2025/03/14

“Kuroshio Current Project Taiwan-Yonaguni-Jeju”

Available in EN/FR/KR/簡中/繁中/JP Subtitles

KAWASAKI Jun & JEONG Wonki
Kuroshio Current Project Taiwan-Yonaguni-Jeju “Then Dance with Souls” “Eurasian Opera Op.4 SHIO – Song of diaspora”

This music-poetic drama is an international joint production by the Music and Poetic Drama Laboratory (led by Jun Kawasaki), which has staged performances of Eurasian Opera across the continent, and composer Wonki Jeong (South Korea), who has created numerous theater pieces on the theme of diaspora.
Focusing on the maritime cultures of the East Asian islands, it features a mélange of singers with roots in the indigenous Taiwanese people, singers from Yonaguni and Jeju, and chamber music performed with Korean and Taiwanese traditional instruments, accompanied by dance, art, and film.

Then Dance with Souls (written by Wonki Jeong) spotlights “migration” as a consequence of war, centered on the story of a shaman on Jeju Island. It is both a documentary and a requiem—a documentary of those who perished at sea while seeking a haven after enduring colonial rule and national division, and a requiem that resonates at the boundary of life/death and the present.

Eurasian Opera Op.4 SHIO – Song of diaspora (written by Jun Kawasaki) is a musical drama depicting cultural exchanges between Japan, Korea, and Taiwan from a rare perspective connecting the three regions. The soloists include Eri Liao, a singer of indigenous Taiwanese descent, and Moon Seokbeom, a renowned actor from Jeju Island. Aika Higashimori, a filmmaker and actress from Japan’s westernmost Yonaguni Island, plays Shio, who embarks on an endless journey of drifting. During her journey, Shio encounters untold tales of cultural plunder and interactions between indigenous peoples and newcomers. The traditions that have been lost to history intersect with the diaspora of people who have historically been cast aside by the nation-state.

In this project, unknown musical cultures and endangered languages mutually resonate and cast light on the souls that have vanished into history and the sea. In doing so, it poses a question to our increasingly exclusionary modern society: What does it mean for people to live together?

This work was produced for the Japan Foundation’s International Creations in Performing Arts 2024.

＜Performance Information＞
7,8 December 2024
Venue: Tenbusu Hall, Tenbusu Naha, Okinawa
10,11 December 2024
Venue: Nippori Sunny Hall, Tokyo

Part 1:
Then Dance with Souls (premiere)
Direction, Compose: Wongi Jeong

Part 2:
Eurasian Opera Op.4 SHIO – Song of diaspora (premiere)
Direction, Compose: Jun Kawasaki
Script: Jun Kawasaki, Satoshi Tsuboi

Cast:
Aika Higashimori (lead actress), Eri Liao (vocal), Moon Seokbeom (vocal), Arihiro Yamada (butoh dance), Hiroyo Miura (dance), Aya (butoh dance), Akira Yoshimatsu (Japanese traditional vocal, actor), Satoshi Tsuboi (Vocal, Script), Erika Ueda (performance)

Ensemble:
Chang Jaehyo (percussion), Park Soon-A (gayageum), Li-Chin Li (sheng), Aki Ozawa (guitar), KyongA Im (cello), Akiko Imamoto (flute / Okinawa performance), Sayaka Kaneno (flute / Tokyo performance), Kota Arai (percussion)

Staff:
Hideto Miyuki (Video and Art director), Chong Ri Ae (Installation art), Go Takayama (Video)

Organized by Jun Kawasaki, Music and Poetic Drama Laboratory
Co-organized by The Japan Foundation
Co-produced by Jun Kawasaki, Music and Poetic Drama Laboratory / The Japan Foundation
Produced by Jun Kawasaki, Music and Poetic Drama Laboratory / Tomo Saito (Marmelo, inc.)