TaikoArts Midwest presents:
88:Hachi Hachi
Saturday December 9, 2017 at 7:30PM, Sunday December 10, 2017 at 2:00PM
Tickets: $25 adult/ $15 senior&student, general admission seating
Location: Park Square Andy Boss Theatre, 20 W 7th Pl, St Paul, MN 55102
Intricately weaving theatre, taiko, and dance, 88: Hachi Hachi is a 60 minute duet performance featuring UNIT SOUZOU Co-Directors, Michelle Fujii and Toru Watanabe. Personal stories of family and lineage inform the choreography, music and storytelling of this stage production, which investigates the entwined and complex relationship of 2 people as Japanese/Japanese-American, man/woman, and husband/wife.
The title, 88: Hachi Hachi evokes a number of layers that the duet explores. The couple’s wedding anniversary is August 8. Hachi translates to “8”, and hachi hachi also means “head to head,” the touching of foreheads symbolizing an intimate communication. “8” is also considered an auspicious number in Japanese culture.
Integrating multi-disciplines, a series of vignettes thread these images together such as a drum duet that negotiates the space between the performers tangling, yielding and synchronizing to each other or a Japanese folk-inspired dance exchanging everyday morning conversation. Text layers throughout the program incorporating “ji-nglish,” (Japanese and English combo), a created language bridging the relationship of two cultural upbringings.
