TODOME Da FOX
NOÉ IWAI 岩井 のゑ
Artist
Fox Rain 狐雨
2017
Live Performance
Scale of background 3m × 5m
Duration - Every 10 days, 30 minuets
Materials : Bucket of Rain Water, Baby Powder, White Cloths, Fox Masks, Bodies, Collected Materials (Wall dusts, Pigment, Ink, Rainwater, Dusts)
Dancers : Benjamin Anthony, Camilla Isola, Dan Calder, Ena Yamaguchi, Hattie Godfrey, Kwangjae Jeon, Lois Wong,
Noe Iwai, Sammie Hayward, Silvia Carradori and Sophie Zosia Bassett
Artists and Dancers from different international backgrounds were performing a fox in this piece.
Their face and upper body were painted in white and a Japanese traditional Fox mask was put on top.
The movement started with all of them scratching the wall with the rhythm of the wood stick.
Each person performed an uncanny movement - 'fox', 'Human Shape of something' and 'Human' based on Butoh movements as such.
The white smudged face was washed off by a bucket of rainwater and at the end of the performance, I painted the wall with a bucket of water and these actions were repeated for 10 days.
The artist questioned the exclusivity of Kabuki by creating a group performance referring to elements of Kabuki, without sexual or racial boundaries. The choreography was also inspired by Butoh, a more modern (post-war) Japanese dance performance genre, to express each individual's grief and struggle by performing a human-shape of something, a fox the shapeshifter and Yokai (a monster).