The experimental documentary A So Desu Ka (in English 'Is that so?')was shot during a visit to Japan. It gives viewers the experience of a dizzying ride through a landscape full of untamed elements, religious symbols of falcons and Buddhist deities, urban locations, prayer houses. It concludes with a recording of the Saburo Teshigawara dance company performance, in which dancers disguised as mimes dance the existential waltz of animated puppets in the melodramatic rhythm of the Golden and Silver Waltz by France Lehár. The author manipulates the first half of the video recording with the help of zoom in and zoom out, thus achieving an immersive effect on the viewer's perception, which is amplified by an electronic sound of the wind when riding a roller coaster. The following recordings are documentary shots that alternate with mosaic-like multiscreens, in which we watch praying believers and dancers in theatrical performances simultaneously.

Author: Steina Vasulka

Year: 1994

Prequel / Sequel: Sequel to other video works, which are made of a footage recorded in Japan. The video includes short recordings of a performance of the Saburo Teshigawara dance group, which is part of the video installation Tokyo Four (1991). A short footage of the same performance appears in in a video In the Land of the Elevevator Girls (1989).

Artistic medium: experimental documentary

Technical medium: SVHS, color, sound.

Performer: Saburo Teshigawara and his Ensemble (dancers)

Tool: VCS3 (The Putney, audio synthesizer): Peter Zinovieff, Tristram Cary, Dave Cockerell (EMS)

References: VASULKAS. Vasulka.org [online] URL
BAROK, Dušan. Steina and Woody Vasulka. Monoskop.org [online] URL