Renowned theater director and author Toshiki Okada collaborates with former prima ballerina Hana Sakai to explore the world of classical ballet in Japan. Sakai tells the story of Giselle, a masterpiece of romantic ballet, in a YouTube seminar. Sakai has performed the lead role of Giselle countless times. Now she encounters this role herself as a solo performer. With subtle humor, she provides insight into her familiarity with this role, but also into the distance she has taken from it over the course of her career. One moment she performs a perfect pirouette, the next she parodies a YouTube advertisement for an English conversation course. The boundary between reality and fiction becomes permeable, opening up a world to the audience that appears increasingly complex and beguiling.
Okada deconstructs the classical work and reassembles it. Sakai is always at the center, and with her, a work that questions the possibilities of ballet in a light-footed yet serious manner.
Direction / Text Toshiki OKADA
Performance Hana SAKAI, Yasutake SHIMAJI
Scenography Ayami SASAKI
Producer Eri KARATSU (Aichi Prefectural Art Theater / Dance Base Yokohama)
Technical Director Yoshinori SEKOGUCHI (Aichi Prefectural Art Theater)
Stage Manager Chikage YUYAMA
Lighting Design Akiyo KUSHIDA
Sound Design Raku NAKAHARA (KARABINER inc.)
Tour Coordinator Marika NIKO (Aichi Prefectural Art Theater)
Subtitle Translation Aya OGAWA
Organized, Developed and Produced by Aichi Prefectural Art Theater [Aichi Arts Foundation], Dance Base Yokohama [SEGA SAMMY ARTS FOUNDATION]
Subsidized by Japan Creator Support Fund
Supported by precog Inc.
