Dance About Rice

Dance About Rice begins with the body in motion. Whether inward or outward, the energy generated by this circulation moves the body from one boundary toward another; we may call this process of moving “dance.”

Bodily movement does not need to be deliberately given an image of beauty or sublimity. When a fragment taken directly from everyday life is viewed from another angle, symbolic meaning and the relationship between performance and viewing can emerge.

Holding rice stalks, the artists wander, rest, change the way they embrace the rice, and walk again through villages and along field ridges. Rain falls throughout, while the edges of branches repeatedly rub against the body and cause pain. It is another way—beyond eating—of sensing one another with rice.