Tokyo Ballet
Berlin audiences are familiar with world-renowned choreographer Maurice Béjart and with certain dancers from the Tokyo Ballet who have guested here. However, never have they seen the two combined as perfectly as they were in May, during a Béjart evening at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden.
The Tokyo Ballet came to Berlin as part of the First International Dance Summit, hosted by Staatsballett Berlin. The Béjart evening closed the week with two breathtaking and memorable performances. Béjart is credited as the artistic consultant of the Tokyo Ballet; several of his ballets have received premières in Japan. Many of his works embrace the power of the corps de ballet, using multiple dancers onstage at once to create a visually captivating spectacle.
Danses Grecques opened with the sound of ocean waves breaking softly. Close to 60 dancers wearing simple black-and-white costumes were scattered at different angles against a sky-blue backdrop. As music by Mikis Theodorakis began, muscular and handsome Masaki Oshima emerged as a soloist, dancing with ease, joy and extraordinary buoyancy. A series of male and female duets followed. Then, seven women in black leotards dazzled in a short, yet dynamic variation consisting of double fouettés and pirouettes on pointe. The finale brought the entire ensemble onstage again for a reprise of the opening scene.
The Firebird, with music by Igor Stravinsky, was not as thrilling, perhaps because of the smaller cast. In Béjart’s altered scenario, Kazuo Kimura was a Firebird with zeal and passion, but he lacked the fluidity and freedom that the role requires. The same was true for the Phoenix, Naoki Takagishi. Most memorable were nine dancers in grey worker uniforms, who performed with clarity and precision.
The highlight of the evening was the dramatic Le Sacre du Printemps. Stravinsky’s score is so powerful that even without a live orchestra it drives the piece forward. The Chosen One (male) was played by Shu Nakashima, who abandoned himself completely to the music and danced with a crazed passion that was perfect for the role. The male corps behind him was no less convincing, making its exit with a powerful diagonal of jumps upstage. For the second half, the women gathered around The Chosen One (female), danced by Mika Yoshioka. The women were just as remarkable as the men in their ensemble work, while Yoshioka was more rigid and cautious than Nakashima. The curtain closed with the two Chosen Ones embracing in the center of a ring of bodies. The corps, in this piece as well as in Danses Grecques, was the company’s strongest asset. Its beautiful precision and conformity often competed with the soloists for the audience’s attention.
The first performance was not well attended. However, news of the extra-ordinary spectacle the company had to offer must have spread, for the second and final performances were nearly sold out.
Quinn Pendleton dances with the Staatsballett Berlin.
