BIG IN JAPAN
Hayashi Chie
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| Photo credit to Ishikawa
Masakatsu |
Most little girls studying
Japanese dance want to be pretty princesses or beautiful maidens. Not true for Hayashi
Chie. "I' always wanted to do a more active kind of dance." As a child, she
wanted to study ballet, where she could leap and spring to her heart's content, a world
apart from the rooted, earthy style of nihon buyo (Japanese dance).
Her mother studied dance with Hayashi Kinko, the founder and first iemoto (hierarchical
head) of the Hayashi ryu (school) and Chie (whose birth name is Miura Chikako),
followed in her footsteps at the age of three. She was a talented child who got her natori,
or stage name, at an unbelievable six years old, and her shihan natori, which
allows one to teach, at seventeen. Through these years, she admired male dancers more than
female, and always knew that she did not want to limit her art to one particular style. A
turning point in her life ensued, in which she had to choose between staying on the
traditional road she was on or branching out into something altogether new. Ironically,
she chose the more traditional path.
As a second year high school student, she set her sights on Tokyo Fine Arts University
(Geidai). As there was no dance program then, she opted for shamisen (traditional
stringed instrument). In preparation for the entrance audition, she began studying with a
renowned teacher. She passed on the first try, not an easy thing to do. Throughout her
university years, she continued to study dance, finally pursuing her beloved ballet for
several years. She was interested in all dance forms and a great admirer of Nureyev and
Pina Bausch. In her last two years at school, she started choreographing dances which
mixed nihon buyo with Western styles, using kimono and contemporary classical music. When
trying to pin her down on whether they were traditional or modern, she simply says,
"To express something that Japanese dance could not, we used other forms, including
modern, jazz or classical." For Hayashi, dance is about the individual and his or her
expression more than any particular genre, nationality or music.
Her first few years after Geidai were fruitful. Since Hayashi could read Western musical
notation, she was often chosen to perform new compositions that combined shamisen with
Western orchestral elements. Her bold eclecticism is rare in the world of dance in Japan,
and while she has been lauded by some, the critics have always been present. These have
included her own teacher, Hayashi Kazue, daughter of her mother's teacher. Because of the
small size of the Hayashi ryu, her outside dance activities have been highly visible,
making for a difficult relationship with her teacher at times.
Choreography remains her main love. This past summer, she was honored with choreographing
dances for one of NHK's preeminent dance programs. This is a highlight in any dancer's
career, after which one might be tempted to rest on one's laurels. But this doesn't seem
possible for Hayashi Chie. "At first, I wanted to create abstract, 'artistic' dances
but I saw that the audiences couldn't understand what I was trying to express. They ended
up frustrated and so did I. Now I create dances that people can enjoy. Otherwise, there is
no meaning. That is my priority now."
Always reaching for the next challenge in leaps and bounds,
Hayashi Chie seems to have the spirit of ballet in her after all. Janet Pocorobba with
Makoto Nishimura |
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