Densho Digital Archive - Martha Nishitani Interview (denshovh-nmartha-01-0049)

<Begin Segment 49>

MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] This is a picture of the Oriental Gardens, my father's business. And I think this picture was taken about 1915. You can see the Oriental Gardens sign, greenhouses, and all the wooded area behind. There were very few houses around that time. And this lower picture is my mother with her beautiful hat, my father, and Hiromu. And May is in the background with our dog, Puppy.

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MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oriental Gardens, gee. What's that funny-lookin' tree?

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MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] Then we pumped the water into that tower. And then we had irrigation system, pipes through the gardens.

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MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] Great. Get to see the people. That's the important part.

ME: That's a great hat that your mom has on.

MN: Yeah, isn't it? When my father (...) brought her off of the boat, he had to go onto the boat and dress her, because she didn't know how to dress. And on the way home her hat flew off. [Laughs] And some neighbor found it and brought it to her. [Laughs]

ME: What was the puppy's name?

MN: Puppy.

ME: The dog.

SY: It was Puppy.

ME: It was just Puppy? [Laughs]

MN: It was Puppy. [Laughs]

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MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] This is a picture of me taken by one of my dancers. It isn't any dance, it's just an improvisation.

ME: When was this taken?

MN: Oh, I'm not sure, but it must have been in the '60s, sometime.

ME: Is that at your studio?

MN: Yes, that's at the studio.

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MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] This is a picture of the first dance I choreographed. It's called "Credo in Conflict." And it was about the conflict between my desire to dance and my obligations to my home and my mother.

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SY: That's a nice curve. Curved lines, straight lines. [Laughs]

MN: Messy hair. [Laughs] Whoever took that picture, should have... see, that's the costume I made, too.

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MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] This is another picture of my first solo, "Credo in Conflict." And I'm reaching for my desire to dance.

ME: That's beautiful.

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MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] This is a picture of a solo called "A Shepherdess," which was taken at the Henry Art Gallery. It's about my maternal instincts, which I kind of resolved. And I'm holding a little lamb.

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MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] This is a dance called "Transit into Dormancy," and it's about the effects of winter weather on vegetation. It was a group dance, and there were three figures representing vegetation. And this is a single picture of the vegetation.

ME: It was a dance for how many people?

MN: It was a dance for five people. There were three dancing the vegetation part and two dancing the weather part.

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MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] This is also from "Transit into Dormancy." And this figure represents the weather. There were two figures dancing the part of weather.

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MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] This is from the film called Water Images. The images were from the creek that ran through our property. And it was about the creatures under the water and the creatures above the water. This particular trio represents salamanders.

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MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] This is also from the film Water Images, and it represents the water grass that grew along the banks of the creek.

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[Still photograph]

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[Still photograph]

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[Still photograph]

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ME: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] Okay, this image and the two previous images, would you please tell us what the piece is called that these images are from?

MN: The piece was called "Line in Design," and it was not intended to be a dance. It was a little class project in straight and curved lines. All lines are either straight or curved in this world and this represents a diagonal line. And the two previous pictures, the first one was on straight lines. They were straight and bent lines and the second was on curved lines. All three represented pictures from "Line in Design."

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MN: [Voice-over while viewing a photograph] This is an opera theater production done at the University of Washington in the music department, under the guidance of Dr. Stanley Chapel. I was choreographer for these operas and this opera is Dido and Aeneas. (The hunt scene)

ME: What year was this?

MN: Well, I'm not sure what year it was. But I think it was in 19-, about 1956.

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MN: This is another picture from an opera theater production at the University of Washington and it is the tavern scene from the "Beggar's Opera."

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MN: Trying to depict the French dancers in France. In France, they had French (court) dancers, and we were trying to copy them. That's what this dance is about. (Kurt Weill did a take-off on this opera. Mack the Knife was a song from his stage play.)