The Space In Back Of You: Berkeley, CA

Suzushi Hanayagi; an innovative, even radical, Japanese dancer and choreographer informed the approach of performing arts legend Robert Wilson and became an enduring influence on his work. This film captures her mysterious power, while giving us a rare chance to experience Wilson’s sensibility and working methods firsthand. The film’s director, a former Wilson assistant, examines Suzushi’s artistry in all its complexity, from her ancient Japanese lineage in Kabuki to her transition to modern and post-modern dance.

From the discipline of her early Japanese dance training to her decades of modern performance, this bold indomitable woman uniquely bridged East and West, choreographing works that expanded what classical or modern dance is and could be. Ultimately this is a story of the nature and arc of collaboration, a story of loss (Hanayagi now suffers from Alzheimer’s) and a story of renewal through Wilson’s stage tribute to Suzushi. As we watch his moving visit to her on-screen, Wilson asks of his creative partner, “remember, we have to make a new dance together…” In her poignant reply, although her memory is compromised, a telling remark; “I’m dancing in my mind.”

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