about a year ago, my dance teacher asked me to dance in Dance Labo II: WONDER . . . a production including dancers from ten studios in kochi. . . the main character was a mime on a journey . . .possibly in search of his soul??. . . you would think i would know the entire story after a year of work with and participation in the show. . . the thing is that no one ever actually explained it to me in english. . . so i got what i could and went with that. . .
anyway, it was definitely the biggest production i have been in thus far. . . there were over 100 dancers . . . “i was the only foreigner” (much fuss was made over that fact). . .
it was really interesting to experience the entire process of creating a show. . . the writing of the story . . . the composing of the music. . . the designing of the costumes (the costume designer originally wanted us to wear black ponchos!! my instructor gave her a good lecture on putting a bag over a dancer's body!!!) . . .
then there was the publicity. . . attending press conferences . . . finding sponsors . . . selling tickets. . .
and, of course, the typical dance stuff. . . the choreography process. . . rehearsals . . .lighting. . . makeup (only this time we had professional hair and makeup artists on staff!). . .and finally the performance itself!!!
many of the reviews we got said it reminded people of a las vegas show. . .
my studio’s main number was the seventh and final wonder. . . “mystery circles” (a.k.a. crop circles in non-japanese english). . . you can watch a video clip of the dress rehearsal if you click in the box that says WONDER! 2007年4月28,29日 at
http://www.geocities.jp/dancecream2/gazou/gazou.html
so. . . amazing. . . fun. . . etc. . . here are some backstage pictures!
sakura is the youngest person at the studio. . . she was trying to do her english homework between numbers. . . and occasionally took a break to check her mail. . .
on our way to the cast party after the final performance, taka and kana decided to make some extra money doing a mime dance down the main shopping street. . .
