"El Norte de Castilla"  June 2001

 

"DANCE & PHYSICAL THEATRE "

KU
C (VENUE 34)

THE SCOTSMAN
Kelly Apter
5 August 2006

BARELY perceptible on the half-lit stage, three large white sacks hang from the ceiling. Folded inside, the dancers do a laudable impression of foetuses waiting to be born, pushing, streching, longing for the freedom of the outside world. When it finally arrives for two of the dancers, life is far from easy.

Anguish is etched on their faces and tension runs through their incredibly supple bodies. Moving with seamless synchronicity, the male/female duo mix yoga-style poses with fluid modern dance. Combining strength and fragility in a single moment, they switch between tactile duet and independent solo.

Making slow progress at first, ku (or 'Living Soul' as it translates) gathers pace. Dancers Kimitaka Shibahara and Mami Yokoyama of Japan's Art-Dance Theater Function have a beguiling quality which carries the show, while the music, from breathy vocals to Barber's emotive choral 3 Adagio 2, sweeps you along.

 

"Ku Art-Dance Theater Function (Japan) "

Three Weeks
6 August 2006

Physical Theatre: Two little words with the power to send even the more dedicated of arts lovers running for the hills. But Ku, a Japanese blend of light, texture and movement goes some way to dispel the myths and misconceptions surrounding the genre. The talent of its central performers, whose movements draw upon conventions of yoga, ballet and mime, is undeniable. A series of dance sequences chart the lives of a couple from their birth to the end of their relationship. For those who like their ation fast and thir plotline clear, this may not be the show to see, but Ku is certainly an eye-opener to the really not-so-scary world of physical theatre and its unique, if for some, surprising, appeal.

 

"THE STAGE EDINBURGH"

Ku-Living Soul
C Central, Adam House

Review by Brian G Cooper
Published Wed 9 August 2006

Against a soundtrack of loud breathing, a totally darkended stage gradually becomes dimly lit revealing huge, white banging sheets. Inside, as if within a great wormb, human forms stir from stillness into movement, feeling and flesing their limbs. As the sheets become huge hammmocks, the swaying human forms shine red and white torches in self exploration, with light and shadows deepening the sense of mystery. As if newly-born, the near naked bodies descend to the earth, slowl feeling their limbs and steadily unfurling into beautifully expressive movement and highly-charged but always fraceful dance.

Kimitaka Shibahara and Mami Yokoyama, assisted by Yoriaki Nagao, of the highly innovative Art-Dance Theatre Function compay of Yokoyama, deploy primarily occidental movement dechniques within an Oriental ambience informed by Butto, to express Eastern religious themes of souls in transmigration. Tightly focused, this highly memorable works is demandingly original.

 

"CONSUL / December 2005 Review St. Petersburg"

Sound echo in a jet black hall. Hot air is blown onto the audience.
It surrounds us completely; could it be a giant breathing? Still no one can see, just hear his sighs. In and out he breathes for what seems like an age.

Suddenly, a tiny flame appears in the centre of the stage. And then another. Then two cocoons can be seen and a man too is slowly moving.
Yet the giant continues to sigh; his breath blowing over the cocoons.

At last, the man emerges from one of the cocoons. A woman and a man; the creator blows life into their bodies.

Life is lived, layer upon layer of happiness and sadness. This man and woman appear to share anguish and sorrow more than happiness. Sometimes together, sometimes alone they attempt to overcome their grief.

This story was performed by the Art-Dance Theatre function at the 150th anniversary of the Russo-Japanese friendship Pact in St Petersburg October 2005. The audiences were clearly moved by Mami Yokoyama and Kimitaka Shibahara's expression of movement. Their performance stunned them into silence. All eyes were on the stage as the audience tried to capture every moment of the story. Its complex choreography reminded one of how eloquent storytelling can be; like a great saga, rich and expressive in its vocabulary, being told so - not one word neglected by a transfixed audience in their efforts to catch as full an understanding of the tale as possible.

The dancers perform with minimum costume and in bare feet. In one particular scene, the female dancer creates unbearably tragic images accompanies by the deeply spiritual sound of cello. Sound, however, does not dominate the performance and what there is acts more as an accent on the story. The female dancer with her rhythmic body movements creates a powerful impression while the solo male dancer's expressive play with his hands is truly "the soul of dance".

Throughout, the performers' richly expressive language of dance had distinctiveness and refined grace. Thunderous applause from a deeply satisfied audience greeted the end of their revels in modern dance.

 

"Ku Art-Dance Theater Function"

 

"Vaucluse l' HEBDO"  May 2002

 

"La Provence"

27 July, 2000
Prominent "Joro Feminin"

The superb choreography of Art-Dance Theater Function, Japanese dance company creates the mysterious space around the mystery of woman. The audience was carried away by beautiful and perfect movement, and pulled into the refined world woven from secret sensuality. The movement is attentive to fingertips, and the contour expresses soft sensibility together with vigorousness in light and shadow. The content can be described in just one word: "excellent".
This performance is highly regarded by general audience and specialists also in Japan.
Using the traditional "Taiko" at the stage effectively, the vigorousness of "living soul" as the theme of this performance is added to the flowing sound from beginning to end.

 

"La Marseillaise"

29 July, 2000
"Joro", tenderly woven choreography like lace

At the completely plain stage, two percussionists beat Japanese traditional "Taiko". The sihouette of a dancer appears in the faint light, and the dance develops. Its movement is extremely precise, the choreography is attentive in every nook and corner, and even fingertips move as one body, As if Japanese garden, all compositions are opposed.

Remember that it's the performance of Japanese dance company. We can find Japanese mind, silence and intensity, tenderness and vigorousness, sensuality and shyness in the dance. Dancers are prominent, and the performance is superb. Until 30 July.

 

"La Gazette"

27 July, 2000
"Joro-Feminin"
Vigorousness and gentleness of woman

The sound of "Taiko" rings out in the dark stage lighting. Sometimes dreadful, sometimes gently with dancers, the sound of "Taiko" and the flow of clean water support the body of dancers to the end, and create a peculiar sound space. A woman sinks her body into them.

Kimitaka Shibahara choreographs the movement by the imaginative expression of hands, keeping away the so-called traditional dance (from China). Balanceing airy contour seen through thin cloth surges, poses still in the center of the body, then swings by the subtle ticking of time. Certainly the energy sometimes accelerates and is replaced to throbbing pulse. But the dance of Art-Dance Theater Function not only incorporates the contenmporary technique completely, but also gets the inspiration in the hory visual space of the universe. It reaches its climax the moment that a pair expresses by several hands.

Its recalls God Sheba and seems to embody "The Key of the Sky" of Christianity. "Joro" means prostitute, but there's no vulgarity in the movement of the dance. The space filled with dignity turns into the shrine where human beings sublimate.