Kei Tsuruharatani at Green Space
Green Space recently was very pleased to announce they had reopened their doors for solo and duo rentals! After being shutdown for over 4 months due to the pandemic, the studio opened on a limited basis with safety protocols. We recently asked one new renter what their experience was like after being home for so long. During a time when people are battling Covid blues, being cramped and confined in small spaces, and artistic projects are being put on hold, we asked Kei Tsuruharatani to share some of his thoughts:
“My name is Kei (they/them). I’m from Japan and living in New York for over ten years now. I’m probably leading an unstable, a little anxious-driven everyday life similar to whoever’s reading this. I have taken Zoom dance classes and done many self-tapings in our 600 sq. foot apartment, mostly in the bedroom (my husband is working remotely in the living room). Walking for almost an hour has become the main transportation to get to anywhere. I lost my regular Broadway performing job due to the shutdown in March, and it is hard to tell when the job is coming back.
In the pandemic, I’m rediscovering the joy and meaning of being creative. I started dancing when I was eighteen. Soon after that, performing has been my career for almost two decades. Also, I am an immigrant here. I have had a sense of urgency to “make it in America.” Fortunately, I was able to make my living one way or the other through performing as long as I have lived in New York.
I love performing, but I cannot remember when I created something just for the sake of creating. Any dance, singing, and acting classes were for the job or auditioning for so long, I had forgotten what it is to just create.
I felt a sense of awe when I first came to the Green Space studio, which was bigger than my husband’s and I’s humble apartment, and the excitement that I can be here by myself for a few hours for the whole week. It was my first time back in the studio since March. I had never NOT been in a situation that would separate me from this kind of studio space for this long since I started dancing.
It was mostly pure joy to participate in Gaga HomeLab with the studio space. The familiar sense of how I should move would creep back in my mind from time to time. But it was easier to be okay with that because I was simply happy to be in the large space. Without the foreseeable future of work, I found it easier to relate to my body and creativity at where they are. Maybe it would have been more intense doing ballet. The nature of exploration and research of Gaga definitely helped me find a glimpse of a new perspective of what it is to be in the studio as a dancer. To have a career as a performer, there’s a negotiation to produce whatever is being asked to produce. And have experienced the sense of freedom and artistry while working on shows. However, it is rare. It may be the negotiation artists make when they make something to sell. I don’t think that’s bad and I also find that it’s difficult to find the space and time not to make that negotiation at all.
I was definitely surprised to feel the awe and joy I felt during the time in the studio. It became a healthy drop of appreciation in what the anxiety-driven quarantine life could bring. Otherwise, I would have not slowed down enough to see it. “