Dance/Music

A moonlit sea stirred by the wind. Pine needles crisscross and intertwine. The lingering spirits of sisters Matsukaze and Murasame remain entangled in the human realm, where they relate their poignant love story to a Buddhist monk… World-renowned for cross-disciplinary collaborations, German choreographer Sasha Waltz fuses minimalist eastern theatre with textured western opera in a fluid choreographic reinterpretation of Japanese Noh classic Matsukaze. The ethereal outcome is a radically new and creative experience, praised as an “unforgettable total work of art”.

Contemporary classical composer Toshio Hosokawa, acclaimed for his original envisioning of Japanese music, here distills the musical essence of Noh theatre in this modern dance-imbued rendition. In doing so, he unleashes both the painfulness and purity of Nature through a crystallised blend of the traditional and avant-garde that encompasses vocal, orchestral and even silent elucidation. As the enigmatic tale unfolds, singers also become dancers entwined in an eerily apocalyptic landscape. At times, a diaphanous web enmeshes the performers beyond time and space while reality is bounded by a wooden frame. In such ways, the vivid stagecraft serves as if a Noh bridge, crossing from now to the after life and taking souls back to the mortal world for ultimate liberation.