Cho-Cho San

In the organizer's words:

Dance theater by Nene Okada and Marco Girardin based on the story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long.

A young woman stands on the beach in Nagasaki. She waits for a sail on the horizon, an unfulfilled promise and a perhaps long-lost love. Day after day she stands there, weeks and months pass. One day he will come back, Pinkerton has said, she just has to be patient. She, whose name is Cho-Cho San, and whom he calls Madame Butterfly. She, the geisha from the teahouse from whom he took the name. For Mr. Pinkerton, an officer in the US Navy, marriage to the Japanese woman is a temporary erotic game from the outset, the rules of which he determines: Cho-Cho San is to call him by his first name, speak American and not leave the house if possible. The social isolation drives her into his hands and the strict marriage laws of her country lead her to believe that the relationship has no future, even when Pinkerton leaves the country without her.

In 1898, the American author John Luther Long published the novella "Madame Butterfly", which six years later became the basis for Giacomo Puccini's opera of the same name and made the story of an unhappy love affair world-famous. Both interpretations are an expression of the glorified alien stimuli of the turn of the century and hardly speak from the perspective of the eponymous protagonist.

Nene Okada and Marco Girardin bring the legendary tale to life in poetic images and give Madame Butterfly not only her name back as Cho-Cho San, but also her own voice.
Traditional Japanese dance meets contemporary styles of European dance theater, while familiar Puccini melodies mingle with electro-acoustic soundscapes. The dance piece celebrated its premiere at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus.
With Nene Okada (dance), Marco Girardin (live music) and Sarah Steinbach (voice)

Duration 60 minutes

Choreography Nene Okada
Composition Marco Girardin
Text Anton Schreiber
Choreographic collaboration Lara Pilloni
Costume Kiyomi Okada
Dramaturgical collaboration Stijn Reinhold