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• Turbulence Beneath Still Water

Turbulence Beneath Still Water

By Yu Shiu-chin
Assistant Professor in the Department of Performing Arts, Shu-Te University, Taiwan

Matsukaze, a dance opera co-produced by internationally renowned German choreographer Sasha Waltz and Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa, offers an avant-garde reinterpretation of Noh theatre, a ritualistic form of Japanese drama fusing song, dance and spoken theatre. Based on a classic Noh play, the story revolves around two sisters who fall in love with the same man. Even after the trio die, the women cannot let go of their passion, causing their spirits to linger in the mortal world.

In Hosokawa's poetic, cerebral contemporary score, the music moves fluidly between the enigmatic and the sonorous, overflowing with dramatic tension and energy. “I don't want to create exotic opera,” (an adaptation of Noh with a western outlook) Hosokawa explained in a previous media interview. “The substance of the new is essential.” This ambition is realised by re-clothing Noh within a musical concept that draws on the strokes of classical Japanese calligraphy.

As the original inspiration behind Choreographischen Oper (choreographic opera), Waltz revels in telling stories through dance, drawing on techniques of Characteristic Choreography in particular. Synergising the roles of soloists, chorus and dancers, she creates fresh and exciting creative challenges for artists more accustomed to singers singing and dancers dancing. The vocalists, in particular, find their cross-performing arts skills tested to the full.

In Matsukaze, the interlacing of reality and dreams makes every scene change an unexpected encounter. Waltz is adroit at optimising the staging possibilities presented by sets ranging from a vast black spidery web to the stripped-down frame of a house. The result is stunning visual imagery, revealing the ethereal timelessness that forms the essence of Noh in astonishing ways.

Unlike Waltz's focus on humanity in the tragic love story of Dido and Aeneas (2005) and classical Greek myth in Medea (2007), Matsukaze counterpoints physical body and music with vivid, potent images from Nature. Still as the sea may seem on the surface, fury rages in the deep dark depths. At the close of the work, giant pine needles pour down from the sky, immersing the audience in the stormy scene of howling winds and rain.

The rustling of leaves in the lonely winds is not the only way that Matsukaze creates an impression. It also leaves a lingering profundity, built out of layer upon layer of subtle metaphors, inviting us to ponder what we have experienced over and over again.

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