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Mon, Mar 15, 2010
“An uninterrupted reverie.....fascinating”—Liberation (Paris)
Columbus, OH—Japanese choreographer, designer, and dancer Saburo Teshigawara, who performs as KARAS, opens a rare North American tour of his latest work, Miroku, at the Wexner Center’s Mershon Auditorium on Friday, April 16 at 8 pm. Inspired by a poetic Japanese novel, this charged solo dance work features crisp movement in a blue box-like set, intensified by Teshigawara’s sophisticated lighting design.
Notes Charles Helm, the Wexner Center’s director of performing arts, “We’re fortunate to be able to introduce KARAS to Columbus. In the past he has only appeared in major international cities and festivals where he is considered on a par with such leading figures as Robert Wilson and Pina Bausch. Dance and contemporary performance followers in this region will marvel at his unique movement style and the unfolding spectacle of the visual worlds he creates on stage.”
KARAS’s Miroku comes to life in a series of mesmerizing stage pictures created in an intensified field of imagery. It evolves through a liquid sense of time generated from Teshigawara’s crisply abstracted movement and the dualities of the microcosmic and expansive spatial worlds he explores. “He approached the ultimate form of dance,” commented a writer for the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri, “and created a magnificent epic of the human spirit.” Local audiences who have been enthralled by such Japanese dance artists as Sankai Juku, Dairakudakan, or Hiroaki Umeda (all of whom have performed at the Wexner Center) will be equally entranced by KARAS.
Teshigawara began dancing professionally three decades ago in Tokyo and in 1985 formed KARAS. In addition to his solo performance work, he has also been commissioned as a choreographer by international ballet companies, including the Paris Opera. In 2007, Teshigawara received a prestigious New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award for his meticulously theatrical work Bones in Pages. For more information about Miroku and KARAS, visit www.st-KARAS.com/en.
SHOW INFORMATION: The Wexner Center presents the North American premiere of Miroku by KARAS Friday, April 16 at 8 pm in the Wexner Center’s Mershon Auditorium, 1871 N. High St. on The Ohio State University campus. Run time: 60 minutes. Tickets are on sale now: $26 general public, $22 members, and $10 students, and can be purchased at the Wexner Center Ticket Office (614 292-3535), or through ticketmaster.com/800-745-3000. Visit www.wexarts.org for more information. $5 High 5 tickets for teens ages 13 to 18 are available to this event through High 5 Columbus.
EVENT AND SEASON SUPPORT
Major support for the Wexner Center’s 2009–10 performing arts season is generously provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Support for KARAS/Miroku provided by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN Program.
Support for Karas North American tour provided by Bunkacho Agency for Cultural Affairs.
Accommodations provided by The Blackwell Inn. Promotional support is provided by 90.5 FM WCBE.
Performing arts programs and events also receive support from the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation and Wexner Center members, as well as from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, The Columbus Foundation, Nationwide Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council.
