Momonga Complex

We assemble together

Choreographed and Directed by Momoko Shiraga

What comes about when we are apart?
A “musical-style dance performance” for the new normal

This dance work by Momonga Complex, choreographer and director Momoko Shiraga’s group known for its highly original style that intermixes lyricism with a surrealistic sensibility, was originally performed for in-person audiences as well as simultaneously streamed live online. Described by Shiraga as an “observational musical-style dance performance,” it attempts to humorously explore the meanings of performing and the individual versus the collective in our present times, when gathering together is no longer something we can take for granted. The performance is separated by area and timeline, and unfolds in a structure reminiscent of “The Tales of Ise” and other examples of uta monogatari, a type of Japanese narrative told as a series of poems. With musical direction from Yukiko Nishii, audiences are free to view the sketches (scenes) as they like, and then join and weave these together into a story. By so doing, audiences discover new hopes about ways to connect, ways to meet people, and forms of expression that emerge from among things that are separate or apart from one another.