舞妓 (maiko)

舞妓 (maiko) is a reportage on the Geisha apprentices from Kyoto, the Maiko. Prisoners of stereotype linked to the world of prostitution, used by the touristic industry, these young women are of a very different nature: they are artists. Actually, these women perpetuate old artistic practices (dancing, singing, recitations, playing instruments, tea ceremony, etc.) all linked to the cycle of seasons and the world of flowers. They even bring us back to the animistic origins of Japan, while directly connecting with courtesan art, kabuki theater and propitiatory danses from agricultural traditions. Living art form, they are at the forefront of Japanese femininity as they interact with all women as a model of independance. Way beyond the simplistic opposition between tradition and modernity, they search for a different life within arts. Maiko no hikari could be translated by " at the light of a moving femininity". It is therefore a work on cultural context where these unique forms can express and interact with gender issues in a rapidly changing society. Expression of elusiveness, these young women question our own human condition: an unstable balance between an intimate feeling of immediacy and a strange sense of permanency - like in photography.