Japanese to Bring Developing Flair for Ballet to S.D.

Ballet in Japan does not mean Kabuki in tutus. The training that takes place at the barre in Japan’s ballet studios is essentially the same as that found in the U.S., the Soviet Union, or Europe--intense, methodical concentration on classical ballet’s principles of technique.

Dance critic Arlene Croce calls this the “gruel of pedagogical discipline” and, by reputation, the Japanese rank high in perfecting that gruel, reportedly providing some of the best technical training anywhere. This is in spite of the relatively short history of ballet in Japan, which began to flourish there only after World War II.

Although the arabesques and pirouettes have been the same since the 1950s, when “pioneers” who had trained abroad returned to Japan to start their own companies and teach young Japanese students, the professional circumstances for ballet dancers in Japan differ from countries with older ballet traditions.

“We have no government support for our companies . . . (and) no national company,” explains Mitsuyo Kishibe, assistant artistic director for the Tokyo Festival Ballet. The Tokyo company will perform Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Civic Theatre in a joint concert with San Diego’s California Ballet Company.

“There are many people who start their training in Japan,” Kishibe said. “Those who are capable of working in European companies go there . . . because they get experience working as paid ballet professionals in the theater.” If they return to Japan, they will have to teach to make a living, because dancers are not paid when they perform, Kishibe said.

Nearing the end of a 15-city U.S. tour, its first, the Tokyo Festival Ballet is Japan’s closest approximation to a national company. The 17 dancers, who are being paid for performing on the tour, range in age from 19 to 32 years and are selected from several troupes in Japan. They are led by artistic director Asami Maki, who started the Asami Maki Ballet in 1956 with her mother--one of Japan’s foremost ballet pioneers.

The idea for a U.S. tour came from John Clifford, choreographer with the Los Angeles Ballet, who was impressed with the “fabulous talent” he witnessed in Tokyo when rehearsing dancers for a concert there, Kishibe says. “That’s how (the tour) got started. We couldn’t believe our ears.”

The tour’s tight schedule of bookings crisscross the country and has been difficult on the dancers, Kishibe said. “But they are honored, and it is amazing to see how hard they work. The cultural exchange is very good, and we’ve made many friends.”

“We are grateful for American companies and audiences who have accepted us to perform,” she added, “(especially) when American companies themselves cannot tour because of financial difficulties.”

Their program at the Civic Theatre will include the pas de deux from Marius Petipa’s “Satanella,” a comparably unknown work by the classical choreographer. “Michi,” a highly dramatic neoclassical dance by Japanese choreographer Jun Ishii, will be performed along with one of Maki’s creations “Juomonfu,” which refers Japanese antiquity and includes a male dancer in traditional Japanese costume.

The Festival Ballet’s engagement is sponsored by San Diego’s California Ballet Company, which will present two works on the program as well--Patrick Nollet’s jazz dance “Ambiguous Obsession” and the premiere of Jean Isaac’s “The Contender” performed by Calvin Kitten and set to music from the French film “Baby Blue.”

“The Contender” is a modern piece, although there is classical technique in it, Isaacs said. “It’s got a little flamenco feeling to it. (Kitten) has a very high lift in his upper chest like a flamenco dancer’s. It’s what we call a high arch, and he has it naturally.”

Most roles for male ballet dancers are brief, one- or two-minute variations, she notes. Modern dances can be far more aerobically taxing, and the varied emphasis on weight are sometimes the opposite of ballet’s “lighter-than-air” effects.

“It’s quite challenging I think. He’s never done modern,” Isaacs says of Kitten. “He chips away at it, building strength. He can do anything. I think he’s the best male ballet dancer we’ve produced (in San Diego).”

The Tokyo Festival Ballet plans to end the evening with a fast-paced work by Minoru Suzuki, titled “Henyou: Unknown Symphony” that will showcase the entire company.

After the tour, the group will return to their respective companies and begin working toward the formation of a national company with its own theater. Kishibe believes this may take five years or so. Japanese audiences are slowly expanding beyond just dance students and their families, and corporate support has increased over the last couple of years, she says. Japanese corporations in New York and Europe have been known to heavily support ballet outside of Japan, Kishibe points out, but not so much at home.

In six months, the Festival Ballet will gather again “to show Japanese audiences what we’ve been doing in the United States,” and Kishibe predicts a happy reunion for the company.

Kishibe thinks that, as wearing as the tour has been, “It’s going to be a very good memory. And as soon as we get home, I know we’re going to miss each other.”

The Tokyo Festival Ballet joins the California Ballet Company at the Civic Theatre for one performance at 8 p.m. Saturday.