New National Theatre held a dance concert Afternoon of Fauns and Nymphs , a gala performance with six contemporary dance works by six pairs of dancers and six choreographers. Danae first premiered at an evening of young choreographers and has been revived twice. Zeus, with a burning desire for the princess Danae, transforms himself into golden rain in order to make love with her. Then Sakai goes into the wings of the stage and clashes into something there, with her getting mad at the staff and shouting, returning to the stage and they give a beautiful duet.
A somewhat weird, laid-back piece, but it was fun. Butterfly by Motoko Hirayama was the climax of the first half. This powerful, spellbinding piece was created in , then danced by Hirayama herself. A larva grows into a chrysalis and then a butterfly appears, the two dancers express the mysterious birth and growth of insects, their lives and deaths.
Risako Ikeda and Kosuke Okumura, dancers from National Ballet, fall down on the floor and stands up multiple times, leap, fall, lift each other, sometimes in harmony and other times slipping off, a symbol of reincarnation and mortality.
Ikeda, who usually dances princesses and soubrette roles, presents an entirely different side, powerful, intense and raw. She even lifts her male partner in her arms. Okumura, a princely dancer, is also stripped of his usual glamour in his insect existence.
Danced by Kagaya and Yuya Yoshizaki, it features guitar music composed and played by Masami Sakaide on stage his appearance is as another character of the story , and although a short piece of 15 minutes, it feels an epic, large scale work. Lighting effects that create a path to the castle on the dark stage, the sound of guitar rhythm, the duet between the lovers is hauntingly beautiful and mysterious. They try to confess their love in the style of old Hollywood musicals but fail, although their mutual interactions are charming and funny.
