Child's Play
Co. Un Yamada, a dance company and creative collective established in Tokyo in 2002, returned to the New National Theatre Tokyo last week to reprise their popular family-friendly production from 2021, “Obachetta.”
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As “’lectric Eye” opens, a group of 14 bursts onstage, stepping in formation as runway fashion model swagger meets drill team precision. They criss cross the stage, arms swinging, hips gyrating, assorted gold and coppery mylar apparel flashing. It’s sexy, glitzy and mind-boggling in its intricate unison. As a group they step, turn, lunge, plié, kick, dip, relevé—constantly changing direction to a droning disco beat punctuated by the sound of drumsticks. Sound and movement are equal partners in choreographer Joanna Kotze’s work, and for “’lectric Eye,” musical collaborator, Ryan Seaton, emerges from the sound booth to perform a fully integrated role onstage. He plays his original electronic music, he sings, and while the drill team does its thing, he jumps rope. For a very long time.
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Joanna Kotze's “'Lectric Eye.” Photograph by Maria Baranova
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Co. Un Yamada, a dance company and creative collective established in Tokyo in 2002, returned to the New National Theatre Tokyo last week to reprise their popular family-friendly production from 2021, “Obachetta.”
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