Another warm and inspiring evening at the Iwakura Space of Heidi Durning (Fujima Kansoo) last night. To celebrate her fiftieth birthday, and her decades of dancing, Heidi performed two nights of 6 dances each--no mean feat (or feet) considering she had to send out invites, manage the box office, help people navigate, prepare aftershow snacks, and arrange for flute (Nonaka Sat) and djembe (Sun). Bravo to those who continue to stretch and push, on whatever scale in this tough, fun world of fusion theatre. Heidi opened with an Oharame , Okame masked dance from traditional buyo. Her koshi was good, kimari were clean, and the funny yet elegant farmgirl with the puffy face came to life in the small (40-seat) home theatre. Next, the Djembe, played with feeling and variety by Ta-ken . We fell into a trancelike state of readiness.
Then Heidi appeared in FISH , this time in white with two fans, a mermaid-fish gliding serenely across the surface of her little pond. Her face now a mask, her m
an occasional document of theatrical life in Kyoto and the virtual world at the beginning of the 21st century