Some of the first thoughts that strike you about Ningyo, are its beautiful and dark imageries with spectacular use of lights and stage elements. Contemporary dancer Nicole Seiler’s attempt to question the idea of beauty with a metaphor like Ningyo seems no ordinary task. Ningyo is (a Japanese word for human fish) a fish like creature that comes from the Japanese folklore. It was believed to bring misfortune and the fishermen threw these creatures back into the sea.
For Nicole, the inspiration to create this production came from the different mermaid legends in the world. “There are so many stories in different countries across different continents. In some of them, the mermaids are beautiful, in some of them they are monstruous. I was fascinated with Ningyo’s character for her multitude of faces,” says Nicole. She says that she does not intellectually reflect upon the choice of Ningyo, as it just seemed right in order to relate to these ancient stories. Nicole created Ningyo in 2008 and toured the piece extensively all over Switzerland, Europe and South Africa. She is now in Mumbai to present her dance production for two days, one of which was staged on February 2 at the NCPA.
As a choreographer and video artist, Nicole set up her dance company in 2002. She is known for aesthetics that include bringing about a beautiful blend of dance and multimedia. The use of lights, a pool of water and various multimedia projections simply make the journey of Ningyo more fascinating. Some of them are contrasting sequences, also exploring the idea of duality of in life. Solo dancer Chiharu Mimaya, a Japanese contemporary dancer takes the audience through the journey of Ningyo. It took ten weeks of rehearsals in a theatre like space where Nicole and her dancers would try out projections and light right from day one. “We also had this whole research around the legends, ideas for the stage design and search for collaborators,” says Nicole.
She explains her style of choreography, which starts from finding solutions and then formulating towards what is needed. “Before going into a rehearsal space I have starting points. But usually, the things I have in mind don’t work. So that’s where the creation process starts. It’s basically about finding solutions. Together in a rich ping-pong like situation between the dancers, along with the video creation, the light design, the costume design, the music and the stage design, we improvise, search, fix scenes and then throw them away again. I work in a very intuitive way — sometimes ideas feel right and seem to fit, sometimes they don’t. The dance and the video are created and conceived together — one does not exist without the other, they communicate constantly,” she explains. The dance production was in close collaboration with the two dancers whom this solo was created with. Nicole says that most of the choreography is quite impromptu. “We all have a contemporary dance background. The choreographies were developed based on an improvisation process. Till now, in the finished performances most of the movement stays improvised. The quality of movement, the timing and the space is set, but the actual movements are invented on the spot during the performance,” says Nicole.
A contemporary dance production delving into depths of beauty and repulsion is not something that you come across everyday. And to come up with that kind of choreography, which makes use of some real elements along with dynamic use of lights is challenging. “The water present on stage was probably the biggest challenge for the dancer. It gets cold quickly and it is not easy for the body to adjust to temperatures quickly on stage. In the process, the body is not able to produce movements like it’s used to,” says Nicole.
She says that she is interested in knowing more about the Indian contemporary dance scene and wants to meet local dancers and choreographers. As far as Ningyo is concerned, Nicole says that she is constantly improvising upon the idea. “Every creation influences the next one and therefore the research process in combining dance and video will go on,” says Nicole.