Dance Archive Project 2016

Launched in 2014, this is the third occasion we present the Dance Archive Project. At the outset, our focus was not just on creating new works inspired by the archive materials, but also on collecting documentation and memorabilia connected to the late Kazuo Ohno and Japanese dance history in the modern times. Over the intervening years we have continually worked with a variety of media forms, notably performance and in-situ exhibitions. For the upcoming Dance Archive Project, we will broaden our horizons by incorporating words, images and symbols in the form of lecture-performances, through which we will try to convey the archives deeper significance and to interpret the archived documents by means of direct and vigorous debate with the audience. The true meaning in collecting dance archives materials resides not in the fact of conserving them for future generations but rather the ability to transmit and constantly re-evaluate their contents from contemporary perspectives. The project’s ambition is to render archive research visible in such a way as to accord it a new value, and to demonstrate its significance and usefulness.