Janet Aisawa

Janet Aisawa’s current piece “Them” will be shown at Rutgers Presbyterian Church, 5th floor Theater, 136 W. 73rd St, NYC on March 10, 2017 at 7:00. It will also be shown at the University Settlement, 184 Eldridge St, NYC on June 29, 30, July 1 at 8:00 “Them” is based on interviews from Japanese Americans who were interned in camps in the United States during World War II and who were affected by racism, group thinking, murder, and hysteria. It tells the story of these American citizens becoming “The Other” when the Constitution is disregarded and “I” and ‘You” become “Them”.
An excerpt of Yuko Takebe’s film “Shadows of Hiroshima” will be included in the piece. “Shadows of Hiroshima” is about about a Wandering Soul that was killed when the Atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the United States. It is a response to the devastation that this horrific act has had on the soul of humanity.

In conjunction with “Them” will be the “Cranes for Peace Project” which will have its kick-off at Rutgers Presbyterian Church on March 5, 2017 at 11:15. 1000 origami cranes will be made with each individual’s wish for peace written on the back of the origami paper. These cranes will be strung together and placed on Sadako’s Children’s Monument in Hiroshima, Japan. Sadako was 2 years old when the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and she died of radiation poisoning when she was 12. Legend says that if you make 1000 cranes your wish will come true. This string of cranes will be placed on Sadako’s Peace Memorial on August 6, 2017, 72 years after the United States dropped the Atom bomb on Hiroshima. “This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace in the world.”

Janet’s other performance pieces were “Generations, A Lifetime in Dance”, 2012, an evening long piece which included video and recorded interviews of dancers aged nine to ninety and was presented by the Construction Company, NYC. Janet co-directed “Spring Together” with Beth Soll at the Medicine Show Theatre in April 2015 and choreographed “Dancing in Circles” a low-flying trapeze dance. “The Nostalgic Body,” 2004, a site-specific evening length piece was a collaboration with Mary-Clare McKenna and presented at the Silver Whale Gallery in Jeffersonville, NY and at Chisenhale in London and included several films, videos, and interviews with mothers and fathers.
Janet worked with Lee Nagrin for 20 years, as assistant director, dramaturge, and performer. She is presently a founding member of Julie Ludwick’s Fly-by-Night Dance Theater an aerial dance company where she has been dancer, rehearsal director, and assistant director. She has performed with Ollom Movement Art, Kristin Hatleberg, Laura Shapiro, and Dan Froot. She was the 2006 National Amateur Theater Arts champion in ballroom dance.
www.AiDanceTheater.com