Full Length Dances
Chuya Nakahara - Poignant Poems

2006

 Poignant PoemsChoreography: Saeko Ichinohe

 Cho Ying Tsai & Satoshi Takao

Photo: Nan Melville© 

The dance introduces the extraordinary poetry of Chuya Nakahara, considered to be among the finest Japanese poets of the 20th century. “His poetry has immediate visual and musical appeal, with flashes of Dadaist humor mixed with lines of haunting melancholy.” ( ‘Poems of Nakahara Chuya’ by James Kirkup)

Chuya Nakahara’s poems cover the range of human experiences - joy, hope, defeat, confidence, death and love. Through his perceptibility he sees dead souls and spirits in every natural phenomenon even seeing his own dead body.

Poignant Poems

   Yukie Okuyama and Jeff Moen

    Photo: Nan Melville©  

Dance Sections and Poems
 

 

Prologue “A Poem on a Life” (Part I)
Dreams have Gone “Morning Song”
“Lost Hope”
Self-Esteem/Distress “A Blind Man’s Autumn”
“Self portrait on a cold night”
“Circus”
Death “Summer”
“Song of the Sheep”
“Bones”
My Child “Hajirai”
“This Infant”
"Song without Words”
Epilogue “Now is the Time”
“On the Lake”

 

 
 
The Tale of Genji

1995 - 2000

Choreography: Saeko Ichinohe

Genji - 5 Figures"The Exorcist Threatens the Prince"    

Mahdi Kazuto Shah as the exorcist,  

 Shiho Miyazawa, Stacy Williamson, Renee Smith,  

Jeff Moen as Genji  

 Photo: Nan Melville© 

 

 

This classic Japanese saga spans the long and complex life of the hero Prince Genji.  Dance and theater artists have been inspired to set segments of this account of court life and culture at the height of Japan's aristocratic age. Dating back to the eleventh century, the tale is considered the world's first novel, and is especially interesting as it was written by a woman, Lady Murasaki.

A wide range of passions involving the hero and his loves is conveyed through subtle movements enhanced by sumptuous but restricting costumes adapted from the period.

Sections

Initiation and Marriage At age 12 Prince Genji is married to Lady Aoi.
Lady Rokujo The widow of a former prince becomes Genji's mistress. 
Mononoke (Evil Spirit) The tortured spirit of Lady Rokujo creeps into Aoi's body.
Lady Murasaki Genji adopts a young girl and raises her to be his ideal woman, Lady Murasaki.
Genji in Exile Genji is forced to leave the capital for a remote shore.

Genji - Lying

   Yukie Okuyama as Lady Murasaki

       & Jeff Moen  as Prince Genji

    Photo: Nan Melville©

  

Reviews

Ms. Ichinohe creates a sense of delicate, sometimes powerful Japanese ritual.

- New York Times

The audience was enchanted by the company's gorgeous costumes adapted from kimono and the unique movements, which share the aesthetics of Japanese traditional dance.

- OCS News