An extraordinary bringing together of style, personality and experience, Waltz is an exceptional piece of dance that speaks volumes, resonates and lingers long after the final beat.
A reflection on life, collaboration, intimacy and so much more, Waltz is a succinct exploration of how we exist in shared spaces, how we relate to each other and what those relationships mean. Choreographed by Saburo Teshigawara, and danced with his long-time collaborator Rihoko Sato, the piece is exceptionally simple, centring around the three-beat tempo across era, decade and country. And that is it, they dance for just over an hour, sometimes sharing the stage, often alone, with the lights restricting what we see, and what they see of each other.
Within this lies the beauty of the piece, it’s subtlety, nuance and profundity are held within their simple relationships. Despite almost never dancing together, their movements seem indelibly about, to, with each other. Only noticeable in the slightest of gestures, when entering the space, or when moving for or against each other, their relationship hides in the glimpses of intimacy.
Teshigawara is exquisite; his movements are subtle and refined yet full of purpose, passion, and personality. His performance is exceptionally dynamic and shifts with dexterity from moment to moment. In his dance, he holds myriad movements of language, sitting between and in proximity to so many different spaces, instincts and tensions. These shifts often feel contradictory, but there is something slippery, hard to pin down that binds all of this into a Rothko of a dance. But what is so transcendent about this, is how understated it is, Sato and Teshigawara hold all of these contradictions, resonances and thoughts in but a few gestures.
This is an evening that will stay with me for a while and was a breath of fresh air. In the most unpretentious, unassuming ways it asks profound questions and speaks to decades of reflection, bodily experience and consideration of who and where we are to each other.
Review by Tom Carter
Harnessing the three-beat tempo of waltzes from many countries and eras to evoke the dancers’ interior rhythm, heartbeat and breathing, Teshigawara creates a lively, vibrant and moving duet – a reflection on his own life and that of his long time collaborator, Rihoko Sato.
Teshigawara has for many years been one of the leading change-makers in Japanese dance, moving away from the more traditional conventions, and giving dancers the freedom to express themselves. This piece, in the UK for the first time, is an emotive example of his outstanding creativity.
Direction, Lighting Design, Costume: Saburo Teshigawara
Artistic Collaborator: Rihoko Sato
Performers: Rihoko Sato, Saburo Teshigawara
Technical Coordination / Lighting Assistant: Sergio Pessanha
Wardrobe: Rika Kato
Production: Karas
SABURO TESHIGAWARA: WALTZ
The Coronet Theatre
19 to 22 March 2025
