When opposites attract

Breaking away from convention that has seen it perform classical pieces only in large theatres, the Tani Momoko Ballet company is to stage shows at a small venue next month to showcase the physical beauty and techniques of its skilled dancers. The company intends to appeal to modern sensibilities by providing a new interpretation of a classic artform.
The company’s original production, “T-Connection: Hikari to Kage” (“Light and Shadow”), will be performed at the DDD Aoyama Cross Theatre in Tokyo, which boasts just 150 seats, from January 10 to 12.
The company was set up by Momoko Tani, one of the first stars in Japan’s ballet history.
Staging a show at a small theatre will be a challenge for the company, which regularly puts on large productions at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan hall in Ueno in January.
Next year, however, due to the hall’s scheduling conflicts, the annual event will be held in March. In place of its usual performance in January, the company will perform at the Omotesando hall.
The work is choreographed by Jun Iwagami, a member of the company. A former gymnast, Iwagami is a versatile artist and involved with the prestigious Shiki Theatre Company. He has learned folk dancing and is also active as a drummer. He infused his extensive knowledge of dance and artistic expression into the new production.
“At the Omotesando theatre, the dancers on stage and the audience will be close to each other, which should allow the audience to get a better appreciation of the minute details and expressions of the dancers,” he says.
The production consists of 11 short pieces. Each piece focuses on depicting contrasting elements such as light and shadow, order and chaos, or hope and despair in solo, pair or group dances performed by a total of 21 dancers.
“I don’t choreograph dancers alone. I like to include the dancers in the process and create the work together,” Iwagami says. “We have so many things we want to do that it’s difficult to reflect them in a single work.”
To enable the audience to get to know more about the company members, a leaflet has been made for the event containing photos of the 21 dancers accompanied by a personal comment from each.
Principal dancer Yuma Miki reveals his dream of “giving a ballet performance that attracts 10,000 people”.
“I hope people take a look at the leaflet and maybe even choose their favourite dancer – this dancer is cool or that one is cute,” Miki says.
Marika Sato, another member, notes that people often find classical ballet a bit difficult to access. “I hope many people will come to see this show, which I think is more accessible,” she says.
This summer, Tomoya Imai and Ayumi Nagahashi came back from training overseas and joined the company again to further enliven the company’s training rooms.
“I want to enjoy dancing [during the show]. I also want to show off my well-trained muscles,” Imai laughs.
Nagahashi adds more seriously, “In the coming performance, our roles aren’t given titles, so we are free to add more of our individual characteristics. I’ll sometimes dance with toe shoes in some scenes and without in other scenes. I want to make my dancing distinct in each scene so that the audience can feel like I’m a completely different dancer.”
The company will also stage a classical ballet piece, “Lisette”, at Gotanda U-Port Hall in Tokyo on March 1-2.