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String Theory

Particles or string? Dark matter or light? The National Ballet of Japan offers up a contemporary double-bill of dance, loosely connected by visual metaphors to modern physics. Naoya Homan’s “String Saga,” uses a shimmering back-drop of fabric infused with light to play with concepts of connection and tension. Jessica Lang’s “Escaping the Weight of Darkness,” created for the company in 2014, opens on floating, bulbous rings against a dark stage to evoke themes of hope and redemption. Choreographically, both works use classical steps and unexpected formations in unusual ways, satisfyingly modern and sharp.

Performance

National Ballet of Japan: “String Saga” by Naoya Homan / “Escaping the Weight of Darkness” by Jessica Lang

Place

New National Theatre Tokyo, Japan, July 4, 2026

Words

Kris Kosaka

Ayako Ono and Takafumi Watanabe in Naoya Homan’s “String Saga.” Photograph by Yoshitomo Okuda, courtesy of the National Ballet of Japan

In his debut production for the NBJ, Homan teams with set designer Maki Nagamine for a shape-shifting central metaphor. The curtain rises on the dramatic, light infused backdrop, a single dancer on the other side, like a swimmer caught under the surface of water. Starkly elegant in silhouette, the dancer’s movements, from extensions to bourrées, create ripples of fabric until the backdrop is lifted to become a canopied wave above the stage. Sequences follow as sets of dancers echo the visual motif of suspended strings of light with all the dancers coming together for the final sequence.

Choreography overlaps and mirrors, spins and lifts adroitly timed to the score by acclaimed Japanese composer, Joe Hisaishi. Highlights include the overlapping formations of Intertwine with Mao Hashimoto, Naohiro Ogawa, Satoshi Nakamura, Marina Ohki. Ayako Ono and Takafumi Watanabe are also superb as Tangle, in an intricate, delicate pas de deux.  

Mao Hashimoto, Naohiro Ogawa, Satoshi Nakamura, and Marina Ohki in NaoyaHoman’s “String Saga.” Photograph by Yoshitomo Okuda, courtesy of the National Ballet of Japan

Mao Hashimoto, Naohiro Ogawa, Satoshi Nakamura, and Marina Ohki in NaoyaHoman’s “String Saga.” Photograph by Yoshitomo Okuda, courtesy of the National Ballet of Japan

After intermission, the curtain opens on Lang’s floating white orbs: Clouds? Souls? Doughnuts?!! Known for blending visual art with dance, Lang’s design at first shocks the eye, obvious after Homan’s shifting subtlety. But the floating lights become powerful metaphors of hope. The work was created in the aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and is dedicated to “the people of Japan.” Lang’s husband, Kanji Segawa, is a Japanese national and creative associate on the production. 

The orbs rise as dancers flood the stage. In my favorite passage, Lang makes clever use of a drop-curtain, lowered to conceal the dancers’ upper bodies, that also divides the stage into two areas. It creates a shadowy illusion as two sets of dancers mirror and slide between the two realms. The twinned pas de deux of each realm folds onto itself as dancers exchange partners. The effect is heightened by the minimalistic, identical costumes, designed by Izumi Yamada. 

 

Yuko Kimura, Saki Horinouchi, Nana Oda in Jessica Lang's “Escaping the Weight of Darkness.” Photograph by Yoshitomo Okuda, courtesy of the National Ballet of Japan

Yuko Kimura, Saki Horinouchi, Nana Oda in Jessica Lang's “Escaping the Weight of Darkness.” Photograph by Yoshitomo Okuda, courtesy of the National Ballet of Japan

In another sequence, three dancers enter wearing the spheres of light as tutus, like abstract art made mobile. This trio of Yuko Kimura, Saki Horinouchi, Nana Oda add choreographic levity to the mysterious orbs, their movements both playful and refined. Like the floating orbs, the identical costumes for all is, at first, disorienting, but then settles into a unified oneness that fits the production. All in all, a hopeful, exciting piece. 

 

Each abstract and modern, NBJ’s double-bill sparked a more cerebral than emotional reaction to dance, but the diverse images of light stayed in my mind the entire train ride home. 

Kris Kosaka

Kris Kosaka is a writer and educator based in Kamakura, Japan. A lifelong ballet fan and studio rat in her youth, she's been contributing to the Japan Times since 2009. She writes across culture, but especially in dance, opera and literature. 

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