Little
Journey From
Stage to Screen
By Lee Armstrong and Kamela Portuges
Little Journey by Nao Kobayashi. Photos: Kieron Robbins and Lee Armstrong
nounced “now”) Kobayashi has combined her years of study in Butoh, a Japanese contem- porary dance form, and martial arts with her work in theater and costume design to add a new layer to the art of American puppetry. Originally from Japan, Ms. Kobayashi holds
N
an MFA in costume design and technology in theater, TV, and film from San Diego State University. She is currently working with Images in Motion Inc. (IIM), a San Francisco Bay Area company that specializes in pup- petry for TV and film. Her current project, a
early all puppeteers have a fas- cination with movement, and most would be overjoyed to have training in Asian move- ment techniques. Nao (pro-
video short called Little Journey, is a collabora- tion with IIM.
The original title for Little Journey was Shilo Kloko, which comes from two words: shiro, meaning “white,” and kuroko, meaning “black stagehand.” Little Journey is visual and nonverbal. The process combines painting the puppeteer’s face and body in white and using ethereal body movement typical of Butoh.
Nao clarifies, “I don’t have a straight line
story. When I find beauty, I just trust my instinct and jump in.” This approach has led her to tell the tale of a wild baby born inside a cabbage, who has the uncomfortable feeling of “not being exactly in the right spot.” As an continued on next page
31
Nao clarifies, “I don’t have a straight line story. When I find beauty, I just trust my instinct and jump in.”
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