Noism Company Niigata is the only company in Japan that is a resident company of a public theater. The artistic director Kanamori Jo, has worked with prominent international dance companies like Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT). His choreography is based not only on the flexible use of ballet, but his own original method.
In The Rite of Spring, a man and a woman are wearing white hospital gowns. Since the premiere was in 2021, the audience is reminded of the Covid pandemic. The Rite of Spring is a story of humans prostrating to nature that is beyond comprehension, and select the weaker ones as sacrifice. But Kanamori takes it even further to depict people confronting the pandemic together.
Named Noism — meaning “no isms,” or boundaries — the company was founded in 2004 by Jo Kanamori, who is still the center's artistic director for dance. At age 17, after taking ballet lessons from a young age, the Yokohama native left to study with the renowned Maurice Béjart in Lausanne, Switzerland. From there, having blossomed in both dance and choreography, he went on to forge a sparkling 10-year career largely at the Netherlands Dance Theatre under its iconic master of contemporary dance, Jiri Kylian.
Premiere: 27 August 2020
Music: I. Stravinsky “The Rite of Spring”
Costume: Ratta Rattar
Chair: Dan Sung
Performed by: Sawako Iseki, Yuki Yamada, Kana Ikegaya, Geoffroy Poplawski, Sena Imoto, Kairi Hayashida, Charlie Leung, Kai Tomioka, Stephen Quildan, Tyrone Robinson, Ayami Toba, Maya Nishizawa, Rio Miyoshi, Kana Mori, Honoka Ikeda, Khanal Milan Hajime, Karin Sugino, Mriya Nagasawa, Remi Hashimoto, Hikaru Tsubota, Tomomi Nakamura
Venue: Ryutopia Niigata City Performing Arts Center (Niigata)