Now this moment, we are alive with breathing...(English version)

Dear all,

Now this moment, we are alive with breathing... 
I appreciate this living moments deeply.

Since this big earthquake and Tsunami, and nuclear power plant disaster, incredible number
of people have lost their houses, works, and even their life.
If it happened in Kansai area like Osaka, Kyoto where I was staying,,, then I should have
met this experience.
In my thought, the people in the stricken area now are facing the difficult and painful situation
instead of us, instead of people who were'nt hit by disaster. The people who lost life might
have passed away instead of us, instead of people who were saved.
On this earth, at various part of of the world, there are so many life facing the natural
disaster, human disaster and war,etc. They are facing and suffering instead of us, instead of
the other people. Thinking of these people,  I am feeling strongly I should keep on dance of
life deeply with appreciation for the life. I need to continue dancing.

In 1995, we had a big earthquake in Kobe in Japan. I was there in Kobe,  meeting people
and giving requiem dance in various places in this strickenc area.
Around that time, I was teaching the nature school for children about for 10 years, with
guiding how to make fire, how we dance in nature, how to dye color from natural plant,
or how to paint, etc.

One month after the situation got calm down, I started to make requiem dance in Kobe with
praying and hoping to do something what I could do for my friends who lost life there.
Probably I was at the sametime dancing for myself, too. With pain and sadness in my heart,
I knew I could not do anything for them after their death.
Anyway, I was there for 1 month, sleeping at refugee centre, volunteer centre, and dancing
requiem around Nagata district in Kobe , where many people lost life. ( It might have
been quite surprising volunteer way...but people liked it , they said. )  I had deep meeting
with old old people,  people who lost their father or mother or relatives,  children. 
Some people enjoyed my dance quietly with tears in their eyes. We shared deep time with
them, and made lantern for the same number of lost life, we made a memorial service with 
5,000 lantern placing by the broken street which was full of rubble everywhere.
It goes back to 17years...  And around that time, many musician, folk singers also played 
music at various refugee centres..
At this Kobe, what I did was not offering something to people, but learning again dance, 
learning about life from those people.

"What is dance for us ? " It concerns a lot with prayer.  A prayer is releasing and purifying 
our inner soul. A prayer is beyond the life and the death. I feel it as a dance itself truly.

This time I will perform in Tokyo " Hane no Ki" and " Vers l'Autre Monde..." in Kyoto .
These pieces were made with theme of "releasing and purifying soul beyond the life and
the death". And in Shizuoka, we perform imprivising piece" to the memory of the sea" and 
" from the memory of the sea", which is reminding the memory of life carrying music and 
dance from ancient time.
Music and dance should have been a prayer since old time. I hope to dance to resonate 
a prayer with audience, to send this resonance to the earthquake stricken area, nuclear accident area in Japan and the place of any kind of nature disaster, human disaster, battlefield in the world.  And I hope to dance to dedicate the life of now.

Here from my heart, I am sending deep prayer for the people suffering from this big disaster, the people who lost life. As spring comes after winter, I hope the time will come that one can 
love a tiny flower even in the pain.

Wishing dance and music to be able to become this flower....


Atsushi Takenouchi

2011 Mar 24
Osaka
Japan


*This is translated into English from Atsushi original Japanese letter. We wanted to put this English version on the blog as quick as possible, so there might be some English writing mistake. In this case, we are sorry if there are some unclear English writing....!                                                                                                  Globe JINEN