Dance, music and songs from Ōsaka in the tradition of the Yamamura school

A tour of traditional Japanese dance from Ōsaka will come to Venice with the support of the Japan Foundation coordinated by Bonaventura Ruperti from the Department of Asian and North African Studies.

Following a performance at the Teatro La Soffitta in Bologna, in collaboration with the university of Bologna and the Japan Cultural Institute in Rome, a performance and conference will be held in Venice at Palazzo Grimani on October 26th at 4pm and two dance workshops on October 27th at Ca’ Foscari ZATTERE- Cultural Flow Zone. The tour will climax with a show at the Goldoni Theatre on October 30th.
The group will be guided by two respected young masters who were awarded with the most prestigious recognitions of traditional arts in Ōsaka: dancer YAMAMURA Wakahayaki and musician KIKUŌ Yūji.

Here is the program with all the scheduled events.

The Yamamura dancing school and the jiuta songs and shamisen (a three stringed traditional instrument) celebrate traditions from the Tokugawa era (1600-1868), expressing the spirit of Ōsaka, a city of merchants.
If kabuki theatre is still alive through spectacular dances conceived for male interpreters who may also be specialized in feminine roles (onnagata), the Kamigata dances were also conceived for women drawing on the Imperial court and the pleasure districts.

The repertoire is rich and diverse, and associates pieces inspired by nō theatre highlight the sensuality of women’s bodies, pieces reflecting the delicate bunraku moves and more intimate danced scenes around the jiuta and a few musicians in a limited space where the dancer moves with a fan. The elegance of the dance in tune with the singing expresses feelings, seasons, atmospheres in a minimalistic aesthetic.

The Yamamura school has a 201 years old tradition initiated with the choreographer Yamamura Tomogorō I (1781-1844) who brought together kabuki theatre and women’s dances from the pleasure districts. He was also known for his creations for the most renowned kabuki actor in Ōsaka, Nakamura Utaemon III (1778-1838).
The artists involved in the tour perform regularly together and represent two of the strongest performing talents in Ōsaka.

Dancer Yamamura Wakahayaki entered in 1995 in the school of master Yamamura Wakasaki - who received the Award of the Minister of Culture in 1986, the Shijuhōshō in 2001 and the Kyokujitsu shōjushō in 2007 - and received her stage name in 2001. He performed in many prestigious theatres including the National Theatre of Tōkyō and the national bunraku theatre in Ōsaka and participated to many cultural events promoted by the Japanese National Dance association. In 2003 he received the XL award for young artists by the Naniwa Geijutsusai and in 2008 the Saku ya kono hana price in Ōsaka.

Musician and singer Kikuō Yūji entered the school of master Kikuhara Kōji in 1989 and received the stage name Kikuō in 1997 as an artist who represents musical traditions with shamisen from the Nogawa school of Ōsaka, koto from the Ikuta school, and kokyū from Kamigata as well as jiuta to support dancers exploring it in collaboration with many arts including Western music and wadaiko. He received many awards, including the Sakuya Kono hana shō price in Ōsaka in 2005 and the main award at the Culture Festival in Ōsaka.

The Venetian events occur in collaboration with the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies (IISMC) at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, the Oriental Art Museum of Venice and the Teatro Stabile del Veneto and the patronage of the city of Ōsaka.