hibi was the result of a collaboration between Un Yamada and Yukiko Shinozaki. The japanese word 'hibi' means both 'everyday' as well as 'crack': Two dancers briefly cross paths. They don't meet again for a while but keep track of each other's work. Periodically check the other's online diary. Start up a conversation. A performance takes shape slowly. Through their electronic correspondence, mostly. Long distance. Between continents and time zones. Apart but linked. They send thoughts, lengthy responses. Revisit ideas, themes, and movements. Punctuated with quotations, intimate personal stories, small and large everyday life events. 'hibi' echoes the story of its origin. What happens when these two dancers suddenly find themselves in the same space? What do they share? Where does one body end and the other begin? What happens to this space around and between them?

hibi embodies the tensions inherent in both meanings of this Japanese word: in the simultaneously continuous and discontinuous nature of the 'everyday' - its constant rhythm always marked and interrupted by personal experiences and encounters - and in the 'cracked' tea bowl, broken but not (yet) falling apart. 


choreography and dance: Yukiko Shinozaki , Un Yamada / sound: Christoph De Boeck / dramaturgy: Sara Jansen / technical collaborator: Hans Meijer
production: deepblue, co.yamada un / co-production: Stuk / in collaboration with: Kaaitheater, Vooruit, Buda / with the support from: the Flemish Community, Saison Foundation / assisted by : contemporary art network

world premiere: January 7 2007 at Kichijoji theatre - Tokyo, Japan.