“Them” is a performance of stories of Japanese Americans interned in camps during WWII when the constitution was disregarded.
“I” and “You” became “Them”
ABOUT THEM
In 1942, at the beginning of World War II, many Japanese American citizens and Japanese nationals (Japanese people living in the United States who were not allowed to become citizens) were interned in camps in the United States. This piece combines sound scores of interviews with some of these individuals with short dances to convey the experiences of racism, group thinking, hysteria, and murder as Americans of Japanese descent became “The Other”. The piece tells the stories of what happened to these individuals when the Constitution was disregarded and “I” and “You” became “Them”.
One of my inspirations for “Them” was Mrs. Yokota……….READ MOREA NOTE FROM JANET
“This project is important to me because I not only want to pass down these stories but I also hope it will start conversations and questions about what it means to be “Them” and “Us” and is a reminder that we have all once been labeled “Them”.
Thanks for the support that’s made it all possible!
Janet Aisawa
JANET AISAWA
Janet Aisawa is presently a founding member of Julie Ludwick’s Fly-by-Night Dance Theater an aerial dance company.
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