Tokyo Story Part II: Preparations, Preparations....

This Sunday we will be screening the video of the PURE Reflections show we did in Tokyo last year to raise money for AmeriCares and American Humane Association's Japan disaster relief.

And though it has taken me months, I still have to tell the story of  How PURE Reflections Came to Japan!

So....continuing where I left off ...too many months ago... (yes, I'm a sporadic blogger, but I'm getting better!!)

My plane tickets to Tokyo were bought; the Yokohama theater was rented. Now that money had changed hands, I knew that PURE Reflections was coming to Japan. Or, at the very least I was coming to Japan!! If, heaven forbid, something went wrong with the planning, I would have a nice week-long vacation in the land of the Rising Sun.

But as of October 2010, it was full-steam ahead.

And so much to be done!!

The Tokyo team stepped right up, finding a clean, inexpensive hotel and wrangling our various schedules (we were all arriving and departing at different times due to our work schedules).

I put together a "Show Information" document to go with the Google Group, so we could keep all information in one place. And, the odd mistranslation notwithstanding, the administrative part was going swimmingly.

Kaeshi and PURE  Tokyo facilitators Aya and Naho worked out a tentative cast list and rehearsal schedule.

I put together a Q & A detailing the technical and performance requirements of the show, and drafted a few group exercises to guide them into thinking symbolically about The Mirror and body image issues, personifying the "healthy" and "demon" aspects employed by the show's narrative.

Naho created stunning translations to the three songs with lyrics: Kristin Hoffman's "The Waking" and "Ocean in Me", and Tamar-Kali's "Ocean" -- all of which are beautifully evocative of the show's message.

The magnificent BodyPoet Kazuma, who had worked with PURE NYC earlier in the year and was now back in Japan, led the Tokyo dancers through mirror exercises so that they would get used to working improvisationally with each other. And he guided them through "demon" and "angel" exercises.

This was especially important because we wanted to tailor the show towards the Japanese sensibility. When the Demon figure emerges, it lures and then attacks those areas where we are least secure. While there was a lot of overlap, there were surprising differences. For example, one of our Demon sentences was, "Your butt is huge," which one would think would have resonance in a culture that also prized a lithe form -- yet they opted for "You have small eyes."

In addition to "Demon" sentences, the Japanese dancers had to further search their souls for healing sentences, which come into play at the end.  Not surprisingly, they opted for more indirect affirmations. Instead of, "I am strong" they chose "I can be strong", and so forth.

Each dancer also submitted three photographs: one in early childhood, one in teenage years, and one as an adult, which is accompanied by their own personal quote.

Lastly, I drafted a full narrative of the story, marked in time with the music, for what would be our very first exercise together. I sent it to Naho, who would be my translator in our first exercise... but more about that later.

For final arrangements before leaving, we divvied up the props and costumes that needed to be brought.  I took the free-standing "mirrors" (for which I had found the perfect duffel bag); Kaeshi took the fabric and the mirrors' lighted baseboards.

I meticulously went through each of the four mirror frames -- assembling, marking and disassembling them -- so they would be easy to jam together in a hurry.

The Tokyo dancers had custom ordered Diana Susanto's gorgeous nμde costumes, which Lale and I picked up.

And we were off!!

Tokyo Story Part I: How PURE Reflections Came to Japan

"Japan beckons cold-footed Carol!"

It is the evening of Wednesday, September 22nd -- barely three days after our Big PURE Weekend of workshops and shows (which I organized and hosted) and I am still catching my breath.

And now, I was going to Japan.

The Monday before, I'd learned that Kaeshi, PURE's Artistic Director, had been approached by Lâle Sayoko, a well-known Japanese dancer and member of PURE, about bringing PURE Reflections to Japan.

Lâle had seen the show and performed with us earlier that year and found the experience so powerful that she had determined to share it with her sisters in PURE Tokyo (PURE's only international chapter -- so far! :-> ). And now her dream was becoming a reality -- more quickly than anyone could have imagined!

Kaeshi, it turned out, was going to be in the Far East for Jillina's Bellydance Evolution show in December, and had been approached to teach a few workshops in Osaka. And while she realized it would not be feasible to bring the entire 30-person cast of dancers and musicians to Japan, it might be possible, she thought, to mount it with a Japanese cast.

"Do you think one week will be enough?" she asked as we headed through Cooper Square Monday night.

"Well... they would really need to understand the show," I replied, "It would take a lot of preparation in the weeks beforehand..."

"I know..." she winced a little.

"Well, you're not doing it without me."

Her eyes popped. "Really? Would you really do that?"

"Sure," I said, "I mean ... I can't let you do it alone."

We checked airline prices that evening. $980! My account wasn't exactly flush, but the show was more important. And even with two people at the helm, mounting PURE Reflections would be an herculean task.

Then I started to worry... What if the dancers aren't that committed? What if it all falls apart in the eight weeks between now and then?

Then my paranoia set in.

I wrote Kaeshi:  "I just checked prices and it says $980... was that what it was yesterday, or did it go up like $100 already?"

Her measured response followed moments later: "It is the same price as yesterday. It did not go up..."

I was bursting.

"I am getting slightly cold feet about this," I dithered, "... it's happening a lot faster than I'd thought. Feeling very nervous..."

Her next message warmed my soles: "I think at this point, it's safe to go ahead and buy that ticket. The dancers are already all rearranging their work schedules to suit what I posted about rehearsals... Japan beckons cold-footed Carol! Catching a plane is much like riding a subway, only it looks and sounds a lot different on the other side..."

Well OK then!

And I bought the ticket.

At the next PURE-NYC meeting, Kaeshi asked if any other members would like to take the Tokyo plunge, and the bravehearted Pacita -- who turned out to be an extraordinary Assistant Director -- stepped up. And after a similar announcement during the PURE facilitator weekly web conference our team doubled in size, with Brian and Misha from Sarasota joining, as well Katie from Connecticut (who had hosted the show in May).

And we were on our way!

Getting Ready for PURE Reflections in Tokyo: Lost (and Found) in Translation

When we first committed to the daunting project of mounting PURE-NYC's body image dance-theater work PURE Reflections: Beauty Reimagined in Japan, with a mixed cast of PURE Tokyo members and a handful of PURE members from US chapters, it was obvious that communication would be key.

I created a Google group which has a sleek discussion thread feature which, with the touch of a button, completely translates every email in a given thread -- or at least it tries to!

As the Tokyo ladies geared up, organizing everything from logistics to publicity, a flurry of Japanese emails billowed through my inbox. And every day or so, I'd check the translated group page to see what all the chatter was about, and then weigh in, if necessary.

Yesterday's round told me that Tuesday night would be a Special Evening.

PURE-NYC's good friend, the Japanese-English BodyPoet Kazuma, had given them the DVD of  PURE Reflections recorded in April at Columbia -- and many of the dancers who had signed onto the project in blind faith would see the show for the first time.

I chatted briefly online a few hours earlier with Naho, one of the PURE Tokyo facilitators. 

"We're so excited to hear what your reaction will be to it," I wrote.

What I really wanted to say was, "We can't wait to hear what you think of it," but for some reason whenever I talk to a non-English speaker, I always find myself imitating their speech pattern (or at least my perception of it... which, come to think of it, probably ends up comically confusing to them).

"I appreciate all your help and very precise comments and advices :)", she wrote back, and then had to take a phone call.

This morning, I saw a long Japanese email on my mobile and ran to the laptop to read the translated thread.

It started:

"Reflections on DVD today held a meeting 10/28. The report. Here are some details as well as topics mix. ... Performance about 58 minutes, after which the 15-minute Q & A."

OK so far. Then followed a bulleted list of their reactions to the show.

First bullet:

"Acting is terrible."

My jaw dropped. Oh god, I thought, they hate us!!

Then I read through the rest of the list:

Scene 1 -- like birth from the sea, motherhood, accept
Scene 5 -- emotional scenes!
Scene 7 -- Demon, scary!
Scene 9 -- Spiral, wonderful scenes of the sun.

And finally:

"Everyone (even those not moving) to the acting, which everybody understands the meaning of the scene."

In other words: They liked us!! They really liked us!!

So clearly it was just a translator issue... right?

I scrolled back up to the fateful characters --  演技力がすごい -- and brought up a variety of online translators, first Dictionary.com and AppliedLanguage.

Both spat back, "Acting is terrible."

Then my inner-HitchHiker took me to AltaVista's blessed BabelFish, which rendered, "Performance power is enormous."  And WorldLingo concurred.

Ahhhhh! Now that's more like it!

But how did this happen?

I broke the phrase down, character-by-character, and fed it to each translation engine.

Piecemeal, it reads something like this: "Performing/Played skill/technology force/power the it does us."

So the issue it seems was in switching "enormous" with "terrible" -- which by colloquial English standards is a pretty terrible thing to do, as we are used it meaning "really, really bad."

But earlier meanings have more to do with awe-stricken fear. Indeed, the word itself stems from Indo-rooted Sanskrit and Avestan for "feared" AND "revered" -- indeed, anything that would cause us to tremble in awe, as enormous things are wont to do.

My guess is that the Japanese character for "force/power" must have multiple meanings which, when combined idiomatically, could render as "terrible," "enormous" -- or, dare I say, awesome ☺ -- and probably dozens of other ways depending on the translator.

Given the vast sea of translational possibilities, the fact that Google and other online translators do as good a job as they do is pretty freaking camel-through-the-eye-of-a-needle amazing.

And the fact that there are so many translation engines to offer second, third and fourth opinions is beyond mind-blowing to me.

But in the end, perhaps it is best to remember these two rules of online translation:

(1) Always give your correspondent the benefit of a doubt. Even in the same language, email can be easily misinterpreted; and

(2) Some online translations are best experienced like a John Ashbery poem -- just let let the images wash over, smile sweetly and pretend you understand.