Echoes of Calling

【Live Performances Cancelled】

We regret to announce that our live performances at Spiral Hall on January 9-11 have been cancelled due to the current State of Emergency in Tokyo.  All tickets will be automatically notified by email for refund.  Thank you for your understanding_and_cooperation.

Performance without an audience was filmed _and_will be streamed online from 1 pm on Saturday, January 23 to 11:59 pm on Friday, January 29 (Japan Time).  Tickets are on sale at the link below for 2,400 yen.

https://eplus.jp/sf/detail/3363720001-P0030001P021001?P1=1221
*Available in Japanese only.

We will be working hard behind the scenes to develop Echoes of Calling project further.  We look forward to seeing you all in the theatre as soon as it is safe for everyone to do so.

 
 
Akiko Kitamura project is starting!

A Collaboration Project between Ireland_and_Japan

Echoes of Calling

 
The ground of self-evidence collapses;
                 so I reconsider the act of walking.
 
A start to a conversation is not found.
Into despair, about to fall,
                 a voice echoes.
 
The voice does not speak in words.
Yet it triggers something in the body.
 
A human mind
                   dreams of what is beyond humanity.
 
Eat, sleep, wake up, explore, eat, sleep, wake up, explore.
 
Soon a rhythm is formed.
 
If sung repeatedly
                 a time_and_space transcending ritornello
Even if I don’t wake up tomorrow
I will be with you
 

Planning, Composition, Direction & Choreography: Akiko Kitamura
Dramaturge: Seamus Scanlon & Daisuke Araya
Music: Hiroaki Yokoyama (agehasprings)
Visual Director: Shutaro Oku
Dance: Naoto Katori (Condors), Llon Kawai, Yuki Nishiyama, Tatsuki Okamoto, Naoya Nagai, Ayaka Kondo, Akiko Kitamura
Singing: Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde & Diane Cannon
 
Stage Direction: Makoto Kawaguchi
Sound: Yuichi Tanaka (Sound Wedge)
Light: Takeaki Iwashina
Costume: Michiyo Sato
Film Technology: Kentaro Fukuchi
Interpretation: Risa Fukuoka & Ferena Kagata
Production: Satoshi Fukuoka (Catalyst)
Graphic Design: Hiromasa Yaginuma (GOAT)
 
Organization: Office ALB 
Sponsorship: Embassy of Ireland Venue
Cooperation: Wacoal Art Center
 
Supported by Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan through the Japan Arts Council
Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History_and_Culture)
FY 2020 Minato Support Program for Arts_and_Cultural Activities
EXPO ’70 FUND (KANSAI OSAKA 21st Century Association)
EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee
Saturday, January 9      18:30
Sunday, January 10       14:00 / 18:30
Monday*, January 11    14:00
*national holiday
  Lobby opens 30 mins before the show.
 
Location: Spiral Hall
3rd Floor, 5-6-23 Minami Aoyama, Minato Ward
5 min walk from Omotesando Station on Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, Hanzomon Line, or Chiyoda Line

https://www.spiral.co.jp/access

 
Tickets
General: ¥5,000
Student: ¥3,000
No reserved seating.
 * Please refrain from bringing children under the elementary school age.
 
Ticket Vendor
 
 
Minato Ward Resident*: ¥3,000
* Payment can be made at the door.
For reservation, email info@akikokitamura.com:
– Your Name
– Number of Tickets
– Performance Date & Time
We will contact you to confirm the reservation.
 
 
  
Streaming  Saturday, January 23 at 13:00 to Friday, January 29 at 23:59
Tickets are originally ¥3,000 but are on sale for ¥2,400 (tax included) with a 20% off Go To Event discount. 
 
Ticket Vendor
Tickets will be available starting at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 26 until 22:00 on Friday, January 29.
Sorry, it’s only from Japan.


Contact
Office ALB
info@akikokitamura.com 
070-7528-7065 (Open Hours: 10:00 to 20:00)
 

If any of the following applies to you, please put your health at the top priority and refrain from attending the show.
(1) Those with a body temperature that is higher (1℃ or higher) than their normal body temperature, or 37.5℃ or higher.
(2) Those that have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
(3) Those who have visited or been in contact in the last two weeks with someone who has visited a country or region from which entry to Japan is restricted or from which travelers are required to go through an observation period after entering Japan.
 
* Those who have underlying health conditions (diabetes, cardiac insufficiency, respiratory disorders, etc.) and those who are pregnant are required to consult a doctor or refer to information from a related institution to make a careful decision.
 
Precautions
(1) Masks, as a general rule, must be worn at all times. * Those not wearing masks will not be allowed in the theater.
(2) Please be mindful of others when coughing and keep your hands clean and sanitized.
(3) Please arrive early.
(4) Please keep your distance from others when lining up, entering and exiting from the theater, or going around the premises.
(5) Please refrain from speaking loudly.
(6) Please cooperate in signing up for COCOA (COVID-19 contact-confirming application).
 
About
A Collaboration Project between Ireland and Japan 
“Echoes of Calling”
 Echoes of Calling is a performing arts project that is part of a long-term international collaboration, which advances from Ireland to central Asia.
 How will Celtic traditional culture and Japanese traditional physical expression and sounds, which are intangible, speak to our memories?
 How will it be possible for something traditional and current to relate to each other past their differences in forms of expression, cultures, nationalities, and languages?
 We travel across “cultures of lands”, which tend to become obscured by globalizing societies, in time and in space for   a pulse of traditional cultures and to create a dance that opens to the future.
 We have taken on   “prayers” of communities, which have a strong connection to humans coexisting with nature in changing natural environments, as a modern theme, embodying   natural rhythms, breathing, and echoes of voices that transcend languages in a dance, leading to a hope that we are coexisting with something that is beyond us.

Online Lecture & Workshop

There will be an online lecture and workshop by Akiko Kitamura, Seamus Scanlon, Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde, and Diane Cannon. 

Date: Wednesday, January 13, 2021 20: 00 ~ 22: 00
Format: Use the online form Zoom.
Audience: Anyone can participate.
Admission: Free
Japanese / English interpreters are available.

https://zoom.us/j/95818379029?pwd=cnkwY3ZtZ0hqc1ZSRFhERDdOYXN3UT09

Meeting ID: 958 1837 9029
passcode: 482678

 

 *** NOTES ***

 ・The event will be held in real time, so please participate from a quiet environment with a stable Internet connection.

・The workshop also includes an exercise to speak out, so please participate in an environment where you can.

・On the day, you will be allowed to enter ZOOM 5 minutes before.

Profile

北村明子 Akiko Kitamura

Kitamura Akiko is a choreographer, dancer_and_director. Her background includes ballet, street dance,_and_Indonesian martial arts. She founded her dance company, Leni Basso, in 1994 while studying the Graduate School of Letters, Arts,_and_Sciences at Waseda University, from where she also received her MA. She stayed in Berlin as a trainee of the Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Training Program for Artists in 1995. Since her return to Japan, she has been implementing her own theory of choreography, the Grid System,_and_her own directing style that mixes_and_develops dancing, light, rhythm_and_image.

She was commissioned to present her work at the 2001 Bates Dance Festival_and_2003 American Dance Festival (ADF) in the United States. The “enact oneself” that she choreographed for the ADF, was selected the Best Dance of the Year in North Carolina. One of Kitamura’s masterpieces, titled “finks” (2001), has been performed in more than 60 cities internationally_and_awarded Best Dance Piece of the Year by the Montreal Hour Magazine in 2005. She also created “ghostly round” for Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin which was highly esteemed in many countries globally.

In 2010, Kitamura started her solo career_and_engaged in international co-production projects including “To Belong” with Indonesia_and_“Cross Transit” with South East _and_South Asian countries. These productions were also performed at the Japan Society in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.,_and_many other cities. Moreover, the “vox soil” presented in 2018_and_first performed at the Kanagawa Arts Theatre (KAAT), won the 13th Japan Dance Forum (JaDaFo) Awards Grand Prix. In 2020, she started a project titled “Echoes of Calling,” crossing the borders of Ireland, Central Asia_and_Japan.

Kitamura studies ‘the use of the human body as a medium’ in practical theatre, applying theories about the human body, direction,_and_dancing. Based on ‘physical thinking’ through the spread_and_deepening of dance expression, she keeps looking for the appeal of human bodies_and_the good communication generated from creative activities_and_art performance.