Three Years of 美
By Sam Brustad and Sherry Zheng
美 : a series of creative talks was born circa 2014. Since then three years and officially by last Thursday seven chapters of creative talks have taken place.
With the year coming to a close within a matter of three short weeks, let’s look back at what we’ve achieved in the past three years.
Chapter I, 24 July 2014 Divya Cherian/James Sutherland
After weeks of preparation, self-doubt, and more than a few bothersome messages pleading all their friends to come, a group of Todai students set out to remind themselves that the arts of Tokyo did in fact have a place at their campus.
The theme was “Childhood & Heritage.” Speaking were two vastly different artists, James Sutherland, the founder and director of the International Center for Theatre Arts in Tokyo. Also Divya Cherian, an international freelance artist and designer, and founder of Bite The Rainbow — a company for Freelance International Art & Design.
Despite the eclectic nature of the group, professors, students and friends alike participated in this inaugural event. There were laughs as we tried a few theatre exercises with James, and inspiration as we watched Divya’s video showing us how art can be used as a form of charity.
There was certainly a huge sense of joy in watching all our hard work come together and realising there was a willing audience of other Todai students all looking to discover what art lay out there, in the world’s largest metropolis.
Chapter III, 8 May 2015 Joel Tan/Tania Coke & Kentaro Suyama (tarinainananika)
Perhaps in reaction to the weather, or perhaps to the itch of creativity the body desires to move, to perform. Almost at its one year anniversary, 美 explored the theme of “The Physical Self.” Invited were playwright/writer Joel Tan from Singapore, and corporeal mime artists Tania Coke and Kentaro Suyama of tarinainanika.
Not only a playwright, but also a director and performer we were ecstatic to have Joel speak at the third chapter whilst on holiday in Tokyo. Unfortunately life hit in the form of a fever and Joel sent his dear friend Daryl Qilin Yam, also a talented writer, who beautifully read a piece of writing our speaker had prepared in advance. Then, Tania and Kentaro of tarinainanika caught us off-guard, bringing us onto our feet. Teaching us the foundations of corporeal mime, we watched, we mimicked, then we performed for each other.
The night showed us how much the 美 community had grown, reaching outside of Tokyo and even Japan. We closed a very memorable third chapter.
Chapter VI, 10 June 2016 John Gribble/Crystal Maki/Taylor Mignon
Despite half the 美 team being off overseas spreading their adventurous spirit and artist passion around the world, the show must go on as they say, and the 6th chapter of this series was no exception.
“‘Creative Writing” was the theme, and we hosted two poets/writers John Gribble and Taylor Mignon, as well as an actress and playwrite Crystal Maki. Much to everyone’s surprise, (especially the organising committee) John and Taylor already knew each other, and had even had an artistic rivalry with each other! Nevertheless, both wowed the audience with their poetry and stories of their time in Tokyo. Crystal even shared with us her own self-directed comedy video and other samples of her work much to everyone’s amusement.
This barebones group, even without the original team to help it along, had managed to pull off another great event.
美, now a permanent fixture in the Komaba campus had morphed into something that would last on its own.
Stay tuned for our recap of the most recent Chapter 7: “Art & Technology.”
