“Dancing as a work in progress”
Akira Yoshida is an amazing freelance artist, who puts together elements of breakdance and contemporary. He has been teaching all around the world.
-You start dancing with breakdance. What fascinates you about this world?
“When I lived in my small hometown, I saw breakdance for the first time and I thought it was amazing, I couldn’t imagine people creating something like that. Now I know all the background and culture about this practice, but when I started I didn’t know anything, but I was fascinated by the incredible possibility of the human body. My brain was really surprising. In the beginning, I couldn’t do anything, but then I understood the coordination and also the maturity behind it. Because when I started I got pain in different parts of the body because I just tried for the shape and the macrostructure, but then I started putting attention on the small things, the details, and the microstructure. What fascinates me about breakdancing is that it still provides a new understanding of the body, but also workout, a social network with friends, challenge, a playground”.
-How did you start to explore and mix different vocabularies?
“I’m not the first breakdancer who is mixing contemporary dance also. My family wanted me mostly to study and then dance a bit. But after studying there was a period in which I had free time and I realized that anyway I was spending all my time dancing, stretching or working out. And this helped me because having more free time meant having the possibility to research. Then, during a competition I saw a dancer mixing breakdance and contemporary and I was fascinated and I wanted to try to understand, but using and researching my own movement and timing. It was a lot about self-practice, inspiration, but not really from a teacher, but I tried to incorporate what and who surrounded me and what caught my attention and my brain. Later I went to SEAD and I received a proper education.”
-So what is the importance of research as a personal and intimate practice?
“I had a big influence from breakdancing even when I practiced something that is not related to breakdance. I was moved by the curiosity in trying to understand things and researching with my body who I am in the movement, but even what I felt uncomfortable in my body, were useful to me because you can always bring something more in your research, in order to add new principles and influences, from shape to the timing or effort of a movement. For example, ballet has really clear directions, so I tried to bring this clearness also while I was practicing breakdance. And this translation happened in everything I did”.
-How were you always able to maintain your interest and curiosity up to go deeper and deeper into your research?
“Something I’m really grateful for, it is going to SEAD, because I found so much diversity in the teachers, but also in the students because people came from really different backgrounds. Everything I do is a work in progress, also the things that I can do better because I can always combine different influences and create something new. And I can schedule what I want to practice but I feel like I started a thousand video games but I didn’t finish any of that, maybe because they don’t have a finish. It also depends on your body and feelings, because one day you want to practice really fast, the day after I can play really slow, and I can be influenced by everything that catches my attention, from a character to a sensation. And I still have memories of when I was in SEAD, and even if I didn't show exactly what the teacher wanted, I gave space to my imagination, which helped me to research and understand my body. And researching is always a challenge: one day you can feel good in your body, the day after you can be lost, stuck, but practicing you digest things inside your body. Spending time dancing, even if you don’t know what you are doing at the moment, it always makes sense at the end.”
-What is the technique for you?
“Someone said, “every technique (ballet, capoeira, theatre…) is very important in order to forget it”. So, it is really important to master techniques in order to not be busy with it. When we are busy with the technique, we are more focused on the outer part, trying to look beautiful in the shape. But if you reach technique you become confident, which helps also to develop other layers in the work, a theatrical one for example. Mastering technique helps you to trust yourself and live moments as real on stage because your mind is not busy and you can focus on your character in the piece. And even if the piece is abstract, but you are there and you are listening and living the moment, there is always a theatrical component joining the piece.”
-You are a teacher also, for several workshops. What do you want to transmit to your student?
“I like to say in my workshop that I start as a work in progress and I finish as a work in progress. And what I do is a work in progress and in three years is still going to be a work in progress. Because work in progress for me means curiosity at the same time. Even the things that I can do are a work in progress for me, because “work in progress” is a motor and sometimes also a belief that everything I practice and research is made by a lot of little details and can be used or developed in something bigger every time."
-You are also a choreographer. What fascinates you about the process of creating a piece?
“I have never thought I am a choreographer, but I did choreograph, mostly for my solo work, and I co-created for duets. But when I see something I always have images in my mind. If I have to work to create a piece with other people, I would first know who the person in front of me is and then my imagination comes from the knowledge and information about the person I’m creating: if you are powerful, being silent or by being fast…
But what fascinates me the most about creating is that I have never seen dancers as numbers or unison, because every time I create a solo for myself or co-create a duet, I challenge myself always with different roles, characters in relation to the commitment. And even if something appears good, but it is not about the concept of the piece, I immediately cut it. It is beautiful to discover the colors you have and you can combine for the creation, in order to get different results. But you should let colors exist in you and don’t fix yourself too much. And it is amazing as a choreographer to combine different qualities on stage in order to create effect, feelings and play with those.”
-What catches your attention in another dancer?
“I get excited very easily because dancers are always so different and I would like to discover and deepener each of them. But something that is a requirement for me is the capacity to be simple and honest and don’t try to appear too much. I’m fascinated by how the complex and the simple can coexist together. How can we make something really complicated without being busy with it? When I see someone busy with the technique I feel it is more academic, but if you let it happen it will be good for sure. Whatever you feel, the audience will feel the same, so you should connect emotionally with the audience, but if you are busy in your mind, this cannot happen.”
-How can you define dance?
“I think dance cannot be defined. But this is one of the most beautiful things, that requires honesty. And every dancer and person around you can be a motivation and an inspiration and if you pay attention there is always something beautiful you are curious about and you want to bring in your dance. And honesty is the basis because when you are focused, even the smallest movement you do is amazing. With words, you can lie, but movement and body cannot. And whatever you do should be autonomous, because you have to bring yourself and work further every time. And every moment is important to project, even when you are not in the studio, your mind is always active."
Thank you for this opportunity! It was an honor for us.
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