Dancing for Chagall

Director and choreographer Naoya Homan’s reimagining of “Aleko,” a one-act ballet where art takes center stage, dazzles the eye with a tragic meditation on the limits of freedom. The original 1942 production, choreographed by Léonide Massine to Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Trio in A Minor, is based on Aleksandr Pushkin’s 1824 poem, “The Gypsies.” A great success for Ballet Theatre in 1957 (now the American Ballet Theatre,) it is most remembered for its set and costume designs by Russian painter Marc Chagall.

Performance

“Aleko” by Naoya Homan

Place

Museum of Narratives, Tokyo, Japan, May 31, 2026

Words

Kris Kosaka

Koya Okawa as Aleko and Ayano Teshigahara as Zemphira in “Aleko” by Naoya Homan. Photograph by Hiroyasu Daido, courtesy of ADAGP

Chagall’s four painted backdrops, nine meters in height by 15 meters each, are preserved as art since ABT’s last revival of the work in 1968. Three of the four paintings are permanently housed at the Aomori Prefectural Museum of Art, procured in 1994, with one on long-term loan to the museum in their specially-built Aleko Hall, thus showcasing the complete set of Chagall’s original scenes.

Homan premiered his reimagined version of “Aleko” at the request of the museum in 2024, performed at Aleko Hall in front of the four great works. He adjusts the staging for this new production at Tokyo’s recently opened the Museum of Narratives, an architectural marvel and cavernous space dedicated to the fusion of art and storytelling. It’s an ideal location for this innovative new staging. “Aleko” is the first ballet produced at the Museum of Narratives since it opened in March.

Using advanced imaging techniques and special LED technology, Chagall’s four scenes are sequentially projected as backdrops, following the narrative. There is no other set design except an occasional basket, allowing the paintings to dazzle. And dazzle they do. Chagall’s art mesmerizes, an explosion of color and detail, perfectly complemented by the costumes and choreography. As Homan explained in a Q&A after the performance, his intention was to harmonize with the paintings, to enhance their beauty with the dance while taking advantage of lighting and spacing not available at the museum performance.

Yuta Arai in “Aleko” by Naoya Homan. Photograph by Hiroyasu Daido, courtesy of ADAGP

Within Homan’s layered storytelling, there are carefully placed moments of stillness where the eye naturally drifts to Chagall’s work. Homan’s “Aleko” unfolds as a psychological study as much as a doomed romance, and the subdued beats seamlessly blend into the rollicking scenes of gypsy life.

Koya Okawa, a principal at Asami Maki Ballet and native of Aomori prefecture who debuted the role, brings both talent and sensitivity to his interpretation of the young Aleko. Homan’s choreography showcases Okawa’s power with precise turns and agile leaps; an early sequence of increasingly wild, rolling jeté turns eat up the stage, perfectly capturing Aleko’s tortured angst. Okawa convincingly portrays a shy, unstable young nobleman, tormented by the constraints of his aristocratic life who stumbles into the rough and tumble world of the gypsies.

The ballet opens by first revealing Okawa’s/Aleko’s emotional isolation within his cloistered life, represented by a coolly exclusive ensemble of four aristocratic dancers where Aleko can’t fit in. A brief, lively dance battle between the Gypsies and the aristocrats heightens the emotional impact and sets up Aleko’s yearning for the perceived freedom of a Roma life.

Zemphira, his gypsy love interest, is danced by Ayano Teshigahara, a principal at NBA Ballet Company, who also originated the role in Aomori. At their first meeting, the ingénue stereotype is flipped, and it is Aleko who hides in anguished torment, watching her joyful solo. Teshigahara as Zemphira is no flighty temptress. Nuanced and empathetic, Teshigahara imbues the role with an earthy kindness that makes the devastating ending even more tragic.

Aleko’s yearning, tortured solo foreshadows his imbalanced demands later. Teshigahara’s youthful vibrancy steadily diminishes as she is torn between the increasingly obsessive demands of Aleko and the passionate love of her gypsy suitor, the Roma (superbly danced by Yuta Arai, also of NBA). Homan’s choreography astutely portrays her dilemma alongside the growing mental darkness inside Okawa/ Aleko, who discovers he cannot fit into the free life of the gypsies, either.

Okawa and Teshigahara and the slain Roma youth, Arai in “Aleko” by Naoya Homan. Photograph by Hiroyasu Daido, courtesy of ADAGP

The ensemble work, provided by members of NBA, is also fantastic, with realistically humorous touches that accentuate Aleko’s innocence and turmoil, like when his jacket is stolen by two mischievous gypsies or when his aristocratic friends return onstage to haunt him with jeering ridicule at the climax, when he realizes Zemphira loves another.

Other highlights include Roma’s passionate pas de deux with Zemphira, a stark contrast to the chaste sequences with Aleko. Clever use of lighting throughout adds to the stillness and directs attention back to the art at crucial moments. The final climatic scene, where Aleko claims Zemphira through violence is wrenchingly affecting.

Die-hard ballet fans may be impatient with starting a performance with an informative 15-minute video tracing the historical significance of the ballet and Chagall’s art. But the production is obviously geared towards a more general audience, and the bilingual video deepened my appreciation for the technological savvy necessary to capture the painting’s detail and luminous color with cutting-edge technology.

Tokyo already teems with choices for dance fans, but add the Museum of Narratives to the list. And keep an eye out for Naoya Homan, a popular young director who melds narrative skill to choreographic savvy.

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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