"The Christ Weekly"
By Mana Kamioka
Dec 25, 2012
Bible Based Ballet
ABC-Tokyo Ballet Company
Artistic Director Rio Mitani
“Joseph and Mary”, “Messiah” are two of the Christian Ballets, that Rio Mitani － a Christian, dancer, Artistic Director of ABC-Tokyo Ballet Company － and her husband Christian Martinu presented to the world, appreciated by a wide audience both Christian and Non-Christian. Rio Mitani, who grew up in Austria and is now based in Japan tells about the circumstances and thoughts behind these ballets.
At Christmas 2007 “Joseph and Mary” was first premiered in Japan at Tokyo Union Church (Shibuya ward). Already since 1995 we performed bible based ballet in Austria and Germany. The creation usually starts with a music that makes me want to dance to it. In “Exodus” telling about the exodus out of Egypt we used Gustav Mahler, in “Messiah” which is about the death and resurrection of Jesus the music was by Karl Jenkins, and most of “Joseph & Mary” was by John Rutter. I try to choreograph an image that the music shows me and adjust it to the company and the audience. But I am not the only one choreographing, but in the case of “Joseph & Mary” Alisa Takagi, main dancer at our ballet company did the choreography and staging.
To tell the truth, for me as a Christian it is quite challenging to create Christian works. Oftentimes I get caught with worrying about my interpretation and intent being correct. For me this is quite a big issue and I get overly careful, which can cause a creative wall I have to overcome. On the other hand it can happen that what is a given for me as a Christian is perceived in a totally different way by a non Christian.
For instance, the “Angel” to a Christian is a dignified and powerful being, whereas for non Christians an angel has the image of a cute, baby like cupid kind of creature. In “Messiah” there is the scene of Gethsemane, in which Jesus, almost crushed by his anxiety is gently lifted up by an angel, who commands the devil to leave him. The interpretation of this angel was at first more like a child. And then the angel telling Mary and the women that Jesus has risen, again a very meaningful part to play, but it was quite challenging to convey to the dancer that this messenger would be more than just a cute, smiling baby. Just this one difference of interpretation of an “Angel” required quite some time.
Another thing was the concept of Original Sin, which is sometimes hard to grasp for Christians, let alone for Non Christians. Alisa (who created “Joseph and Mary”) is still new at studying Christianity so keeping in touch and talking with her during the process of creation is of great importance. In one of these sessions we developed the idea to symbolize Sin in “Messiah” through a red rope together. From the beginning of the piece all dancers except Jesus had a red rope tied around the wrist, which at the end all of them handed to Jesus. This is how we expressed that Jesus carried our sins and sacrificed himself for us. But this very act of handing over the ropes was a difficult acting scene. It is not just passing something to another person, rather I tried to explain the severity of having another person take on ones own dirt, burden him with it. This was very difficult to grasp for most dancers, not being Christians. To the dancers I talk about the bible and God, as part of the creative process, but of course faith is every individuals matter. Christian, my husband, and I are holding bible studies for those interested, but that has nothing to do with our dancing profession. The dancers show very different reactions to religious contents, but we find it very important to respect their free will. For it is God who gave us all our free will.
It goes without saying that it is vital that the audience understands our bible based ballets. So we integrate narrations explaining the scenes or hand out programs with the story printed in it. In foreign countries there might be a more solid base of Christian knowledge, but the reactions to our ballets are similar everywhere. In fact, it was after a performance here in Japan that one visitor said that for the first time he really felt and understood that Jesus took our sins, died for us and was resurrected.
In our company we do not only perform bible based original ballets, but also dance Classical Ballets and have a special focus on creating original ballets that represent Japan. We especially treasure our classical technique. To transmit our message effectively, not only the story is important, but also artistry and a certain level of dance. Mediocre is not good enough. So besides performing contemporary or original ballets, we always make it a priority to dance the Great Classical Ballets in order to maintain our standard and not neglect the basics.
But Classical Ballet is originally from Europe, not Japan. So we create unique works in our own “Japanese” style by featuring God given characteristics and Japanese culture. “Umbrellas of Kyoto” for instance is based on the French movie classic “Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and plays in Japan’s 40s. For music we are not only using the famous melodies of the movie, but adding Joe Hisaishi and choosing other music as fit the scenes. Also, out of my personal love for Japanese Drum rhythms, I created a dance fusing ballet with Taiko percussion. I am not fond of pieces, which can only be appreciated by “insiders”. I myself am aiming for entertaining the group of “middle aged men” (laughter). That means I try to create works that can be understood and entertain even older men.
We introduce all our new productions at Tokyo Union Church and perform throughout the year including Easter and Christmas. TUC being a church, not a theatre, presents us with limitations like not being able to create a complete blackout or missing backdrops, but I feel that bringing our fans and general audience to the church is one way of doing missionary work.
ABC-Tokyo Ballet Company
Artistic Director Rio Mitani
“Joseph and Mary”, “Messiah” are two of the Christian Ballets, that Rio Mitani － a Christian, dancer, Artistic Director of ABC-Tokyo Ballet Company － and her husband Christian Martinu presented to the world, appreciated by a wide audience both Christian and Non-Christian. Rio Mitani, who grew up in Austria and is now based in Japan tells about the circumstances and thoughts behind these ballets.
At Christmas 2007 “Joseph and Mary” was first premiered in Japan at Tokyo Union Church (Shibuya ward). Already since 1995 we performed bible based ballet in Austria and Germany. The creation usually starts with a music that makes me want to dance to it. In “Exodus” telling about the exodus out of Egypt we used Gustav Mahler, in “Messiah” which is about the death and resurrection of Jesus the music was by Karl Jenkins, and most of “Joseph & Mary” was by John Rutter. I try to choreograph an image that the music shows me and adjust it to the company and the audience. But I am not the only one choreographing, but in the case of “Joseph & Mary” Alisa Takagi, main dancer at our ballet company did the choreography and staging.
To tell the truth, for me as a Christian it is quite challenging to create Christian works. Oftentimes I get caught with worrying about my interpretation and intent being correct. For me this is quite a big issue and I get overly careful, which can cause a creative wall I have to overcome. On the other hand it can happen that what is a given for me as a Christian is perceived in a totally different way by a non Christian.
For instance, the “Angel” to a Christian is a dignified and powerful being, whereas for non Christians an angel has the image of a cute, baby like cupid kind of creature. In “Messiah” there is the scene of Gethsemane, in which Jesus, almost crushed by his anxiety is gently lifted up by an angel, who commands the devil to leave him. The interpretation of this angel was at first more like a child. And then the angel telling Mary and the women that Jesus has risen, again a very meaningful part to play, but it was quite challenging to convey to the dancer that this messenger would be more than just a cute, smiling baby. Just this one difference of interpretation of an “Angel” required quite some time.
Another thing was the concept of Original Sin, which is sometimes hard to grasp for Christians, let alone for Non Christians. Alisa (who created “Joseph and Mary”) is still new at studying Christianity so keeping in touch and talking with her during the process of creation is of great importance. In one of these sessions we developed the idea to symbolize Sin in “Messiah” through a red rope together. From the beginning of the piece all dancers except Jesus had a red rope tied around the wrist, which at the end all of them handed to Jesus. This is how we expressed that Jesus carried our sins and sacrificed himself for us. But this very act of handing over the ropes was a difficult acting scene. It is not just passing something to another person, rather I tried to explain the severity of having another person take on ones own dirt, burden him with it. This was very difficult to grasp for most dancers, not being Christians. To the dancers I talk about the bible and God, as part of the creative process, but of course faith is every individuals matter. Christian, my husband, and I are holding bible studies for those interested, but that has nothing to do with our dancing profession. The dancers show very different reactions to religious contents, but we find it very important to respect their free will. For it is God who gave us all our free will.
It goes without saying that it is vital that the audience understands our bible based ballets. So we integrate narrations explaining the scenes or hand out programs with the story printed in it. In foreign countries there might be a more solid base of Christian knowledge, but the reactions to our ballets are similar everywhere. In fact, it was after a performance here in Japan that one visitor said that for the first time he really felt and understood that Jesus took our sins, died for us and was resurrected.
In our company we do not only perform bible based original ballets, but also dance Classical Ballets and have a special focus on creating original ballets that represent Japan. We especially treasure our classical technique. To transmit our message effectively, not only the story is important, but also artistry and a certain level of dance. Mediocre is not good enough. So besides performing contemporary or original ballets, we always make it a priority to dance the Great Classical Ballets in order to maintain our standard and not neglect the basics.
But Classical Ballet is originally from Europe, not Japan. So we create unique works in our own “Japanese” style by featuring God given characteristics and Japanese culture. “Umbrellas of Kyoto” for instance is based on the French movie classic “Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and plays in Japan’s 40s. For music we are not only using the famous melodies of the movie, but adding Joe Hisaishi and choosing other music as fit the scenes. Also, out of my personal love for Japanese Drum rhythms, I created a dance fusing ballet with Taiko percussion. I am not fond of pieces, which can only be appreciated by “insiders”. I myself am aiming for entertaining the group of “middle aged men” (laughter). That means I try to create works that can be understood and entertain even older men.
We introduce all our new productions at Tokyo Union Church and perform throughout the year including Easter and Christmas. TUC being a church, not a theatre, presents us with limitations like not being able to create a complete blackout or missing backdrops, but I feel that bringing our fans and general audience to the church is one way of doing missionary work.