EAST AND WEST, OLD AND YOUNG, MAN AND WOMAN, TIME AND SPACE IN MOTION…
Great artists have their cherished inspiration, the person who – while perhaps less known to the world – informed their work and continues to influence them throughout their creative life. Such a person is Suzushi Hanayagi. This visual and visceral documentary travels more than 80 years, from Japan to New York City and back to Japan again, in pursuit of the creative life of Hanayagi, a powerful, innovative, even radical Japanese dancer and choreographer. Constantly willing to experiment, Hanayagi challenged her art form and herself well into her 70’s. From the discipline of early Japanese traditional dance training, steeped in the lineage of generations of dancers who came before her, to her decades of modern dance performance, this bold indomitable woman uniquely bridged East and West, making work that expanded what classical or modern dance is and could be.
Hanayagi’s life and influence are examined in creatively juxtaposed images of her stunning performances and through the voices of fellow artists, including principally theater legend Robert Wilson. Close collaborators for over twenty years, she was a major influence on Wilson who referred to her simply as “my teacher.” When he discovers Hanayagi living in an old-age home and suffering from Alzheimer’s, Wilson resolves to work with her once again. As the camera follows his efforts to re-connect with her, communicating through their shared language of gesture and stage movement, we watch Wilson and his troupe of dancers create their homage to Hanayagi for premiere at New York’s Guggenheim Museum. Poignant witness to the transition of a life from vibrancy to legacy, The Space In Back of You becomes the final collaboration between a great teacher and her most renowned student.
The Space In Back Of You
music courtesy of David Byrne produced by Hisami Kuroiwa & Richart Rutkowski
presented by See-No-Evil Filmworks, Media Space, Byrd Hoffman Watermill Foundation,
& Robert Wilson with support from the Center for Asian American Media & The Japan Foundation
presented by Dance Films Association with Film Society of Lincoln Center
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