Workshop and Meeting with Master Taneda Michikazu. Dances in Noh Theatre

Auditorium Santa Margherita and CFZ Cultural Flow Zone, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
plus Feb, 26Mar, 01 2018

Coordinated by Bonaventura Ruperti, professor of the Japanese language at Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, these two events provide the opportunity to meet the famous master and actor of Noh theatre, Taneda Michikazu (born in Kyōto), a member of the fourth generation of the Taneda family, and acknowledged shokubun master, i.e. a professional performer at the highest level of the Kongō school.

Taneda is the director of the Noh Association, deputy director of the Kongō School Association, a member of the Urasenke school of the tea ceremony, professor at the Urasenke Gakuen, and author of a book on the relationship between Noh and the tea ceremony. During the workshop open to students and enthusiasts, Master Taneda will illustrate the dances in Noh theatre, highlighting the most important aspects of stage movements and dramatic gesturing. The workshop will focus on the Takasago plays with actors performing a dance of divinity, and Hagoromo, in which a celestial creature dances.

During the public meeting (5 pm, 1 March at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini), Master Taneda will present some examples of dances (shimai) pertaining to gods, men, women, madness and demons, thus demonstrating the peculiarities of the characters types. He will also illustrate the movement patterns (kata) for expressing joy and pain, as they manifest themselves in the gestures in Noh plays, and he will present some of the songs or recitations (utai) included in Noh performances with the involvement of the audience.
The two events have been organised with the support of the Japanese government office, Bunkachō – Agency for Cultural Affairs.