Nanako Matsumoto & Kengo Nishimoto / team chiipro

What is the “NEO uterus movement” which ties together sumo and menstruation?

Nanako Matsumoto and Kengo Nishimoto are the artists behind performance unit team chiipro. They were selected for Kyoto Experiment’s first open-call project and have been researching and creating for two years.

The two artists first began their research in 2021, centering it on the theme of the waltz. When the Covid-19 pandemic made people wary of physical contact, the duo presented a work in which they danced a waltz with an imaginary “other”––connecting prewar Kyoto to the present day, with the history of the dancing geiko*(1) in Kyoto as a departure point. This year, they are further developing their research surrounding women’s bodies and the theme of touching/not touching, and presenting a work on the theme of re-mystifying menstruation. Menstruation has been given meaning at the intersection of social customs and scientific discourse. In this work, while still emphasizing scientific knowledge and understanding, the group performs a ritual dance around the absurdity of menstruation, which is ungraspable through scientific discourse and understanding alone. What emerges is the shiko*(2) dance which involves opening and raising the legs before stomping on the ground. The performance, which the artists call the “NEO uterus movement,” takes inspiration from the motion of shiko to wittily transgress a social boundary.

In this work, Matsumoto and Nishimoto embody the vast amount of research they have gathered over the past two years. The two artists’ engagements in text and dance collide and respond to each other in calculated harmony. Through this, a new dohyo*(3) of lecture-performance may open up.

*(1) Another word for “geisha” in Kyoto dialect.
*(2) Traditionally refers to the ceremonial leg raising ritual done by sumo wrestlers.
*(3) Sumo ring