[中][ENG] 倡導舞蹈文獻庫：未來發展的催化劑 Advocating Dance Archives: A Catalyst for the Future
倡導舞蹈文獻庫：未來發展的催化劑
文：溝端俊夫
翻譯：Raven Ching、《舞蹈手札》編輯部
2007年於意大利博洛尼亞舉行的大野一雄展覽／Photo: Lucia Baldini（照片由舞蹈檔案創想提供）
文獻庫的定義，是事件紀錄、文件彙集，並可（或說是應該）開放供公眾查閱的。不過，在開始講述日本的舞蹈文獻庫，以及我們在舞蹈檔案創想（Dance Archive Network）的工作前，容許我先談談自己的個人經歷。
我自1983年起，便在大野一雄舞踏研究所跟大野一雄學習舞踏。大野一雄（1906 – 2010）聞名於與土方巽（1928 – 1986）共同創立日本舞踏，尤其是他向世界推廣舞踏的工作。當我於1983年開始參加大野的舞蹈課時，他已屆77高齡，但仍會受邀出席世界各地的藝術節，在各個頂尖劇場演出。來自世界各地、背景各異的人士，都慕名前往他位於日本橫濱的研究所向他求教。他從來來者不拒，課堂總是座無虛席。從那時開始我就為大野工作，起先處理各種雜務，其後擔當舞台技術指導，為他的演出作籌劃及燈光操作。
1994年，我們開展了一個名為「大野一雄全作品上演計劃」的演出系列。系列進行那數年間，我們在橫濱泉區擁有400座位的公共劇場Théâtre Fonte內，重製並演出了大野一雄自1977年以來，發表過的主要作品。這系列的概念是為大野一雄創建一個「作品全集」。這想法源自同為舞踏大師，大野一雄之子大野慶人。自土方巽在1986年逝世後，大野慶人就執導了父親的所有作品，有時更會與父親同台演出。我們策劃這個系列的初心，是希望可以保存這些作品。每個演出皆以相當於電視廣播之水平作拍攝及剪輯，並以數碼Betacam錄製；每個作品均會用上攝影大師細江英公的著名作品，去製作高質量的海報。在各個公演日，我們也會在劇場大堂舉辦大型攝影與藝術品展覽。這個系列並沒有獲得任何資助，它是大野一雄舞踏研究所自行出資的項目。回看這個系列，縱然挑戰滿滿、我想我們仍在其中創造出溫情洋溢的氛圍。
大約同一時間，我們亦開始發掘、分類和整理儲存在大野家旁邊的排練場內的各種資料，包括相片、創作筆記、單張、場刊資料和剪報等。大野一雄雖以舞踏始創者而聞名，但他的藝術生涯早在1930年代間，在他師從兩位日本現代舞先驅──石井漠及江口隆哉時已經起步。形容他的生平乃是一部西方舞蹈在日史亦不為過。隨著我們整理工作室的資料，更多關於大野一雄這段背景的珍貴資料也逐一浮面。
2007年於意大利博洛尼亞舉行的大野一雄展覽／Photo: Lucia Baldini（照片由舞蹈檔案創想提供）
1990年代中葉，也即是大野一雄全盛時期所進行的這項工作，正是大野一雄檔案館的起步點，同時也是我個人對舞蹈文獻萌生興趣的契機。這也是我現時代表的機構──舞蹈檔案創想的工作。我之所以利用個人經歷作引子，是因為依我所見，日本的舞蹈文獻庫，不少都有著類近的源起：一些受使命感驅使的人，著手處理他們面前積疊如山的文獻紀錄。這種現象的部份成因，是因為日本欠缺公營的文獻機關；但同時，我認為這也反映出日本舞蹈圈中，對維繫親厚師徒關係的熱衷。又或者，日本的文獻庫，素來就是由沒有庫藏工作經驗的人獨立營運的。
我不認為獨立營運的文獻庫不好。至少，這些獨立文獻庫通常是由那些對該舞蹈家的成就和資料皆熟悉的人來管理，所以他們的優勢是能夠從文獻庫的庫存中，累積到詳盡的知識。然而，經營文獻庫是一門收益微薄但工作量龐大的工作。若果沒有強健的經濟基礎支持，要持續進行文獻的整存工作將會相當困難。再者，以個人熱枕支撐的組織，在世代交替時或會遇上熱枕難以傳承的問題。大野一雄檔案館起初是屬於大野一雄舞踏研究所的，但研究所作為一個義務組織，幾乎是全然依靠著大野家族。這是一個典型的獨立運作文獻庫，而這種經營模式有其長處，但也有不足的地方。
文獻整存的工作不但無利可圖，在日本亦不合乎申請公共資助的資格。文化廳及藝術文化振興會的資助，主要支持演出和創作，但就沒有任何專為典藏計劃而設的資助。因此，我們只能為大野一雄檔案館的運作苦苦掙扎，直到2000年代，我們開始販售以文獻庫資源去製作的書籍和數碼光碟，以應對營收問題。銷售獲得相當好的結果。我們最初出版的書藉《練習時的言語》和《魂之糧》，已翻譯成英、中、意等五國語言。為了獲得公共資助，我們也創辦了「大野一雄藝術節」以申請撥款，並以節目的名義，舉辦展示庫藏資料的展覽和座談會，作為節目的一部份。
2004至2015年間，「大野一雄藝術節」是由大野一雄舞踏研究所與BankART1929聯合籌辦。雖然每年稍有差異，但藝術節一般為期約四星期，包括約20個演出。BankART1929是由私營機構與橫濱市政府共同創立的非牟利組織，作為橫濱市創意城市政策的一部份，BankART1929會利用橫濱市中區的歷史建築舉行各類文化及藝術活動。他們視大野一雄為橫濱的文化資產，因此給予我們極大支持。除了籌辦大野一雄藝術節，他們亦明白文獻庫的重要性，因此協助推廣，更提供空間去保存大野一雄的庫存物品。我們得以連續十年舉辦這個藝術節，並繼續進行文獻整存工作，其中一個原因便是獲得這個政府大型資助計劃的支持。
2000年代初，當我們為「大野一雄藝術節」籌劃典藏展覽及座談會時，我不認為「文獻庫」這概念在日本一般民眾中有廣泛認知。這觀感或許來自我們與政府和公眾接觸的經驗，人們以「甚麼是文獻庫？」回應我們也是常有的事。很多時，我們必須從頭解釋文獻庫的意思及其用途。因此，雖然從賣出一張明信片到組織起一場大型表演，每樣事情都成就了藝術節的成功，但在我而言，我們的最大成就是使更多人關注到文獻庫之存在及其重要性。
2007年於意大利博洛尼亞舉行的大野一雄展覽／Photo: Lucia Baldini（照片由舞蹈檔案創想提供）
2010年前後，幾個事件大大改變了文獻庫的運作模式。其一是大野一雄的離世，其二就是2011年的東北大地震。
與大部份於藝術家過身後才開展的檔案館不同，大野一雄檔案館在他事業處於高峰時就已經開始運作。只要身體狀況許可，大野一雄總會在「大野一雄藝術節」中現身。作為一個檔案館，能夠罕有地與在生的藝術家共渡一段珍貴時光，是十分幸運的。但當大野一雄於2010年逝世後，我們才猛然醒覺到文獻庫作為一個組織的角色。隨之而來是2011年3月的東北大地震。那次地震造成過千傷亡，並摧毀了無數文化資產。此事令整個日本社會明白到文化保存的重要性。這些都是令人慘痛的事情，但也激勵著我們繼續進行整存的工作。
舞蹈檔案創想就是在這段期間成立，去接手大野一雄的檔案館管理。它在2012年成立時是一個志願組織，至2016年獲認可為非牟利機構。今天，舞蹈檔案創想立志改變以往獨自營運的庫存方式，進行項目時會多加考慮它在社會上的角色，並與其他文獻庫分享想法和做法。獲認證為非牟利機構後，縱然我們管理庫存的方式無大改變，但我認為外界如何看待我們的工作是改變了。公共資助對文獻庫工作的補助有了改變，我們為取得撥款而籌辦項目的做法亦隨之改變。我們作為獨立組織時進行的項目，如今已成為受東京都廳和文化廳委託的業務。此外，日本法國巴黎銀行和日本法國巴黎銀行基金，也對我們的大型項目及日常活動給予支持。我感覺到，日本社會看待文獻庫的不同，導致了這些轉變。「甚麼是文獻庫」的時代已過去了。
雖然大眾開始關注文獻庫的角色，但我們仍要多加努力，讓我們的典藏更貼近大眾。自去年大野慶人逝世後，我們保存他和大野一雄作品的工作亦變得更加重要。但單單保存過去，不足以讓文獻庫生存。文獻庫是為了啟發未來而存在，要啟發未來，我們先要把典藏帶到人們當中。為此，我們正在建立一個線上文獻庫，盡可能讓更多人可以閱覽我們的庫存。
當前持續的冠狀病毒大流行，令線上文獻庫的需求更顯殷切。疫情來襲前，我們正在籌備一個由奧林匹克資助的藝術節，名為「東京『真』地下」：有受舞踏啟發的表演，也有在東京一些不尋常的地下空間中展出我們檔案庫的素材。雖然項目被延期到2021的3至6月，我們正在尋找新穎且具創意的方法去將藝術節帶到網上，並期望接觸到世界各地更多觀眾。
檔案界最近興起名為「檔案放送」的活動。大量演出被取消，意味很多表演者和工作人員的收入無以為繼，越來越多藝團開始嘗試利用它們庫存的典藏賺取收入。為幫助演藝界從業員，文化廳成立了名為「緊急舞台藝術檔案＋劇場數碼化支援事業」（EPAD）的文獻庫計劃，向因為疫情失去工作的從業員提供經濟援助。在舞蹈檔案創想及其他組織的幫助下，他們搜集了過去和全新的演出錄像，繼而播放發行圖利。因版權問題而未能放送的作品，則會儲存在早稻田大學坪內博士紀念演劇博物館的「日本數碼劇場檔案2020」（暫名）中。
就如十年前的東北大地震，冠狀病毒大流行也帶來另一個契機，既啟動了為期一年的EPAD計劃，也進一步推進了檔案工作的發展。EPAD的工作來得有點匆忙，但我寄望各舞蹈團體，包括DAN，可以把握這次機遇，去加強相互之間的連繫，並為未來建立一個更強大的影像整存平台。放眼冠狀病毒疫情外的大環境，文獻庫正自獨立收藏，走向未來會有更好支援的兩個不同方向：文獻庫作為社會公益事業，以及文獻庫作為一門生意，聚焦於營利。任何一個走向對我們來說都不是壞事，但我希望這一舉動不會轉瞬即逝。
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溝端俊夫
日本舞蹈創想總監
Advocating Dance Archives: A Catalyst for the Future
Original Text: Toshio Mizohata
Translator: Mai Honda
Kazuo Ohno exhibition in Bologna 2007 / Photo: Lucia Baldini (Photo provided by Dance Archive Network)
By definition, archives are a record of events, a collection of documents that are (or should be) openly available to the public. However, before I talk about dance archives in Japan and our work at Dance Archive Network (DAN), I hope you will indulge me in talking a little about my own background.
In 1983 I began studying Butoh dance with Kazuo Ohno at the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio. Kazuo Ohno (1906-2010) is known as one of the founders of Butoh along with Tatsumi Hijikata (1928-1986), and in particular for spreading Butoh to an international community. When I joined his class in 1983 he was already 77 years old, but he was still being invited to festivals all over the world and performing at world-class theatres. People from all over the world with many different backgrounds came to the studio in Yokohama asking him to teach them. He never turned anyone down, and his classes were always full. Starting from there, I went on to work for him, first doing odd jobs, and then working as a technical director, planning and operating the lighting for his performances.
In 1994 we began putting on a series of performances we called the Kazuo Ohno Retrospective series. Over the course of several years, we recreated and showcased a number of Kazuo Ohno’s major works from 1977 onwards at the 400-seat Théâtre Fonte, a public theatre in Izumi, Yokohama. The concept was to create a “complete works” of Kazuo’s performances. It was the idea of Kazuo Ohno’s son Yoshito Ohno, a master Butoh dancer himself who also directed all Kazuo’s works after Hijikata’s death in 1986, and sometimes danced with him on stage. We organized these events with the intention of preserving them. Each performance was filmed and edited to TV broadcasting quality, and recorded on Digital Betacam, and we had high quality posters made each time using Eikoh Hosoe’s famous photographs. On the day of the performances we held large-scale exhibitions with photographs and artworks in the lobby of the theatre. We were given no grants for this project, and it was entirely self-funded through the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio. Despite its challenges, looking back I think we created an immensely hospitable atmosphere.
Around the same time, we began taking out, classifying and organizing materials such as photographs, creative notes, flyers, programmes and newspaper clippings etc. that were being kept in the rehearsal studio adjacent to Kazuo Ohno’s home. Although primarily known for his role in the founding of Butoh, Kazuo's career began in the 1930s as a student of Baku Ishii and Takaya Eguchi, who were pioneers of modern dance in Japan. You could say he lived and breathed the history of Western dance in Japan. As we organized the contents of the studio, many valuable materials from this background started resurfacing.
Kazuo Ohno exhibition in Bologna 2007 / Photo: Lucia Baldini (Photo provided by Dance Archive Network)
This work at the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio in the mid-1990s at the height of Kazuo Ohno’s career was how both the Kazuo Ohno archives and my own interest in archives began, and as such, the work of Dance Archive Network - the company I now represent. The reason I began by talking about myself is because I think it’s likely that many dance archives in Japan began this way, by individuals driven by a mission to do something about a mountain of documentation they are faced with. This is due in part to the lack of a public archive in Japan, but I think it also shows the great enthusiasm of the close teacher-student relationship based Japanese dance community. It may just be that Japan has a history of archives run independently by people with no experience of archiving.
That’s not to say that independently run archives run are bad. If anything, they tend to be managed by people who are familiar with the artist's achievements and materials, and so have the advantage of being able to accumulate detailed knowledge of the archived materials. However, there is very little profit to be made out of archiving, and it requires a huge amount of work. This makes it very difficult for continuous archival work to be carried out in cases where there is no strong economic foundation in place. Additionally, organizations that are held together by the enthusiasm of individuals may find that enthusiasm peters out when the work is passed on to another generation. The Kazuo Ohno archives initially belonged to the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio, but as a voluntary organization it depended almost entirely on the Ohno family. It was a typical independently run archive, and as such I think it had its strengths and weaknesses.
As archive work was not considered profitable, in Japan it did not qualify for public funding. The Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Japan Arts Council only supplied grants to support performances and creation, there were no grants tailored to archive projects. As a result, we struggled to keep the work of the Kazuo Ohno archives going until the 2000s, when we began to address the issue of profit by selling books and DVDs that we produced using archive material. This work had good results. The first books we published, Workshop Words and Food for the Soul, were translated into five languages including English, Chinese and Italian. To get around the issue of public funding, we also began a festival called the Kazuo Ohno Festival, and used this as a means to hold exhibitions of our archived materials and symposiums as part of the programme.
From 2004 to 2015, the Kazuo Ohno Festival was organised by the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio in collaboration with BankART1929. Although it differed every year, each festival was about four weeks long, with a programme of about 20 performances. Run as a non-profit organization, BankART1929 is the result of a collaborative engagement between the private sector and Yokohama City government to utilise historic buildings in central Yokohama for cultural and artistic activities as part of Yokohama's creative city policy. They recognised Kazuo Ohno as a cultural asset to Yokohama, and so lent us a great deal of support. As well as holding the Kazuo Ohno Festival, they understood the significance of the archive, helped promote it and even offered to house the Kazuo Ohno archive materials. One of the reasons we were able to continue this festival for ten years, and consequently continue our archive work, is because we had the support of this large government-funded project.
In the early 2000s, at the time we were planning the archive exhibitions and symposiums for the Kazuo Ohno Festival, I don’t believe the word “archive” was well known among the Japanese general public. It may be because we were reaching out to the government and the general public, but it was not unusual for people to react with “what’s an archive?”. There were many times when we had to explain the meaning and purpose of an archive from scratch. So although everything, from the sale of a single postcard to the organization of the large-scale performances, made a great contribution to the success of the festival, for me our biggest achievement was in raising awareness of the existence and significance of archives.
Kazuo Ohno exhibition in Bologna 2007 / Photo: Lucia Baldini (Photo provided by Dance Archive Network)
Around the year 2010, a couple of events caused major changes in the way the archive was run. One was the passing of Kazuo Ohno. The other was the Great Tohoku Earthquake of 2011.
In contrast to most archives, which begin after the death of an artist, the Kazuo Ohno archive started while the artist was at the height of his career. Kazuo Ohno himself would always appear at some point during the Kazuo Ohno Festival, for as long his physical condition permitted. The archive was blessed with a rare period in which it existed in tandem with the living artist. However, when Kazuo Ohno passed away in 2010, we suddenly became more aware of the role of the archive as an organization. This was followed by the Great Tohoku Earthquake in March 2011. The earthquake, in which many thousands lost their lives, also destroyed many cultural properties. It was an event which made the whole of Japanese society aware of the significance of archiving culture. These were sad and painful events, but they also incentivised the continuation of our archive work.
It was during this period that Dance Archive Network (DAN) was established to take over management of the Kazuo Ohno archives, first as a voluntary organization in 2012, and then as a certified non-profit organization in 2016. Today, DAN aims to break away from the independently run method of archiving, to carry out work that is more conscious of its role in society and to share these ideas and methods with other archives. Although the way we manage the archive has not really changed since we became a certified non-profit organization, I do think the way in which our work is received has changed. There have been some changes in public funding for archive work, and with it our method of getting financial support by organizing projects for funding purposes. What we originally did as an independent organization has become a business commissioned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Additionally, BNP Paribas Japan and BNP Paribas Foundation have provided support for our large-scale events and everyday activities. I feel this change may be due to a shift in how Japanese society as a whole views archives. The “what’s an archive?” era is over.
Although people have become more aware of the role of archives, there is still much we can do to make our archive more accessible. Last year we saw the death of Yoshito Ohno, and our work as an archive to preserve both his and Kazuo Ohno’s work has become more crucial than ever. However, an archive cannot survive simply by preserving the past. An archive exists to inspire the future, and to inspire the future we must find ways to bring the archive to people. To this end, we are currently building an online archive of our materials, to give as many people access to them as possible.
The need for our work to go online has only been heightened by the current ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Before the pandemic began, we were organising an Olympics-funded festival called Tokyo Real Underground, of performances inspired by Butoh, and exhibitions with material from our archive presented in unusual underground spaces in Tokyo. Although it has been postponed to March–June 2021, we are now finding new and creative ways in which to bring the festival online, and hopefully reach a more global audience.
A recent trend that has been happening in the world of archives is something called “archive haishin” (archive distribution). The huge number of cancelled performances has meant many artists and staff have had no income, and a growing number of companies have been trying to make a profit out of their archives. In order to help those working in the industry, the Agency for Cultural Affairs has set up an archive project called Emergency Performing Arts Archive + Digital Theatre (EPAD), with the aim of providing financial support to those in the industry who have lost work due to the pandemic. With the help of organizations such as DAN, they are collecting both past and new videos of performances, which are then distributed for a profit. Works that cannot be distributed for copyright reasons will be placed in the Japan Digital Theatre Archives 2020 (JDTA) (tentative name), which will be held in the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum at Waseda University.
As was the case with the Great Tohoku Earthquake ten years ago, the Coronavirus pandemic has been a trigger, initiating the one-year EPAD project and furthering the work of archives. The work for EPAD has felt a little rushed, but my hope is that dance organizations, including DAN, can take this as an opportunity to strengthen our connections and build a stronger video archive platform for the future. Looking at the context beyond the Coronavirus pandemic, archives are moving away from independent collections in two directions that may be better supported in the future: archives as a social benefit, and archives as a business, focused on profit. Neither of these options is bad for us, and I hope this is not just a temporary development.
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Toshio Mizohata
Director of Dance Archive Network in Japan
