Back in Japan

It was the most natural thing to be walking the streets of Tokyo with Nolico. I had just landed in Japan the same morning and was to take the train to Niigata a few hours later. But for now I was in the Shibuya area, as if the sixteen months that separated my last trip and this one had been reduced to a mere day or two.

Was I the multiple same person living his lives in various parts of the world in different dimensions and yet possessing that one same awareness…?

When as a young boy I would come back from my summer holiday, I would always need a few minutes to readjust to the colors of my room, the ordinary life.

« Oh this is where I’m really supposed to be », the only way to keep on surviving the ordinary life was to open new doors to my imagination to let in fantasy and dreams.

Jo and Sawako were waiting for me in the restaurant of the hotel. It was half past eight and they were the only customers.

The music that filled the silence was that usual stringy syrup that would turn any great tune into a sticky nightmare.

I was staying at the Italia Ken, with the same view on the non too distant sea, the same miniscule green bike, the same waitress who greets me every morning with a new French word with her deep husky voice. I was happy.

We had one rehearsal on the theater stage this afternoon. Last night at dinner, Jo had told me about his ideas and what he wanted to try. He may have been worried that I wouldn’t want to change a single note to my score. But as soon as we discussed the possibilities, I saw that he relaxed. Yes Tsuyoshi  and I were in Paris and seeing one another each time we had something new to show and he must have felt isolated, alone in Niigata with this impossible score I wrote for him to choreograph!

I liked what he had done so far. The fact that the wall is hiding the other side of the stage will be frustrating. Jo’s vocabulary is so rich, it would take more than one viewing for someone to catch all the details. Still now I’m discovering new movements in NINA at each viewing.