Hanako Hayakawa

Subjected to endless streams of information, the figure of the lurker, commonly describing someone who reads messages in a chat room without taking part, is also a figure that lies hidden, as if in ambush, observing, playfully hiding in the shadows and allowing for ambiguity to happen. In her performance Lurker, Hayakawa proposes a ghostly, empty, floating body—an unsettled being, reluctant to settle into a singular identity, immersed in sensation and emotion.

Artistically, the performance is grounded in Para Para and Nō theater. Para Para is a popular club dance style from Japan, with synchronized choreographies danced from the 1980s to today. From Nō theater, Hayakawa takes the development of a highly typical character and the connection between the everyday and the supernatural. Lurker is an astonishing dance solo in which Hayakawa wanders through a space with eerily animated objects.