National Ballet of Japan performed a double bill by contemporary choreographer Motoko Hirayama. Hirayama is one of the leading figures in dance in Japan and her work Revelation, created for Svetlana Zakharova of the Bolshoi Ballet, has been performed quite frequently by the star ballerina.
A world premiere, The Afternoon of a Faun which was commissioned by New National Theatre, opens the evening. In addition to Debussy’s, it uses contemporary music composed by Yasuhiro Kasamatsu. An all-male cast, with one soloist and a duo with twelve corps de ballet dancers with makeup that makes them look like fauns, creates a mysterious atmosphere, where all borders seem to blur into each other. Keigo Fukuda’s powerful and razor-sharp solo (named A traveler beyond space-time) opens the work, with the corps de ballet creating different patterns and lifting Fukuda. There is a long pas de deux, Kosuke Okumura and Mizuki Nakajima danced symmetrically – their symmetrical arabesques were stunning! – lifting, caressing and pulling each other, almost as if they have been seeking their lost half in each other. The corps de ballet’s silhouette appearing on the screen is haunting and a powerful group dance with cool excitement makes for a climax before the serene ending.
The Rite of Spring was commissioned by New National Theatre in 2008 and was danced back then by Hirayama herself and her co-choreographer Masahiro Yanagimoto as a duo work. Although this work has been revived several times, this is the first time it was danced by the dancers of National Ballet of Japan.
Stravinsky’s music is played by two pianos placed in the back of the stage. The piece starts with an almost 15-minute solo danced by Yui Yonezawa. Yonezawa has the long-limbed and lithe body of an ideal ballerina, but the choreography has a low center of gravity and is almost brutal in its fast and heavy movements. A male dancer, Yudai Fukuoka, joins her, first in unison but gradually they start colliding; Yonezawa repeatedly falling and jumping into Fukuoka, showing her strong vitality and daring spirit and his partnering skills. In the second half, after some moments of complete darkness, the duo changes their costume and dances on two unstable chairs.
After some stomping, the audience recognises that a powdery-looking fabric (a piece of art by Koichi Watanabe called “On an Earth”) had been covering the floor on which the duo was dancing. The fabric is now pulled to the back, with Yonezawa being swallowed into the back of the stage, torn apart from her partner. A shocking ending.
This is a strong piece, very much apart from the original Stravinsky / Nijinsky’s context but very original in its structure. It shows the strength and versatility of the two dancers, praising the beauty of life in a tough situation. The National Ballet of Japan is a classical company and rarely dances modern pieces, but having this choreography in their repertoire will be a milestone in the dancers’ development as artists and increase their versatility. Yonezawa and Fukuoka deserve praise for their dedication and mind-grabbing, exhausting achievement in this powerful and demanding work.
