På Den Anden Side, Hårbølle, 17th AUG 2019 kl. 13.00 to kl. 20.00

Background: Questions on [Mythology and Community]

Japanese Bon Odori can be considered as a representation of local communities, their cultural and spiritual value. 

Modern society is loosing small/local communities. It rapidly and largely puts more value on materiality, productivity or visibility. It often disregards something intangible and invisible eg. natural phenomena or local mysteries or mythologies or personal metaphysical experiences. When people loose small/local communities, longer distance would be created between them. People are deprived of the feeling of home or connection, which are highly intangible feeling.

Through bØN ODORI project, Toshie and JOU foremost have wanted to explore relationship between mythological cultures and communities – (apart from globalisation and centralisation of administration), if the disappearance of mythological culture could be the primal reason why small/local communities are valued lesser. For this question, we want to re-evaluate invisible spiritual and cultural connections, group consciousness shared in communities or stories that have been taught in generations. Furthermore, through the process of creation, we’ve hope to create new community that is autonomous, that is in diverse, and that is invisible and transformable. 

The Workshop Nr 5 was the last workshop of the series of this year. It took place at a newly started art space På Den Anden Side (On the other side in Eng.) in Hårbølle, Møn. På Den Anden Side was initiated by Elisabeth Kiss and Morten Benck (K-O-N-T-O). Together with K-O-N-T-O as a co-facilitator, and ‘CCCA, Collaboration and Community-Building in Contemporary Art’ – a research network – as our partner and as participator, we reflected upon those complicated questions – “What is community?” “How can art help to shape the communities of the future?”

We had a large number of the participants in total 22 people.
The workshop opened with the tea ceremony under Møns Yagura work-in-progress. Møns Yagura is created by K-O-N-T-O and would become the stage of final bØN Odori presentation. Thereafter, we walked around På Den Anden Side alongside introductions by K-O-N-T-O. We walked from a pond that was created with Permaculture’s principle to an old barn, to an old cattle house, to a rabbits farm and to dry composting toilets being named “Holy Shit”. Then after, the participants became in pairs, depending on what colour and shape of sticks they choose. The assignment was to interview each other, to find a perfect location in the plot of På Den Anden Side, to give presentation about their partners, and to create movements or similar acts while their presentation. This performative introduction of each participants succeeded to create a very special time with respect, intimacy and concentration but with a lot of laugh. Thereafter, they shared reflections of the first assignment with key words. 
After a break, the participants moved to the pond where large stones were placed at one side of the pond. Each participants were asked to make own connections with the surrounding and the stones; Are these stones feeling a bit being denied or displaced? The workshop continued with practicing Kocho Kawasaki steps. The group returned into the barn where Møns Yagura was still waiting. After K-O-N-T-O telling the research process about Møns Yagura, JOU’s solo performance was taken place. Then all the participants went inside of the 4 legs of Yagura. The final assignment was that each participants quietly hugs with all of his/her companies. 
“bØN dinner” prepared by Toshie were served. First of all, everyone experienced to make rice balls and then moved to the common dinner. The menu was Sekihan (a Japanese symbolic meal with rice and red beans. Sekihan is normally eaten when there is something to celebrate. Sekihan was accompanied with vegan stew, as Bon Odori or O-bon comes from Buddism tradition. There was old tradition that families used to offer Shyoujin ryouri (Buddhist cuisine) to ancestors’ spirits. They gathered and eat the meal in front of their ancestors’ cemetery.   
The workshop ended with sharing reflections.

Workshop Design and Facilitation by Toshie Takeuchi and JOU/Odorujou. Co-facilitation: K-O-N-T-O

Inquiry to: boenodorimoen@gmail.com

Video stills by Thomas Gunnar Bagge. All the copy right is reserved by bØN Odori – in the making of a land and by Toshie Takeuchi, 2019 –

At Mønsklint, 11. August 2019, 13.00 to 18.00

By taking a primal inspiration from flint stone’s still uncovered mode of formation and by using stones at Møns Klint as transmitters, the workshop Nr 4 ‘Sten and Krops’ were created to bring the participants into sensory awareness of each body and of collective movements.

After opening up the workshop with the tea ceremony, we walked into Møns Klint’s forest, where especially the trees looked mythically “animated”. The walk were facilitated with a few assignments. When the participants came out to the stairs reaching down to the stone shore of the cliff, each of them took one small bell on their feet, in order to make them more aware of their own steps. 

At down the stone shore, “stone exercise” were introduced to hold and carry one stone with particular spots of few or more bodies. The exercise required a collective creativity and balance of strength and weight. Then after, the participants continued walking on the shore with their own steps. At the point where we could meet a large old dead tree, that had fallen down from the top of cliff, the participants were asked to conduct the material investigation collectively but intuitively. Thereafter, a group massage and stretching were taken place.

It was a very physical long day. But we decided to continue. The final exercise of the workshop was individual investigation on the larger stones lying at the shore. Each of the participants will take as much as time they need, as much as touching they could on only one stone at a time, until the point they are ready to say good-bye to the one. And then, they can move on the next stone, again, until they are ready to say real good-bye.  The day ended with sharing reflections.    

Workshop Design and Facilitation by Toshie Takeuchi and JOU/Odorujou.

Inquiry to: boenodorimoen@gmail.com

Video stills by Toshie Takeuchi. All the copy right is reserved by bØN Odori – in the making of a land and Toshie Takeuchi, 2019 –