The changing seasons
A shantytown comes to life in a dance-theatre piece at KLPac.
JAPANESE dancer and choreographer Un Yamada presented her first full-length performance in Malaysia last year, a double bill performance titled One Piece and
The Rite Of Spring. This weekend, she returns with People Without Seasons, a dance-theatre hybrid that finds its narrative embedded in the lives of residents of a shantytown. Life might be far from perfect here, but it is the reality these people know.
People Without Seasons will play at KLPac, starting Oct 20.
Inspired by Shugoro Yamamoto’s 1962 novel A Town Without Seasons and its cinematic adaptation Dodes’ka-den by Akira Kurosawa in 1970, this dance-theatre performance is a locally reimagined version of Yamada’s earlier work titled City Without Seasons that was first staged in 2012 in Japan.
“This is an exciting project to me, one that is based on a small story written a long time ago, and now presented with new energy from Malaysia. People Without Seasons could be the story of anyone from anywhere, it is not confined to a certain time or space. It is based on somebody’s story, but it could be as easily your story or mine,” says Yamada, 48.
People Without Seasons isa Japanese-Malaysian collaboration, with homegrown talent and dancers from her professional dance troupe Co. Un Yamada taking to the stage. Besides dancers Fauzi Amirudin and Jabar Laura, eight other Malaysian dancers will be part of the ensemble.
People Without Seasons is jointly organised by The Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur, Co. Un Yamada, and the National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage (Aswara) with the cooperation of the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan, New Era University College and Bogus Merchandise.
Yamada describes People Without Seasons, rather cryptically, as “not really dance, but not really non-dance either”. She shares that there will be segments of the show that are reminiscent of a movie, memorable but fleeting in its cinematographic aesthetics and sensibilities, before it switches back into dance and theatre mode.
“I combine the element of seasons, landscape memories and emotions in the storytelling of
People Without Seasons. There are so many different images here, it will be quite an experience for the audience,” she says.
Yamada, trained in ballet, butoh and apparatus gymnastics, is known for her unorthodox approach to creation, often combining literature, music, art and fashion in her works. Her dance career started in the mid-1990s.
In People Without Seasons, stories fuelled by joy, anger, despair and hopes and dreams unfold against an impoverished setting and the well-known strains of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Theatre practitioner Janet Pillai takes on the role of dramaturg, with costume design by Ryotamurakami and scenography by Hiroshi Fuji.
“People Without Seasons is as multifaceted and complex as life is. For instance, life is never just happiness. Even on good days, there might be a twinge of sadness or wistfulness as well. I hope the audience feels this through the performance, I hope that it touches them and brings back memories long forgotten,” concludes Yamada.
People Without Seasons is on at Pentas 1, KLPac, Sentul Park, Jalan Strachan, off Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah in KL on Oct 20-21 (8.30pm) and Oct 22 (3.30pm). Tickets are RM55 and RM28 (students, senior citizens, disabled, JFKL library members and TAS card holders). Call 03-4047 9000/037880 7999 or go to www.ticketpro. com.my for ticket purchase. Visit www.klpac.org or www.jfkl.org.my for more information.