Mentor Of The Month

Q & A WITH JAY HIRABAYASHI

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Briefly tell me about Kokoro Dance?

My wife, Barbara Bourget and myself formed KokoroDance in 1986. We had just left IDAM and decided to form our own company to have the opportunity to explore our own artistic vision. That vision did include an exploration of Butoh which at that time we did not know very much about. In the past 21 years has been a continuous exploration of our own dance aescetic.

You also began the Vancouver International Dance Festilval, please tell me a little about that.

In 1998 we invite three Butoh artists to Vancouver and called it the Vancouver International Butoh Festival. From that experience we decided that we wanted to expand the kind of dance that we presented. So in 2000, we started the Vancouver International Dance Festival which has steadly grown over the last 8 years.

So you are Kojoro Dance, the Vancouver International Dance Festival and you’re an artist administrator. What does an average work day look like for you?

I don’t really have an average day, every day is different depending on the kind of tasks that I have to do. I teach twice a week. Then we’re in rehearsal for our own creations. I’m in the office from 9 til noon and then in the studio from 12:30 to 4:30 and then back in the office from 5pm until 1 or 2 in morning.

What would you say are the challenges you face juggling your artist and administrator hats?

It’s mostly energy. When I’m dancing I have less energy for doing administrative tasks and it takes me longer. When I’m not dancing, it’s still long days because most of the admin tasks I do myself apart from some help from others.

What are some way s that overcome this challenge? 

I don’t. I have to push forward.

The artist role and the administrator role, in what ways are these roles at odds with each other?

It’s a battle for time really. I’d like to have more time to spend in the studio but it’s just not available.

What are the benefits of an artist handling his or her own adminstrative duties and what are the drawbacks?

The drawback is time. The advantages are that I can write very well about our artistic intentions, because I know what they are and I’m passionate about it. I think as an artist it is really important to know how you’re company is doing administratively and how it’s doing financially. Wearing both hats helps a lot with that.

As an artist at what point should you say, “I need help, I can’t do this alone, I need to bring an outsider to handle the administrative duties.”

In my own case, I would get way behind in book keeping. Eventually, it became clear that we needed to hire a bookkeeper, to plug in all those numbers because it’s a task that I didn’t really enjoy doing, so I’d put it off and have months to catch up.

If you identify an area that you are not particular fond of, it’s time to find someone to come in and do it.

Another area for me was publicity, because it’s hard to blow your own horn. It’s more efficient to have somebody else to speak for you.

What advice do you have for artists who choose to bring in outside help?

I still think you have to stay on top of what you are hiring the person to do, you can’t just abdicate all your responsibilities. You still have to monitor what they’re doing direct what they’re doing and get reports from them on what they’re doing. Otherwise you run the risk of having someone take you in a direction that you may not want to go.

How does being an administrator inform your practice as an artist?

As an artist, I am more aware of all the costs of any project that I might be thinking of doing. I’m aware of all the legal limitations and liabilities that have to be taken care of. I think that I well informed in both areas about what is possible and what isn’t. Also, I know when risks can be taken.

What about the opposite. How does being an artist inform your practice as an administrator?

Well again, it’s charges my administration with passion. It is my life that I am dealing with. I put as much attention into administrative duties as I do my creative.

What trends are informing your practice as an artist/administrator

I don’t know if it’s a trend but it’s something that we’re starting, which is artist to artist networking as opposed to the more established model of the artist looking for a presenter to show their work.

Can you give me an example?

We’re trying to encourage other artists to start a festival. So we started to festival and we invite other artists to perform. We’d like other artists to do the same in their cities. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a festival, it could be a workshop or a chaired performance or one off event. We’re interested in encouraging other artists to do that and I think that’s one way of helping to disseminate dance around the world.


Interview conducted by Sabrina Mehra.