Lines of flight: intersubjective training across intercultures as the basis for a comparison between Japanese nô and Chinese jingju (‘Beijing opera’)

Intersubjectivity offers a methodology for the comparison of performance training in Chinese jingju and Japanese nô. By connecting intersubjectivity with the concept of the rhizome, I suggest that intercultural encounters arise from the intertwining of two subjectivities, the master and the student, neither of whom totalize the theatrical form. I illustrate the limits and opportunities this methodology affords through an interrogation of my own experiences of training. In particular, I focus on the deployment and channelling of energy (qi/ki) through the body. I suggest that intersubjectivity enables me to offer concrete points of comparative reference, but also enables me to account for the specificities of my own training.