This piece, created during the Covid-19 pandemic, attracted attention worldwide as a form of socially distanced theater. Its main feature is the integration of the audience seating with the stage design. The stage is surrounded on three sides by walls containing peepholes, through which viewers watch the performance. Even in ordinary stage shows, the audience looks in a single direction from the darkness toward a bright stage, so “peeping” is in fact the essence of the performing arts.
ASAI Nobuyoshi, the leader of the company, has a variety of faces. Hailing originally from the world of hip-hop, he was formerly a butoh dancer with the famed Sankai Juku troupe and serves presently as artistic director of the Dance House Kogane 4422 in Nagoya.
The three-person cast consists of Asai, his student SUGIURA Yura (a high-school student at the time of the video), and Paris-based OKUNO Shu. OKUNO is buried in white sand spread across the stage. SUGIURA dances with energy and vitality, while the strong Asai gradually decays and dies, casting the darkness of the world onto the narrow space. OKUNO slowly uses the sand to create ripples, reminiscent of the stone garden at Kyoto’s famed Ryoanji Temple, and quietly achieves rebirth.

2021
Social distancing Amphitheatre (Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No.1)

Presented by: The Japan Foundation (JF) (https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/)
In cooperation with EPAD (https://epad.terrada.co.jp/)

＜Performance Credits＞
Choreographed and Directed by: ASAI Nobuyoshi
Performers: ASAI Nobuyoshi, OKUNO Shu, SUGIURA Yura
Scenic Design by: ASAI Nobuyoshi
Music by: KAWASAKI Masaki
Stage Manager: KAWAGUCHI Makoto
Lighting Design by: FUKUI Takako
Sound Design by: ITO Takafumi
Social Distancing Amphitheatre Design by: Moonlight Mobile Theater, STORE IN FACTORY, ICHIKAWA Kazuki, KAWANISHI Susumu, OMI Akira
Producer: ASAI Nobuyoshi
Production Manager: SUGIURA Aki, SUZUKI Yayoi, KATO Ai
Video Documentation: SATO Ryosuke, TANAKA Hiroyuki, TSUDA Hiroki
Video Editing: SATO Ryosuke
In cooperation with: Dance House KOGANE 4422, Rinnai Corporation
Co-organized by: Dance Dance Dance@YOKOHAMA 2021, Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No.1, Yokohama Arts Foundation
Organizer: Moonlight Mobile Theater

＜Subtitling Credits＞
Chinese Translation (Simplified): Wuyue LIU
Chinese Translation (Traditional): NITTA Yukio
English Translation: David MCMAHON
French Translation: Amira ZEGROUR
Russian Translation: Ekaterina TARASOVA
Spanish Translation: José Antonio AMBRIZ

＜Promotional Text＞
NORIKOSHI Takao