RAkU (ballet)

Last updated
RAkU [1]
Choreographer Yuri Possokhov
Music Shinji Eshima
Libretto Gary Wang
Premiere3 February 2011
War Memorial Opera House
Original ballet company San Francisco Ballet
DesignAlexander V. Nichols (sets and projection design), Christopher Dennis (lighting design), and Mark Zappone (costume design)

RAkU is a 37-minute ballet choreographed by Yuri Possokhov that was commissioned by San Francisco Ballet (Possokhov's 13th work for the company) [2] and set to original music composed by Shinji Eshima. [3] The première took place on Thursday, 3 February 2011 at the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco.

San Francisco Ballet U.S. ballet company

San Francisco Ballet is a ballet company, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, under the direction of Helgi Tomasson. San Francisco Ballet was the first professional ballet company in the United States. It is among the world's leading dance companies, presenting more than 100 performances annually, with a repertoire that spans both classical and contemporary ballet. Along with American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet has been described as part of the "triumvirate of great classical companies defining the American style on the world stage today".

Shinji Takane Eshima is a Japanese-American musician, composer, and teacher.

War Memorial Opera House opera house in San Francisco, California, United States, home of the San Francisco Opera company

The War Memorial Opera House is an opera house in San Francisco, California, located on the western side of Van Ness Avenue across from the west side/rear facade of the San Francisco City Hall.

Contents

Overview

Program notes for the ballet stated: "Based on the true story of the burning of Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion in 1950, RAkU is set in a much earlier time and in a style similar to Noh theater, which presents the essence of a story rather than a literal depiction... Despite its Japanese story and setting, RAkU contains no traditional Japanese dance or music; Possokhov is more interested in tone, aesthetics, and visual inventiveness than in reenacting history. Combining folk-based steps and Butoh (a post–World War II Japanese dance form utilizing extremely slow movements) with classically based movement, he makes every emotion in this ballet visual and vivid." [2]

<i>Noh</i> Classical Japanese theatre

Noh, derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent", is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Traditionally, a Noh program includes five Noh plays with comedic kyōgen plays in between; an abbreviated program of two Noh plays and one kyōgen piece has become common in Noh presentations today. An okina (翁) play may be presented in the very beginning especially at New Year, holidays, and other special occasions.

Butoh post-WWII Japanese dance form

Butoh is a form of Japanese dance theatre that encompasses a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement. Following World War II, butoh arose in 1959 through collaborations between its two key founders Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno. The art form is known to "resist fixity" and be difficult to define; notably, founder Hijikata Tatsumi viewed the formalisation of butoh with "distress". Common features of the art form include playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and it is traditionally performed in white body makeup with slow hyper-controlled motion. However, with time butoh groups are increasingly being formed around the world, with their various aesthetic ideals and intentions.

The world premiere cast of RAkU consisted of Yuan Yuan Tan as the Princess, Damian Smith as her warrior husband, Pascal Molat as the evil monk and four warriors (Gaetano Amico, Sean Orza, Jeremy Rucker and Quinn Wharton). San Francisco Ballet restaged it in 2012 and 2015. In 2014, Yuan Yuan Tan won the Critics' Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Female Performance (Classical) for her portrayal of the Princess in RAkU. [4]

On March 13, 2012, an audio recording of RAkU was released. It was performed by the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and chanters of the San Francisco Zen Center, and led by San Francisco Ballet Music Director and Principal Conductor Martin West at Skywalker Sound on April 22, 2011. [5]

San Francisco Ballet also mounted RAkU on tour at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa in September 2011. The orchestra, led by Maestro Martin West, included members of The Pacific Symphony and the Buddhist chants were performed by the Zen Center of Los Angeles. The Company also brought RAkU to Sadler's Wells Theatre in London in September 2012 [6] and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in November 2012. [7]

RAkU joined the repertory of the Joffrey Ballet in September 2014 [8] (the score was performed by Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Scott Speck) and was revived in 2016. [9] Pacific Northwest Ballet had their company premiere of the work in Seattle in April 2018 (staged by Quinn Wharton). [10]

Joffrey Ballet ballet company (founded in 1956)

TheJoffrey Ballet, based in Chicago, Illinois, is one of the world's premier dance companies. The Joffrey regularly performs classical ballets, including Romeo & Juliet and The Nutcracker, and modern dance pieces. Many choreographers have worked with the Joffrey, including Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, George Balanchine, and founders Gerald Arpino and Robert Joffrey. Founded as a touring company in 1956, it was based in New York City until 1995 when it moved to Chicago. The company's headquarters and dance academy are in Joffrey Tower, and it performs its October–May season at the Auditorium Theatre. In 2020 the company will move its presentation venue to the Civic Opera House through an arrangement with the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is a ballet company based in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States, with 11,000 subscribers in 2004. The company consists of 49 dancers; there are over 100 performances throughout the year.

A one-hour documentary by Shirley Sun about RAkU called Fire and Ashes, Making the Ballet RAkU [11] had its world premiere at the Brava Theater Center on October 20, 2017 as part of the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. [12] The documentary had its New York premiere on July 21, 2018 as part of the Dance on Camera Festival at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. [13]

Reviews

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References

  1. ↑ "San Francisco Ballet - Production". Sfballet.org. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  2. 1 2 "2015 Season : Programmes 1 & 2" (PDF). Encoreartssf.com. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  3. ↑ "S.F. bassist Eshima layers ballet with history". Sfgate.com. 3 February 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  4. ↑ "2013 National Dance Awards – Winners Announced". Dancetabs.com. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  5. ↑ "Shinji Eshima: Raku by San Francisco Ballet Orchestra & Martin West on iTunes". Itunes.apple.com. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  6. ↑ LondonTown.com. "San Francisco Ballet: Three Mixed Bills at Sadler's Wells Theatre - Clerkenwell London". LondonTown. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  7. ↑ "Dance review: San Francisco Ballet at the Kennedy Center". Washington Post. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  8. ↑ "Stories in Motion - Joffrey Ballet". Joffrey.org. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  9. ↑ "Bold Moves - Joffrey Ballet". Joffrey.org. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  10. ↑ "2017-2018 Season Performances at Pacific Northwest Ballet". Pnb.org. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  11. ↑ "Fire And Ashes, Making The Ballet RAkU : Juno Films - New Voices. New Stories". Juno Films. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  12. ↑ "Fire and Ashes, Making the Ballet RAkU - San Francisco Dance Film Festival". Sfdancefilmfest.org. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  13. ↑ "Fire and Ashes, Making the Ballet RAkU". Filmlinc.org. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
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