Hirokazu Tategata's Danceable LIFE Vol.2
In pursuit of the world of Hiroichi Tategata
Hirokazu Tategata (dancer and choreographer)
Needless to say, I believe my career as an artist began with dance.
I majored in acting at university, but I was a hopeless underachiever. However, when I discovered dance, the hurdles to singing and acting became lower, and I was able to take on challenges without hesitation. I don't know why. However, I think it was largely due to the fact that I was able to build my own sense of "expression" through dance.
Awakening to "a way to express oneself" may be an important process for those who aim to live in such a world. Nowadays, there is less awareness of the boundaries between singing and acting.
This spring, I appeared in a "Closet Musical." It was a stage performance where I spoke and sang while holding a script. There was a lot of pressure to sing alongside actors who are active in musicals (laughs). But, rather than singing beautifully, the songs were meant to create a world on stage, so it was a worthwhile challenge.
I'm a clumsy type, so it takes me twice as long to do things that other people can do in one go. By taking longer than others, I've managed to make things happen. Before I knew it, I'd been in the entertainment industry for a long time (laughs), but unfortunately, I'm still as clumsy as ever.
However, these days, my co-stars, directors, and producers are often younger than me, so I end up in a position where I think, "Failure is not tolerated, it's expected that I can do it." It may seem like a natural thing to do when you're on stage as a professional, but I think it's boring to get "on the defensive" out of fear of failure. That's because I think that once you get on the defensive, you stop growing. As an artist, I want to see more and more of "the side of myself that we've never seen before." To that end, I want to continue to have a spirit of challenge.
When you're young, you have the energy and persuasiveness that comes with youth. But as you get older, your possibilities as an artist should expand. With that in mind, I'm also taking on the challenge of a series called "TRY OUT," in which I dance alone for over an hour.
In 2016, we participated in the Fukushima Biennale "Choyo Art Festival", where we had the invaluable experience of performing in a local 100-year-old traditional house.
And this fall, I will be touring the country with "THE CONVOY SHOW". The stage performances I perform in range from entertainment to artistic and stoic works, and I sometimes get confused (laughs), but Convoy is one of my origins and an important stage. I feel that by performing in both avant-garde and avant-garde stages, I can continue to grow.
My goal is to become an artist who can strongly express the "Tategata Hiroichi World." Rather than being skilled at everything, I want to be someone who makes people think, "I want this person to play this role," or "This role is Tategata."
