Kaguyahime: The Moon princess

Kaguyahime, or Princess Kaguya, is the protagonist of a 10th-century Japanese folk tale that has inspired countless films, books, plays, cartoons, mangas and video games. It is also the title of a work by Japanese composer Maki Ishii, for which he asked Jiří Kylián to create a choreography in 1988. It was Kylián’s first full-scale narrative ballet - first performed by the Nederlands Dans Theater in 1988 and later restaged by the Ballet de l’Opéra national de Paris in 2010. Distilling the work to its essence, Kylián retained only the outlines of the plot. The moon princess’ exceptional beauty causes princes to line up at the door of the humble bamboo-cutter who took her in when she was a child. The ensuing rivalries soon turn to violence. Even the Emperor is determined to marry her. But Kaguyahime refuses them all and follows her soldier escorts back to her lunar world, a metaphor for the purity of spiritual essence that slips away from all those who attempt to grasp or fight for it.

A master of European neoclassical dance, Jiří Kylián has created over one hundred choreographies, drawing inspiration from a wide range of sources while constantly reinventing his vocabulary. Born in Prague in 1947, he studied at the Prague Conservatory and the Royal Ballet School in London before joining the Stuttgart Ballet and taking his first steps as a choreographer. As artistic director of Nederlands Dans Theater from 1975 to 1999, he created some sixty works and founded two sister companies for young professionals and mature dancers. After leaving this post, he remained NDT’s artistic advisor and resident choreographer for ten years. Adept at revealing the paradoxes and vulnerabilities of the human soul, and at questioning the times in which we live, this humanist is gifted with seemingly limitless inventive powers. Today, more than 80 companies and schools around the world perform his works. Kaguyahime is a valuable addition to the repertoire of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, which already contains a number of Kylián’s works, including Symphony of Psalms, Bella Figura, Six Dances and Forgotten Land.

Maki Ishii (1936-2003) is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. In 1984, he created the Kaguyahime suite for traditional Japanese drums (played by Kodo) and Western percussion. In Jiří Kylián’s ballet, the piece also includes a Gagaku ensemble playing Japanese Imperial Court music in traditional costumes. Performed live throughout, the music is of central importance to the ballet, ranging from the delicate and insistent sounds of the ryuteki (bamboo flute) to the powerful poundings of the taiko, an immense stretched-skin drum that can symbolize the moon. Whereas cheerful rhythms accompany the village celebrations and rejoicing, vigorous drum rolls and rumblings accompany the feats of the clashing suitors. A sound environment that fascinates, exhilarates and intoxicates.

In Japanese, “kodo” can mean both “heartbeat” and “children of the drum.” Founded in 1981, Kodo set itself the mission of not only preserving, but of reinterpreting a traditional Japanese art form with diverse types of drums, including the gigantic o-daiko. The sound is sometimes like a fine rain, sometimes as powerful as thunder or as primitive as a primal scream — and always in constant dialogue with the dancers. The musicians are also remarkable athletes who need exceptional strength and endurance to maintain the rhythm and intensity of the performance. Extremely dedicated to their art, they live together on the Island of Sado, some 300 kilometres north-west of Tokyo, where they compose music, train rigorously and prepare for concert tours for two-thirds of the year in both Japan — where they also host Japan's longest running outdoor festival every summer — and the rest of the world.

Gagaku means “elegant, refined music”. Citharas, lutes, percussion, flutes and a traditional mouth organ made of bamboo stalks known as the sho are part of its ancestral appeal. Emerging in Japan in the 6th century, Gagaku is associated with the Imperial Japanese Court and is considered the world’s oldest orchestral music.