re/cognition

Two Japanese performers display some gestures. The study of recognisable gestures is important, as well there is a need to consider cultural differences: for example, “calling someone”. Usually, in most countries, people wave a hand with their palm up, but in Japan we wave with our hand but with the palm down which means “go away” in most of western countries. This is the disparity between idea and word, language and movement in context of international gestures. This visual cue closely mirrors the difficulty of translating, in which information slowly disappears from one language to another, or from language to practice. This research and practice was worked on certain common international gestures to compensate for our linguistic restrictions and to develop those into a combination of movements to communicate with spectator. This performance examine the movement of Japanese “beckons“ is recognisable or not in bilingual city Montréal, in Canada. The performance is consisted of spoken language French, English, Germany, and Italian, and certain body languages and gestures which would help the contextualisation of moving images and words.