Voice of Desert: Saburo Teshigawara | KARAS

The quiet mastery of Japanese choreographer and dancer Saburo Teshigawara has been revered by audiences for decades. Since founding KARAS (Japanese for “crow”) with Kei Miyata in 1985, the dance world has embraced his unique form of beauty. His keenly honed and precise style of movement, his command of space, and the idea of air and its relationship to the body integrate to create vivid environments on stage.

Voice of Desert, his most recent work, is about the cycle of life, which he describes as ‘a piece created to touch the soul of human beings.’ Teshigawara performs with longtime collaborator Rihoko Sato on a sparse stage bathed in light and shadow. Joined by the destabilizing presence of dancers Sari Miyamoto, Izumi Komoda and Ophelia Young, the energy shifts and recalibrates, creating intrigue through the power of opposition. What results is an exceptional sensory experience that moves towards a restored a sense of equilibrium.

Did You Know? The multi-award winning Saburo Teshigawara is also a writer, painter, and lighting, set and costume designer.

Interesting fact Teshigawara created KARAS’s educational wing, STEP (Saburo Teshigawara Education Project) in 1995, which has gained acclaim for its choreographic work with blind people.