Yomiuri Newspaper 23/01/24 | Commentary on Plastic (K-Ballet Opto)

The realization of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) through the art of ballet. K-Ballet Company, led by Tetsuya Kumagawa, teamed up with Bunkamura to find new Opto (light) in collaboration with up-and-coming choreographers and other fields. The program featured new works by Alessio Silvestrin and K-Ballet Dance Director Rei Watanabe.

Silvestrin's work, the first half of the program, "PET Bottle Labyrinth" (photo), reused plastic bottles as stage art. Dancers in gray costumes moved the artwork, which consisted of a large number of stacked PET bottles, and when illuminated, the inorganic space was transformed into an aesthetic "labyrinth."
Silvestrin danced under the genius Forsythe, who deconstructed and reconstructed ballet technique. The choreography of this work has suppleness and delicacy with the extremes of velocity controlled at will, accompanied by the axis of the body shifted. Nozomi Iijima, Sena Hidaka, Shohei Horiuchi, and Saya Narita danced with the music of Bach and Ligeti without losing density.
Before long, plastic bottles adhered to their legs, arms, heads, and backs. The guest dancer Julian McKay was neatly and beautifully captivating. When an altar appeared, he offered the plastic bottles and freed the people from the impurity. The scene at the end of the piece, when everyone dances to the disco music, may represent the rebirth of humanity. It seems to symbolically capture the cycle of convenient man-made objects and human beings.

The second half of the program, Watanabe's work, "Vinyl Umbrella Komachi," is based on "Sotobaba Komachi" from "The Modern Noh Plays" by Yukio Mishima and "Komachi Fuden" by Shogo Ota. Komachi, who was once a most beautiful woman, laments her old age in memory of a man who fell in love with her in the past. The plastic umbrellas that have been thrown away on the stage are superimposed on her old age.
Ayumi Shiraishi, a former K-Ballet dancer, makes Komachi's fantasies emerge. The dancing scene between Ensign Fukakusa, played by Masaya Yamamoto, who has a strong presence, and the young Komachi, played by Mina Kobayashi, is illusory, but because of this, the issue of sexuality consumed in modern society stands out.
Taiju Takano's script, which transcends time and space, and Watanabe's choreography, which captures the essence of the drama, create a strong sense of the performers' physical presence. The pieces of music are by Xenakis, Beethoven, and popular songs of the Showa period. The atmospheric scene of people behaving in their own ways to the tune of "Isezakicho Blues" is especially rich in flavor.
At the end of the piece, old Komachi ascends to heaven. The use of the curtain used in the art exhibition for her costume is also praiseworthy.

Through abstract expression, unique to dance, and theatrical one, these pieces tackle the social issue, and the skill of the performers shines through. I look forward to seeing more of their work in the future.

(Dance critic Morihiko Takahashi)
- KAAT Kanagawa Theatre, Yokohama, Japan.