一助となりうることを訴えるものである。