Japan spent more than two centuries in near-total isolation before opening its ports to the West in 1853. The impact of the clash of Eastern and Western influences was as profound as one might think.

“To this day, we are experiencing the countercurrents of this integration,” says Nao Kusuzaki, artistic director of Creative Minds Collaborative.

The dialogue between traditional Japanese and Western influences is reflected in the works of “Meiji Modern – Fifty Years of New Japan,” a monumental exhibition of about 175 objects from 1868 to 1912, a period known as Japan’s Meiji era, now on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. In parallel with the exhibition, Kusuzaki has created a new dance work, Meiji Danceswhich will premiere at the museum on August 22nd.

Before the exhibition opened in Houston, Kusuzaki says, Lourdes Remond, the museum’s community engagement manager, contacted Creative Minds Collaborative as a potential community partner.

“The idea of ​​bringing something new into the traditional world was very exciting to me,” says Kusuzaki. “So I suggested the idea and they were excited to bring the dance element into the program.”

Kusuzaki was inspired by the artworks in the exhibition, especially by a work from 1907 entitled enticement of Kaishu, which inspired her to create a narrative around it.

The hanging scroll depicts a blindfolded Japanese woman wearing a traditional kimono standing on the edge of a cliff while a man representing the West lures her off the edge. A Japanese goddess hovers above her while hungry ghosts look on.

enticement is a relatively unknown work. Kusuzaki points out that it is being presented publicly for the first time and that its content contradicts what she has learned about the Meiji period.

“I was taught that Japan welcomes change,” says Kusuzaki.

However, Kaishu tells a different story in enticementwhich prompted Kusuzaki to delve deeper into history. She found that while the Japanese government accepted the changes of the era, the Japanese people needed more time.

“Of course there were reservations about new ideas,” says Kusuzaki. “How was it realistic to wear a dress instead of a kimono? To have a table and a chair to sit on instead of the floor? To have a different kind of music or a different lifestyle? Sometimes a lot of confusion about that era is overlooked.”

In response Meiji Dances begins with a more traditional Japanese scene, showing Japanese folk dances before the West is introduced, represented by a man carrying sheet music.

“I portrayed him as a composer,” explains Kusuzaki. “He is introduced to the Japanese scene and Japanese women begin to take an interest in sheet music.”

Not only does the music play a role in the narrative, which is set in modern-day Japan, but Kusuzaki says that the music chosen also tells a story. Meiji DancesArranged by pianist Kana Mimaki, the soundscape, which Kusuzaki describes as “instrumental” in the selection process, attempts to mix Japanese folk music and Japanese compositions from the Meiji era with music imported from the West, such as that of Camille Saint-Saëns.

“In this context, the music represents the integration of the new with the traditional,” says Kusuzaki.

During the Meiji period, the Japanese learned about new instruments and even an expanded scale. Traditional Japanese music was often based on a pentatonic, or five-tone, scale, while Western music used an octatonic, or eight-tone, scale.

“It was an eye-opening idea for the Japanese at the time: There are more notes. There are instruments like piano, violin, flute that they had never seen before and with which they could form an orchestra,” says Kusuzaki. “So in the music we use Japanese folk music and the composers of the Meiji era who were influenced by Western music.”

The piece uses music by Meiji-era composers Kosaku Yamada and Rentarō Taki, whose minuet is considered the first piano piece with Western influence. Both minuet And RemorseTaki’s last composition, which he wrote just four months before his death at the age of 23 in 1903, will be heard in Meiji Dances.

“I really enjoyed his music and despite the simplicity, you can hear in the first song that this was something completely new for him; piano was new to him. It’s not a very complicated piece of music, but by the end you can hear Japanese melodies along with Western melodies,” says Kusuzaki. “As you listen, you can hear the Japanese and Western influences merging in one song.”

Just as in the artworks exhibited in “Meiji Modern – Fifty Years of New Japan,” Kusuzaki sees the combination of the new and the traditional as an example of “taking what works and what is beautiful,” which she also tries to do through collaborations with various artists and musicians.

“Everyone brings their world and their perspective, and that allows me to be more open,” says Kusuzaki. “It brings out new ideas and conversations. So in many ways, the ideas continue to evolve and the world continues to open up.”

The premiere of Meiji Dances will take place on Thursday, August 22 at 7 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1001 Bissonnet. For more information, call 713-639-7300 or visit mfah.org. The program is included with museum admission.

“Meiji Modern – Fifty Years of New Japan” can be seen until September 15, 2024.