Dance Company Lasta: Naraku 奈落 (Abyss)
JAPANESE CONTEMPORARY DANCE
Become a Friend to access priority booking
Join as a Friend today to access priority booking, enjoy up to 20% off, members only seats and champion bold international arts
The gripping portrayal of a man’s internal struggle with illicit desire. From internationally acclaimed Japanese Dance Company Lasta.
Choreographer and dancer Yoshimitsu Kushida plunges the audience into a dark and surreal dream world where the choreography, erotic and violent, beautiful and grotesque, speaks to the shadow self that lurks beneath his civilised veneer.
“Reality and fantasy are like two mirrors, reflecting each other and easily transcending the boundaries between them. The question is how to return from the fictional world to the real world, and how to connect the two.”
As his dream self battles with his real self, his fantasies become increasingly extreme until he reaches the edge of the abyss. Mysterious characters guide and persuade, finally pulling him back from the void.
Naraku was first performed in 2020 in Yokohama. In 2022 Kushida adapted the work for film, receiving multiple accolades and nominations across European art-film festivals, with screenings in Paris, Venice, London, and Athens.
Dance Company Lasta is a contemporary dance company based in Tokyo, formed by the founder and former principal Noism dancer Yoshimitsu Kushida in 2013, with the ambition of creating work as an ensemble that lingers in the cultural memory.
Cast and Creatives
Artistic Director
Yoshimitsu Kushida
Dancers
Satoshi Nakagawa, Miwa Motojima, Yumika Yasuoka, Mana Tazaki, Riku Ogawa, Aoi Okamoto
Composer
Motoi Matsuda
Costume Design
hitoha.nasu, Grelot Arbre Co.,Ltd.
Production Manager
Kumiko Yamamoto
Understudy
Azuri Kawamura
Become a Friend to access priority booking
Join as a Friend today to access priority booking, enjoy up to 20% off, members only seats and champion bold international arts