Ashizawa Jin is an illustrator/columnist who seems to have worked for GRAPH since the 1960s (yes, you read that right). His interview column gets a new title every year but usually the format is fairly similar. The 1993 column was called HOP STEP ATTACK, and this interview with Takumi Hibiki was published in the February issue.
HOP STEP ATTACK – Takumi Hibiki
What was your first encounter with the arts?
When I was in kindergarten I started learning classical ballet. Then when I was in the 6th grade of elementary school I entered Takarazuka Children’s Athens1.
Was it to prepare for the Takarazuka entrance exam?
It didn’t have anything to do with that at all. One of my friends told me that there was a place near my house where I could learn not just classic ballet but modern ballet, Japanese dance, and voice. I thought if I could learn so much in one place I wouldn’t be able to find anywhere better (laughs).
You had the learning bug?
Right (laughs). I spent most of the week in lessons for things; calligraphy and such, and since I used to be physically delicate I took swimming as well. But I wasn’t particularly dedicated to anything, I was just there learning (laughs).
What was your first encounter with Takarazuka?
I first saw Takarazuka in my second year of middle school. But I didn’t feel like joining at all, and decided I would proceed normally into high school. A Children’s Athens teacher suggested “Well, what if you at least tried out once,” and when I took the exam I was accepted right away.
How did you feel then?
I’ve always liked passing exams for things, no matter what for (laughs), so I was moved, but since I didn’t have any ‘fan era’ I didn’t know what an incredible place Takarazuka is. But when the school experience started I thought ‘what a strict place this is’ (laughs).
Since you studied the arts for so long you must have had good grades?
I like the arts, so I did fine in all the classes, but I didn’t have the kind of passion the other students had of “After this I’ll be on the stage of the Grand Theatre!” When people told me I was born for Takarazuka since I had a gorgeous face I didn’t know what they meant, and I didn’t even know there were 4 troupes (laughs). And then when I finally managed to learn the names of all the Top Stars, I still didn’t know their nicknames (laughs).
When did you start to feel like a Takarasienne?
In my Upper Student classes there was a time when they were teaching us the same choreography as they used on stage, and when I thought about how I was learning the same things they were doing on that stage, somehow a ton of fighting spirit boiled up in me (laughs). Ever since then I thought of myself as someone who was performing, rather than someone who was watching. I’d get there at 9:30 in the morning and try to dance like the otokoyaku stars (laughs). I was first stirred by the dancing, so I ignored singing and acting and just danced.
How did you feel on the first day of your debut show2?
We were lined up as cherry blossom girls in bobbed wigs on the Grand Stairs, and after that we went across the Silver Bridge, but the audience was so big, and the lights were so bright, that it was all I could do to dance without messing up the choreography.
Since you had the learning bug, was Takarazuka otokoyaku dance another new challenge for you?
When I got to the rehearsals at ken-1 and saw a star dancing close up it was such a shock. When you see the stars dance on stage, they have the makeup and costumes, and the beautiful sets, all of that backing them up, but in the rehearsals they’re just wearing tees and sweats, right? Even though she had the slight body of a normal woman, when she started dancing, she looked so cool that I can’t even figure out how to express how amazing it was. So much so she didn’t even seem to be a woman like me (laughs). And that was Natsume-san (Ooura Mizuki), actually. After that I got even more into otokoyaku dance (laughs).
What was the first performance where you experienced amazing applause from the audience?
When I was ken-2, 9 of us below ken-3 including Kouju Tatsuki and Shibuki Jun were in a dance number together as ‘Demolition Men’ before the finale of The Game. We got a ton of applause, and I learned how fun it is to dance on stage.
And you were in the New York performance at ken-3!
That was amazing. It was my first time in an overseas performance, so I was in a constant state of nervousness and high emotions. Since it was a mixed performance of all 4 troupes I could see senior actresses from the other troupes close up, and I was able to feel personally how my classmates, who I hadn’t seen since my debut, had grown. Sharing the same atmosphere in the rehearsal space was incredibly motivating.
What acting roles stand out in your memory from your performances?
When it comes to acting, I always end up a bit stiff. I haven’t had that much of a career yet, and I can’t really get in harmony with myself. When I had the junior role of Savinius (main cast: Maya Miki) in Spartacus, I couldn’t make my limbs move so I started crying. During that time I was depressed thinking ‘I don’t get acting, I can’t do it’ I was given a double role in the Bow Hall production But In a Waking Dream, so I started to realize the fun of acting naturally, and my fear started to go away a little bit. I’m going at my own pace to grasp the next thing and the next, and I think that if I can’t have confidence in my own performance, no matter what roles come along I’ll just be spinning my wheels.
What do you feel when you watch your own performances on video?
First I’m completely blushing (laughs). Next comes the inferiority complex (laughs). Even though I believed in what I was doing, there in front of me I look so awful and pathetic, so I get depressed (laughs). I’ll hate the idea of going on stage the next day, and everyone else will look so much better than me, so I’ll be in a fluster all by myself (laughs).
Was last year’s New York performance a time of great growth for you as a dancer?
Since I was finally starting to get the hang of otokoyaku dancing myself, when Choreographer Linda3 told me to get rid of all of that it was a rough time. Whenever I would be given choreography, my own personal style, looking this way, holding my shoulders that way, would naturally be affected by all the senior actresses around me as I watched them, so it wasn’t easy to just get rid of that. At first I wasn’t able to make myself do what I wanted at all and got really frustrated, but over the course of 6 months Choreographer Linda helped me get rid of all those habits, and I was able to dance very purely. I think being able to start over from zero at my level was a huge plus for me, and I’m so grateful. If I’d kept on how I was, I feel like I would just be a stereotype and the audiences would get tired of me.
What kind of roles do you want to challenge yourself with?
This is audacious of me, but the Phantom, from Phantom of the Opera4. I’d study vocals intensively, and though this is a dream within a dream, if I could make the Phantom real it would be amazing. People don’t have to see my face anyway (laughs). And then Rhett Butler [from Gone with the Wind]. I like Takarazuka’s fantasies and comedies, but when it comes to the top class otokoyaku, I’d like to be able to play a really masculine man like Butler one day.
1 – Curiously named weekend lessons for younger children, taught by Takarazuka Music School instructors. While it is a preparatory school of sorts for TMS, not all students enter.
2 – Takarazuka Dance Eulogy, 1987.
3 – Linda Haberman, who at the time was an assistant choreographer for the Rockettes and later became their creative director.
4 – She does seem to mean the ALW version here.