Fot. Ula Sickle.
In March 2018 the Amareya Theatre goes on a European tour with the Japanese butoh piece Sasaramosara choreographed by Yuko Kawamoto (Shinonome Butoh Company) and featuring Katarzyna Pastuszak (Amareya Theatre), Maiko Yamazaki and Gouki Watabe. The piece premiered in 2016 at the Tokyo Arts Council (d-SOKO), as part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the death of the outstanding Japanese butoh dancer, Hijikata Tatsumi. The production is a continuation of the collaboration of Katarzyna Pastuszak, Yuko Kawamoto, and costume designer Daisuke Tsukuda, who previously collaborated on the 2015 project Kantor_Tropes: Collage.
The phrase ?sasara mo sara? is characteristic of the Hiroshima dialect and denotes ?an untamed chaos?. 70 years ago, the nuclear bomb ?Little boy? swept 90% of the city and forever changed its outlook. In a blink of a second, the atom bomb changed our perception of the destructive potential of humans. The main axis of ?Sasara Mo Sara? (??????) focuses on the notions of the past, the present, and the future of nuclear weapons. It is a butoh piece in which artists strive to express their grief, hatred, anxiety, and anger, not only by pondering over the outcome of the nuclear strike, but also by examining the untamed and absurd phenomena and destructive circumstances that have arisen for centuries around the world.
As part of the March European tour, the piece will be presented in Nowa Sól, Zielona Góra, Gdańsk, and Paris. Yuko Kawamoto will also hold butoh workshops in Zielona Góra and Gdańsk.
Yuko Kawamoto about the piece:
In 2011, when the Great East Japan Earthquake triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster, I learned that my father was Nagasaki?s bomb victim for the first time. He had never mentioned it and had never gone back to Nagasaki, and he had to keep his silence for 70 years. I was really shocked and his attitude made me feel helpless. Through my collaboration with artists in many countries, I found out that they also struggled with irrational issues and hardships that they could not rationalise. But every artist takes these things sincerely, trying to give the power of life to audiences by doing their work. Therefore, I realised again the power of art. As a performer, I made up my mind to face the postwar Japanese history symbolized by the atomic bomb and the present nuclear conditions, which we have been unable to resolve conclusively. Always to face the history and remember the lives we have lost: these are the tasks at hand for us as a nation and individuals. They give us hope for our future. I strongly want to have this creed as an artist, more than anyone else, and sincerely hope that this work could show you how we ought to think of our future.
March tour of ?Sasaramosara?:
2 March / Terminus A Quo – Nowa Sól, 8 pm
3 March / Teatr Lubuski – Zielona Góra, 4 pm
10 March / Stacja Orunia ? Gdańsk, 6 pm
15-16 March / Bertin Poiree Theatre – Paris
The Polish and French presentations of ?Sasaramosara? are supported by the Tokyo Arts Council. The artists wish to thank Cezary Molenda for his help in organizing the presentations in Nowa Sól and Zielona Góra.
Sasara Mo Sara (??????)
Direction, choreography:Yuko Kawamoto
Performance: Yuko Kawamoto, Katarzyna Pastuszak, Maiko Yamazaki, Gouki Watabe
Music: Chie Nakajima
Stage design: Kazuyuki Takahashi
Lighting design: Nobuo Tanaka, Megumi
Costumes: Daisuke Tsukuda
Stage manager: Kazunori Kishimoto
Production: Shinonome Butoh, Naoyuki Aikawa
Financial support: Arts and Culture Promotion Fund Tokyo
Collaboration: Hijikata Archive
Duration: 50 minutes
