Dressing Room Choreography
Artist
Yoko Mazza
Date2016
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of The Hilbert Collection
Object number2020.023
DescriptionIn this work, Lisa is assisting Mikaela with her white dress that features a long train known to Flamenco dancers as bata de cola, a dress style that is deeply rooted in the Flamenco tradition. The scene was initially captured with the use of artist Yoko Mazza’s cell phone. Dancers from the Mikaela Kai Flamenco group were preparing for a performance at the Aratani Theater in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles on October 2015.
Yoko was also a performer at this event. Her participation as a dancer in these performances gives her a unique perspective into the backstage choreography of her dance partners preparing for a show.
Yoko has adapted a technique used by photojournalist in which they blend in so well with their subjects and their environment that their camera activities go completely unnoticed. This technique allows her to capture such intimate moments discreetly and without compromise. Employing this technique, Yoko was able to capture this intimate image that seems as if the two dancers are already dancing while they are still in their dressing room.
Flamenco dancing is one of the most characteristic elements of Spanish culture, especially throughout the southern region of Spain known as Andalucía.
Not widely known outside the boundaries of Spain or Japan, is the fact the many Japanese women are very enthusiastic participants in the Flamenco art form. One of the theories of this phenomenon is that the Japanese have an outlook on life in which self-development through any action that involves personal growth, be it an artistic, academic or a cultural endeavor, is absolutely necessary to promote one’s personal growth. The highly achieved art form of Flamenco dancing, with its pure expression of passion and emotion, attract many Japanese due to the fact that under the strict social norms and behavior of their own culture, where the showing of emotion and feeling is completely cancelled out, allows them the opportunity to express these repressed feelings freely and without restriction.
-Yoko Mazza (artist)
On View
Not on viewCollections
1960s
