LIGHT IN PERFORMANCE
2023
Light in performance
design proposal
Yosa Buson & Haiku Poem
The light of a candle
is transferred to another candle—
spring twilight.
— Yosa Buson
Yosa Buson was a Japanese poet and painter who lived from 1716 to 1784, particularly known for his haiku poetry. Unlike modern haiku which tends to focus more on realism, Buson created those concise haiku through his vast imagination.
"The Light of a Candle" describes a simple yet powerful moment. The flame of one candle can ignite another, and seasons transit from winter to spring. It encompasses the contemplation of how dark/death accompanies light/life. Spring Twilight describes a fleeting moment that is incredibly beautiful while also hinting at impermanence, serenity, renewal and hope.
燭の火を
燭にうつすや
春の夕
——与謝蕪村
The Story I wrote
燭の火を
燭にうつすや
春の夕
——与謝蕪村
There is a mountain has a deity who is in charge of thousands of candles in the shrine. Each candle represents one life in the mountain. In the later winter, a girl arrives at an old mountain in search of a place to die. She lies down near a shrine and closes her eyes. The deity, on a whim, decides to take her on a journey of his memories in a dream. He shows her sights he had seen over the centuries - the morning sunlight, the freshness of the rain, and the tranquillity of the night... At the next day's sunrise, the sky turns unusually red, and thousands of candles all of which are about to burn out. Unstoppable flames have engulfed the mountain, and the deity has long before decided to die with it. However, he hands a new candle to the girl and uses its own candle to light hers, wishing her to continue living.
After the mountain consumed by the fire, only ashes and barrenness remain. The girl, holding a candle, visits the same place where she had that dream. Surrounding the shrine are rows of fresh candles. She uses her candle to light those candles. At this time it is the twilight of spring.
The light of a candle
is transferred to another candle—
spring twilight.
— Yosa Buson
StoryBoard
1 - The Dying Mountain
The performance would be on a proscenium stage, and everything in the frame would be behind the plaster line. The backdrop would be a display screen.
This scene introduces the dying mountain and its deity. The light of candles only appears a little in the background, just to foreshadowing later events. The entire stage is dimly lit and filled with mist. In Japanese culture, white is considered a sacred colour, and influenced by Buddhism, it also represents death and mourning. Illuminated by faint white lights from above, only the mist and the spirits in white garments are visible, leaving a deeper impression of the character and the atmosphere of lifelessness.
The mist weakens human senses and limits our interaction with the world, creating a sense of unease and mystery. This suggests the impending crisis faced by the mountain and reflects the solitude of the deity.
2 - The Girl in Snow
On this winter day, the little girl enters the mountain, seeking a place to sleep forever. Her dress is red - a colour, especially in shrines, believed to provide protection from disaster and to increase spiritual connection to the divine. These elements foreshadow the fate of the little girl who will live and her encounter with the spirit. A strong-intensity light illuminates the stage, creating intense contrasts of light and shadow, yet causing colours to fade. The environment is pale slightly tinged with cold tones reminiscent of a glacier. This allows the audience to feel the coldness and isolation of the world.
3 - The Beginning of Dream
Then, a beam of hard-edge spotlight shines diagonally from a high angle onto the girl - the deity decides to give her a dream. This light cannot explain the direction it came from, appearing almost out of nowhere, adding to a touch of fantasy.
4 - The Beginning of Dream 2
As the surroundings gradually darken and the tone warms, that hard-edge spotlight grows brighter and turns purple, while the girl's clothing gradually reveals more vibrant hues. Yellow and purple being complementary colours trick creative imagination. The entire stage transforms into a dreamy space, featuring a colour palette rarely found in nature symbolizing fantasies. Finally, the stage gradually darkens, signifying the beginning of the dream.
5 - Early Morning in The Memory
The deity decides to show her the landscapes he has witnessed over the centuries. Following the previous dimmed scene, that high-angle spotlight transforms into multiple narrower beams of golden, hard-edge light - the golden hour at sunrise. This directional light is warm, and soft, and casts a beautiful glow on the skin. I incorporate the colours of the forest at that moment directly from nature photos and use gentle and average tones of green and yellow to illuminate the stage. This setting represents the awakening of the world renewal. The deity also wishes the girl to feel this radiant light of hope.
6 - Night in The Memory
The blue light of the forest night shines dimly from the top onto the stage. The colours in nature are subtle, so I use deep blue on the sides of the stage, and a lighter cyan blue for the centre. This lessens the depressing feeling of dark colours through the gradient, bringing forth a sense of tranquillity and beauty in its purest form.
7 - The Fire
Unfortunatly after the evening, the life of the mountain and the deity finally reaches their ends - an irreparable fire has spread. I aim to portray a pure devastating and horrible moment as a dramatic contrast to the scenes before. The backdrop emits an orange-red light, while high-intensity red and orange lights are from all directions flickering and swaying. Under the red light, no other colours are visible, turning the entire stage into a world of red and black. This is to show the audience the fierceness, lethality of the fire, and the mercilessness of nature. Simultaneously, those candles start to appear once again.
8 - The Candles for Life
The deity tells the little girl that these candles represent the length of each life, and the dying candles mean that the lives on this mountain are nearing their end. Then, he gives the girl a new candle as a gift , and uses his own candle, which is about to burn out, to ignite hers, wishing her to continue living.
A hard-edge top light illuminates the centre of the stage. The intense golden light sculptures the two figures and shines so bright that it gives them a luminous illusion. The fire red fades away, and the surrounding small candles start to light up one by one. They are like stars surrounding the two characters. The flickering lights in the dim space make people calm and relaxed. As if time has momentarily stopped, this moment feels infinitely long. All of these are designed to capture the audience's attention on the act of passing the candlelight - it is a significant turning point for the character representing the handing down of life and hope.
9 - Gone
After the fire subsides, the mountain turns into a desolate wasteland of withered brown. At this moment, the only light source on the stage is the image on the backdrop screen. It allows the audience to experience the loss of life in a dim and dull visual.
10 - The Light of A Candle
Winter has gone. The little girl holds a candle visiting the old place and finds that there are new candles around the broken Torii - new lives are arriving. Like the deity once did, she uses her candle to light those candles at this twilight of spring. A spherical golden light source is hung from above as the sun. Orange and golden sidelights are positioned at a slight angle, mimicking the direction of the sun setting. With the orange glow and the flickering light of the candles, everything feels serene and warm. Life and hope are being passed down. The girl's life is just beginning, just like the arrival of spring.
LIGHT IN PERFORMANCE
2023
Light in performance
design proposal
Yosa Buson & Haiku Poem
The light of a candle
is transferred to another candle—
spring twilight.
— Yosa Buson
Yosa Buson was a Japanese poet and painter who lived from 1716 to 1784, particularly known for his haiku poetry. Unlike modern haiku which tends to focus more on realism, Buson created those concise haiku through his vast imagination.
"The Light of a Candle" describes a simple yet powerful moment. The flame of one candle can ignite another, and seasons transit from winter to spring. It encompasses the contemplation of how dark/death accompanies light/life. Spring Twilight describes a fleeting moment that is incredibly beautiful while also hinting at impermanence, serenity, renewal and hope.
燭の火を
燭にうつすや
春の夕
——与謝蕪村
The Story I wrote
燭の火を
燭にうつすや
春の夕
——与謝蕪村
There is a mountain has a deity who is in charge of thousands of candles in the shrine. Each candle represents one life in the mountain. In the later winter, a girl arrives at an old mountain in search of a place to die. She lies down near a shrine and closes her eyes. The deity, on a whim, decides to take her on a journey of his memories in a dream. He shows her sights he had seen over the centuries - the morning sunlight, the freshness of the rain, and the tranquillity of the night... At the next day's sunrise, the sky turns unusually red, and thousands of candles all of which are about to burn out. Unstoppable flames have engulfed the mountain, and the deity has long before decided to die with it. However, he hands a new candle to the girl and uses its own candle to light hers, wishing her to continue living.
After the mountain consumed by the fire, only ashes and barrenness remain. The girl, holding a candle, visits the same place where she had that dream. Surrounding the shrine are rows of fresh candles. She uses her candle to light those candles. At this time it is the twilight of spring.
The light of a candle
is transferred to another candle—
spring twilight.
— Yosa Buson
StoryBoard
1 - The Dying Mountain
The performance would be on a proscenium stage, and everything in the frame would be behind the plaster line. The backdrop would be a display screen.
This scene introduces the dying mountain and its deity. The light of candles only appears a little in the background, just to foreshadowing later events. The entire stage is dimly lit and filled with mist. In Japanese culture, white is considered a sacred colour, and influenced by Buddhism, it also represents death and mourning. Illuminated by faint white lights from above, only the mist and the spirits in white garments are visible, leaving a deeper impression of the character and the atmosphere of lifelessness.
The mist weakens human senses and limits our interaction with the world, creating a sense of unease and mystery. This suggests the impending crisis faced by the mountain and reflects the solitude of the deity.
2 - The Girl in Snow
On this winter day, the little girl enters the mountain, seeking a place to sleep forever. Her dress is red - a colour, especially in shrines, believed to provide protection from disaster and to increase spiritual connection to the divine. These elements foreshadow the fate of the little girl who will live and her encounter with the spirit. A strong-intensity light illuminates the stage, creating intense contrasts of light and shadow, yet causing colours to fade. The environment is pale slightly tinged with cold tones reminiscent of a glacier. This allows the audience to feel the coldness and isolation of the world.
3 - The Beginning of Dream
Then, a beam of hard-edge spotlight shines diagonally from a high angle onto the girl - the deity decides to give her a dream. This light cannot explain the direction it came from, appearing almost out of nowhere, adding to a touch of fantasy.
4 - The Beginning of Dream 2
As the surroundings gradually darken and the tone warms, that hard-edge spotlight grows brighter and turns purple, while the girl's clothing gradually reveals more vibrant hues. Yellow and purple being complementary colours trick creative imagination. The entire stage transforms into a dreamy space, featuring a colour palette rarely found in nature symbolizing fantasies. Finally, the stage gradually darkens, signifying the beginning of the dream.
5 - Early Morning in The Memory
The deity decides to show her the landscapes he has witnessed over the centuries. Following the previous dimmed scene, that high-angle spotlight transforms into multiple narrower beams of golden, hard-edge light - the golden hour at sunrise. This directional light is warm, and soft, and casts a beautiful glow on the skin. I incorporate the colours of the forest at that moment directly from nature photos and use gentle and average tones of green and yellow to illuminate the stage. This setting represents the awakening of the world renewal. The deity also wishes the girl to feel this radiant light of hope.
6 - Night in The Memory
The blue light of the forest night shines dimly from the top onto the stage. The colours in nature are subtle, so I use deep blue on the sides of the stage, and a lighter cyan blue for the centre. This lessens the depressing feeling of dark colours through the gradient, bringing forth a sense of tranquillity and beauty in its purest form.
7 - The Fire
Unfortunatly after the evening, the life of the mountain and the deity finally reaches their ends - an irreparable fire has spread. I aim to portray a pure devastating and horrible moment as a dramatic contrast to the scenes before. The backdrop emits an orange-red light, while high-intensity red and orange lights are from all directions flickering and swaying. Under the red light, no other colours are visible, turning the entire stage into a world of red and black. This is to show the audience the fierceness, lethality of the fire, and the mercilessness of nature. Simultaneously, those candles start to appear once again.
8 - The Candles for Life
The deity tells the little girl that these candles represent the length of each life, and the dying candles mean that the lives on this mountain are nearing their end. Then, he gives the girl a new candle as a gift , and uses his own candle, which is about to burn out, to ignite hers, wishing her to continue living.
A hard-edge top light illuminates the centre of the stage. The intense golden light sculptures the two figures and shines so bright that it gives them a luminous illusion. The fire red fades away, and the surrounding small candles start to light up one by one. They are like stars surrounding the two characters. The flickering lights in the dim space make people calm and relaxed. As if time has momentarily stopped, this moment feels infinitely long. All of these are designed to capture the audience's attention on the act of passing the candlelight - it is a significant turning point for the character representing the handing down of life and hope.
9 - Gone
After the fire subsides, the mountain turns into a desolate wasteland of withered brown. At this moment, the only light source on the stage is the image on the backdrop screen. It allows the audience to experience the loss of life in a dim and dull visual.
10 - The Light of A Candle
Winter has gone. The little girl holds a candle visiting the old place and finds that there are new candles around the broken Torii - new lives are arriving. Like the deity once did, she uses her candle to light those candles at this twilight of spring. A spherical golden light source is hung from above as the sun. Orange and golden sidelights are positioned at a slight angle, mimicking the direction of the sun setting. With the orange glow and the flickering light of the candles, everything feels serene and warm. Life and hope are being passed down. The girl's life is just beginning, just like the arrival of spring.
LIGHT IN PERFORMANCE
2023
Light in performance
design proposal
Yosa Buson & Haiku Poem
The light of a candle
is transferred to another candle—
spring twilight.
— Yosa Buson
Yosa Buson was a Japanese poet and painter who lived from 1716 to 1784, particularly known for his haiku poetry. Unlike modern haiku which tends to focus more on realism, Buson created those concise haiku through his vast imagination.
"The Light of a Candle" describes a simple yet powerful moment. The flame of one candle can ignite another, and seasons transit from winter to spring. It encompasses the contemplation of how dark/death accompanies light/life. Spring Twilight describes a fleeting moment that is incredibly beautiful while also hinting at impermanence, serenity, renewal and hope.
燭の火を
燭にうつすや
春の夕
——与謝蕪村
The Story I wrote
燭の火を
燭にうつすや
春の夕
——与謝蕪村
There is a mountain has a deity who is in charge of thousands of candles in the shrine. Each candle represents one life in the mountain. In the later winter, a girl arrives at an old mountain in search of a place to die. She lies down near a shrine and closes her eyes. The deity, on a whim, decides to take her on a journey of his memories in a dream. He shows her sights he had seen over the centuries - the morning sunlight, the freshness of the rain, and the tranquillity of the night... At the next day's sunrise, the sky turns unusually red, and thousands of candles all of which are about to burn out. Unstoppable flames have engulfed the mountain, and the deity has long before decided to die with it. However, he hands a new candle to the girl and uses its own candle to light hers, wishing her to continue living.
After the mountain consumed by the fire, only ashes and barrenness remain. The girl, holding a candle, visits the same place where she had that dream. Surrounding the shrine are rows of fresh candles. She uses her candle to light those candles. At this time it is the twilight of spring.
The light of a candle
is transferred to another candle—
spring twilight.
— Yosa Buson
StoryBoard
1 - The Dying Mountain
The performance would be on a proscenium stage, and everything in the frame would be behind the plaster line. The backdrop would be a display screen.
This scene introduces the dying mountain and its deity. The light of candles only appears a little in the background, just to foreshadowing later events. The entire stage is dimly lit and filled with mist. In Japanese culture, white is considered a sacred colour, and influenced by Buddhism, it also represents death and mourning. Illuminated by faint white lights from above, only the mist and the spirits in white garments are visible, leaving a deeper impression of the character and the atmosphere of lifelessness.
The mist weakens human senses and limits our interaction with the world, creating a sense of unease and mystery. This suggests the impending crisis faced by the mountain and reflects the solitude of the deity.
2 - The Girl in Snow
On this winter day, the little girl enters the mountain, seeking a place to sleep forever. Her dress is red - a colour, especially in shrines, believed to provide protection from disaster and to increase spiritual connection to the divine. These elements foreshadow the fate of the little girl who will live and her encounter with the spirit. A strong-intensity light illuminates the stage, creating intense contrasts of light and shadow, yet causing colours to fade. The environment is pale slightly tinged with cold tones reminiscent of a glacier. This allows the audience to feel the coldness and isolation of the world.
3 - The Beginning of Dream
Then, a beam of hard-edge spotlight shines diagonally from a high angle onto the girl - the deity decides to give her a dream. This light cannot explain the direction it came from, appearing almost out of nowhere, adding to a touch of fantasy.
4 - The Beginning of Dream 2
As the surroundings gradually darken and the tone warms, that hard-edge spotlight grows brighter and turns purple, while the girl's clothing gradually reveals more vibrant hues. Yellow and purple being complementary colours trick creative imagination. The entire stage transforms into a dreamy space, featuring a colour palette rarely found in nature symbolizing fantasies. Finally, the stage gradually darkens, signifying the beginning of the dream.
5 - Early Morning in The Memory
The deity decides to show her the landscapes he has witnessed over the centuries. Following the previous dimmed scene, that high-angle spotlight transforms into multiple narrower beams of golden, hard-edge light - the golden hour at sunrise. This directional light is warm, and soft, and casts a beautiful glow on the skin. I incorporate the colours of the forest at that moment directly from nature photos and use gentle and average tones of green and yellow to illuminate the stage. This setting represents the awakening of the world renewal. The deity also wishes the girl to feel this radiant light of hope.
6 - Night in The Memory
The blue light of the forest night shines dimly from the top onto the stage. The colours in nature are subtle, so I use deep blue on the sides of the stage, and a lighter cyan blue for the centre. This lessens the depressing feeling of dark colours through the gradient, bringing forth a sense of tranquillity and beauty in its purest form.
7 - The Fire
Unfortunatly after the evening, the life of the mountain and the deity finally reaches their ends - an irreparable fire has spread. I aim to portray a pure devastating and horrible moment as a dramatic contrast to the scenes before. The backdrop emits an orange-red light, while high-intensity red and orange lights are from all directions flickering and swaying. Under the red light, no other colours are visible, turning the entire stage into a world of red and black. This is to show the audience the fierceness, lethality of the fire, and the mercilessness of nature. Simultaneously, those candles start to appear once again.
8 - The Candles for Life
The deity tells the little girl that these candles represent the length of each life, and the dying candles mean that the lives on this mountain are nearing their end. Then, he gives the girl a new candle as a gift , and uses his own candle, which is about to burn out, to ignite hers, wishing her to continue living.
A hard-edge top light illuminates the centre of the stage. The intense golden light sculptures the two figures and shines so bright that it gives them a luminous illusion. The fire red fades away, and the surrounding small candles start to light up one by one. They are like stars surrounding the two characters. The flickering lights in the dim space make people calm and relaxed. As if time has momentarily stopped, this moment feels infinitely long. All of these are designed to capture the audience's attention on the act of passing the candlelight - it is a significant turning point for the character representing the handing down of life and hope.
9 - Gone
After the fire subsides, the mountain turns into a desolate wasteland of withered brown. At this moment, the only light source on the stage is the image on the backdrop screen. It allows the audience to experience the loss of life in a dim and dull visual.
10 - The Light of A Candle
Winter has gone. The little girl holds a candle visiting the old place and finds that there are new candles around the broken Torii - new lives are arriving. Like the deity once did, she uses her candle to light those candles at this twilight of spring. A spherical golden light source is hung from above as the sun. Orange and golden sidelights are positioned at a slight angle, mimicking the direction of the sun setting. With the orange glow and the flickering light of the candles, everything feels serene and warm. Life and hope are being passed down. The girl's life is just beginning, just like the arrival of spring.