Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui: TeZukA

TeZukA PIC CREDIT Hugo Glendinning

DANCE: UK/JAPAN/BELGIUM

“Sidi Larbi – the cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary poet of contemporary dance.”

The Daily Telegraph (UK)

Japanese manga is the inspiration for renowned Belgian-Moroccan choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s entrancing follow-up to his 2010 Festival smash hit, Sutra.

Presented by Sadler’s Wells, TeZukA began with the creations of legendary Japanese manga artist Osamu Tezuka – the ‘Walt Disney of Anime’ and the inventor of Astro Boy.

This major new production sees Cherkaoui, one of the 21st century’s leading voices in contemporary dance, blend dance and animation to breathtaking effect. The dancers’ fluid movements create brushstrokes upon a vast projected screen; inky blooms of colour and calligraphy emerge as if on a giant canvas. Manga characters move within animated comic-strips, and a Shaolin monk enacts an enthralling kung fu battle – complete with cartoon ‘ka-pows’.

Marking Cherkaoui’s third visit to the New Zealand International Arts Festival, TeZukA features a cast of 10 dancers and three musicians from Japan, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Korea and China to create a truly cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary production.

Three musicians perform the hauntingly exotic soundscape by acclaimed composer Nitin Sawhney, joined on stage by a calligrapher, whose live drawing blends with animation by Tezuka and video artist Taiki Ueda. TeZukA is a feast for the eyes that celebrates an artist at the heart of contemporary Japanese popular culture.

TeZukA is at the St James Theatre from 3 to 6 March for the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival, Wellington, 24 February – 18 March. Tickets $38 – $98 available from Ticketek.

ENDS

Sponsored by Sauce

Presented by: Sadler’s Wells London, Bunkamura Tokyo, Eastman Antwerp

Co-production: Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay Singapore, Parc de la Villette Paris, DeSingel Antwerp and Movimentos Festwochen der Autostadt Wolfsburg

In collaboration with Tezuka Productions

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