“Line Between” began as an extended conversation between Dohee and Shinichi about the space between waking and dreaming. The two noticed how often the subject of dreams and their connection or seeming non-connection to reality entered into their conversations. Shinichi and Dohee met each other in 2003 and had danced in several improvisations together by 2009, which was when they decided that it was time to embark upon a full-length collaboration. The subject and the title “Line Between” were settled upon immediately, and the evolution of the work has stemmed directly from this original impulse.
Shinichi, who in addition to performing, serves as the director of inkBoat productions, decided that he would like to experience stepping out of that role in order to focus more purely upon dancing. Before handing the directorial baton off however, he assembled a team for the production, that is comprised of a collection of “duets.” Besides the obvious duet team of him and Dohee, he pulled on board Suki O’Kane and Jason Ditzian as a musical duo, Instillation artist Amy Rathbone and long time collaborator designer Frank Lee as a Set design duo, with Lighting designer Allen Willner and director Dana Iova-Koga as a final collaborative pair.
As with most thematic explorations, “Line Between” began as a relatively specific investigation, in this case, what is interesting about the space between waking and sleep, and has since blossomed into a multitude of parallel ruminations. We are continuously finding more “lines between” during the creation process. The space between absurdity and the mundane, beauty and terror, dance and theater, shamanism and rock and roll, the iconic and the anonymous- these borderlines have been tread upon during the making of the work.