KOOL: Dancing in my Mind

Richard Rutkowski has worked as a cinematographer since the late 1990s, serving as director of photography or 2nd-unit cameraman to directors as renowned and varied as Neil Burger, Darren Aronofsky, Adrian Lyne, Joel Schumacher, Wes Craven, and Roman Polanski. He has known and worked with Robert Wilson since the mid 1980s, acting as cinematographer for several of Robert Wilson’s VOOM portraits.

Born in Oklahoma, Richard grew up on eastern Long Island, the son of landscape painter Casimir Rutkowski. He began making short films while a student at Harvard College. Richard is also an avid still photographer whose work has been exhibited in New York and Los Angeles, and seen in publication internationally.

This screening of KOOL: Dancing in Mind, directed by Richard Rutkowski, is the rough-cut of a feature-length documentary that serves as a tribute to choreographer Suzushi Hanayagi, a longtime collaborator and friend of Robert Wilson. A fully realized version of a shorter film made in 2009, the film illuminates the life and work of an artist whose experiences found voice among the syntheses of classical and modern forms, and explores the complexities of aging in the arts.

Suzushi Hanayagi served as a major contributor to Robert Wilson's artistic development and theatrical vocabulary. The two artists worked together in the creation of 15 major productions, and through Hanayagi's choreography created a language of gesture, which became a cornerstone of Wilson's work on stage.

Mitsuko Kiuchi's early training made her a dancer of the Hanayagi School, the oldest of Japan's traditional Kabuki institutions, by age 20. She continued to study and dance in the classical Kabuki and Jiuta -mai traditions throughout her career. Her interest in modern dance was advanced through an invitation from the Japan Society to study and perform in New York. Beginning in 1960, she spent a year in studies with Martha Graham and connected with the new generation of modern dancers creating performances at the Judson Church Dance Theater. Hanayagi took inspiration from some of the same artists that were an influence on Robert Wilson's early work- Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, and Yvonne Rainer, among others. She also created avant-garde dance pieces in Japan, collaborating with Jean Jean Theatre, Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Toru Takemitsu, Teiji Ito, Setsu Asakura, Shiko Munakata, and others.

Now living in an old age home in Osaka, Hanayagi spends most of her time in a wheelchair and has begun to lose all memory of her long career and life on the stage. Yet in her bearing and gesture, strength and nobility remain. Even in stillness, she is dancing. As she said during a visit, "Dancing in my mind."