A Comedic Dance-Theatre Elegy.
Premiered in 2013 at Christ Church Neighborhood House JapanAmerica Wonderwave is what the company considers a staged “disaster response mixtape”. Employing a playlist of American and Asian pop music and a blend of dance and image theater techniques, the piece is a funny and touching response to the events of March 11, 2011, and other tragedies far and near.
Responses to Japanamerica wonderwave…touchingly optimistic about humanity, what we endure, what we survive, how we grieve, and how we care for each other.” “It’s an awesome, poignant, hilarious dance-theatre elegy – there’s not much else like it.” “…this piece is truly affecting and is one of the first “theater” pieces I have seen using “dance” logic for its structure so effectively…” |
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Artist's Statement
On March 11, 2011 the country of Japan was hit with a 9.0 earthquake, causing a subsequent tsunami and triggering the second largest nuclear accident in history, killing nearly 19,000 people. The moment after news hit the United States was particularly significant to the company and, specifically, to the project’s lead artist Makoto Hirano, an American of Japanese descent. For Hirano, that moment, which existed between postdisaster and pre-understanding, threw into focus questions of what is consequential and inconsequential in our daily, American lives and the difficulties of empathizing with something that feels so big and yet, as we move through the world, so small.
JapanAmerica Wonderwave captures two friends, one of Japanese heritage and one not, attempting to understand and process tragedy in our world today.
Toying with theatrical presentation, the two performers create for an audience a first-person comedic/funerary collage, placing themselves inside and outside of tragic situations, delicately enacting images of natural disasters, heroically voyaging to a post-tsunami Japan, and wildly dancing to the music that they listen to in times of desperation. The piece employs a playlist of American and Asian pop music and an ever-shifting zoom-in/zoom-out visual design as the piece’s performers grapple with the discomfiting sensation of powerlessness in a time of distant crisis. Team Sunshine’s JapanAmerica Wonderwave has been seen as a work-in-progress at the Asian Arts Initiative’s mini-Festival “Home: Far and Near” and at the Commotion Festival, a project of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority. The evening will feature an “opening act” by musician Christopher Sean Powell and choreographer Kate Watson-Wallace. He will be providing preshow ambient music and performing a set of rhythms and electronics backed up by dancing by Watson-Wallace and another dancer for your entertainment pleasure.
JapanAmerica Wonderwave captures two friends, one of Japanese heritage and one not, attempting to understand and process tragedy in our world today.
Toying with theatrical presentation, the two performers create for an audience a first-person comedic/funerary collage, placing themselves inside and outside of tragic situations, delicately enacting images of natural disasters, heroically voyaging to a post-tsunami Japan, and wildly dancing to the music that they listen to in times of desperation. The piece employs a playlist of American and Asian pop music and an ever-shifting zoom-in/zoom-out visual design as the piece’s performers grapple with the discomfiting sensation of powerlessness in a time of distant crisis. Team Sunshine’s JapanAmerica Wonderwave has been seen as a work-in-progress at the Asian Arts Initiative’s mini-Festival “Home: Far and Near” and at the Commotion Festival, a project of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority. The evening will feature an “opening act” by musician Christopher Sean Powell and choreographer Kate Watson-Wallace. He will be providing preshow ambient music and performing a set of rhythms and electronics backed up by dancing by Watson-Wallace and another dancer for your entertainment pleasure.
The Team
Lead Artist/Performer: Makoto Hirano
Creator/Performer: Benjamin Camp
Cameo/stand-ins: Kristel Baldoz and Jenna Horton
Creator/Director: Alex Torra
Scenic/Lighting Designer: Oona Curley
Sound Designer: Mikaal Sulaiman
Costume Designer: Siri Nelson
Stage Hand: Laurel Hostak
Stage Hand: Mason Rosenthal
Creator/Performer: Benjamin Camp
Cameo/stand-ins: Kristel Baldoz and Jenna Horton
Creator/Director: Alex Torra
Scenic/Lighting Designer: Oona Curley
Sound Designer: Mikaal Sulaiman
Costume Designer: Siri Nelson
Stage Hand: Laurel Hostak
Stage Hand: Mason Rosenthal
Special Thanks and Support
JapanAmerica Wonderwave was created at the fidgetspace. Versions of JapanAmerica Wonderwave have been shown at the Asian Arts Initiative and as part of the Commotion Festival. The finished version premiered at Christ Church Neighborhood House in May 2013.
This project was funded in part by many heroes donating to a Kickstarter fundraising campaign.
Premier production was made possible in part by New Stages for Dance. Leadership Support for the New Stages for Dance Initiative is provided by MetLife Foundation. New Stages for Dance is a program of Dance/USA Philadelphia.
Additional support provided by the Wyncote Foundation as recommended by Leonard C. Haas .
Old Forge Brewing Company was the official beer partner of the JapanAmerica Wonderwave premier.
This project was funded in part by many heroes donating to a Kickstarter fundraising campaign.
Premier production was made possible in part by New Stages for Dance. Leadership Support for the New Stages for Dance Initiative is provided by MetLife Foundation. New Stages for Dance is a program of Dance/USA Philadelphia.
Additional support provided by the Wyncote Foundation as recommended by Leonard C. Haas .
Old Forge Brewing Company was the official beer partner of the JapanAmerica Wonderwave premier.