Düsseldorf is in many ways a Japanese city. Especially as far as cultural events are concerned it has a lot to offer to its growing Japanese community. However the community - an imagined community by the way - is not always interested in these offers, especially when the events take place off the beaten track. So there was not a single Japanese in the audience when Ehara Tomoko, the Japanese queen of modern dance, performed at the TanzHaus NRW, an oasis for off-off-theatre shows in the cultural desert of Northrhine-Westphalias administrative capital.
The TanzHaus managed to overcome budgetary restraints by offering classes
in Flamenco, Samba and other sorts of ethno-gymnastics for the young, rich
and beautiful. They're always full of athletic suntanned office workers
desperately trying to achieve a state of mind described in German women's
magazines as "fit for fun". Afterwards they hang out in the TanzHaus bar
called "The Place" waiting for Antonio Banderas or Joaquin Cortez to show
up for the fun.
The shows aren't that successful. The culture of today's German office
worker is represented by "Grease", the musical theatre next door. It's
not the worst: All over Germany Andrew Lloyd Webber musical theatres are
popping up. Even in Duisburg, which is an excellent site for "Les Misèrables".
When I saw Ehara Tomoko's version of "Swan Lake" only 20 others came to
see her, some of them obviously expecting a more traditional presentation
of the Tschaikowski classic. While Kansai people spent 5.000 Yen and more
to see her decades ago, people over here seemed to consider one third of
this amount too much already. They were wrong.
Accompanied by the pianist and composer Chino Shûichi with whom she has been working for ten years now she did a brilliant performance. Ehara Tomoko played all three characters herself - Prince Siegfried, Odette and Rothbart - and during her show she made me feel all emotions ranging from outmost joy to deepest sadness. Some elements which seemed bizarre first revealed their meaning during the play, e.g. a black swan she carried around during the first part of her performance. Hard techno beats served as a reminder of the times we're living in while Chino proved to be an excellent interpreter of the classical original for the rest of the evening. With a sunflower she received at the end Ehara showed that improvisation is one of her strengths. It's a pity the Japan Foundation didn't make a bigger effort to advertise her tour after sponsoring it already. The other venues she played, e.g. the Institute for Japanese Culture in Cologne or a school's gym in Wuppertal, didn't sound more promising to attract the masses.
"Dance is an art which is close to the end of human beings" she says. In "Swan Lake" this means the death of all characters because her aim is the end of chaos. For her it was surprising to hear that there are schools for actors, dancers, choreographers or directors financed by the public in Germany. There are no such schools in Japan and she went to private schools all the time. Chino Shuichi too classical piano lessons from a private teacher and her technician, Fujiwara Taro, was trained at the Ohba school for stage lightning and decoration.
At the age of six Ehara Tomoko started to take traditional Japanese dance lessons. She started with modern dance as a 15-year-old after studying ballet with Hakamada Michiko. From 1968 to 1978 she continued her studies as a student of Atsugi Bonjin and Sanjo Mariko. In 1979 she received the award of the year of the dance critics society of Japan. She started working on her own choreography and performed her first original solo dance "Reminiscence" in 1981 after stuying modern dance in New York. She developed own versions of "The Rite of Spring", "Coppelia" as well as "Romeo and Juliet". This way "Chûshingura", the famous Kabuki piece about romantic suicide, enterned the history of modern dance as well. Of course she did her own works, too, e.g. "Blue Fantasia", "Moving" and "Dream". If you'll ever have the chance to see her, don't miss it!
Contact:
Ehara Tomoko Dance Studio
2-21-4 Kanda Tsukasa-chô
Chiyoda-ku
Tôkyô 101-0048.
Tel.: 03-3291-8646.
FAX: 03-3291-8648
A picture of Ehara-san at work is here.