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Salaryman
TAKE Dance Celebrates Its New New York City Season
TAKE Dance celebrates its seventh New York City season with the world premiere of SALARYMAN SALARYMAN takes audiences through a “day in the life” of over-worked Japanese executives.
As a native of Tokyo, Artistic Director Takehiro “Take” Ueyama leverages his own personal experiences and casts a haunting yet enlightening spotlight on Japan’s collectivist business culture.
As a work in progress over the past year, SALARYMAN was conceived prior to the devastating tsunami in Japan. For Ueyama, this piece is his salute to Japan’s resilient nature. “My initial intention for SALARYMAN was to showcase Japan’s business landscape,” explains Ueyama. “Now, as the Japanese struggle to survive one of history’s largest catastrophes, I recognize that their innate loyalty and stringent norms are indicative of not just the corporate culture but of the Japanese community as a whole and will ultimately help the country thrive once again.”
In SALARYMAN, a cast of 11 dancers perform multiple vignettes that portray Japan’s “big biz” culture. Based on intimate interviews between Tokyo business executives and Ueyama, the illustrations depict the “salaryman’s” responsibilities, pressures, and their subsequent emotional impactions.
To help portray the essence of Japanese society, Ueyama collaborates with two Japanese artists – filmmaker Yuko Takebe and set designer Yukinobu Okazaki. Inspired by the eponymous song by Japanese rock singer Kiyoshiro Imawano, SALARYMAN is set to the ambient sounds of metropolis Tokyo, metronomes, and contemporary works by Laurie Anderson, Michael Gordon, and Eve Beglarian, to name a few.
Described as “a bold tribute to modernity, with just enough originality,” (New York Times) Ueyama’s East-meets-West style comes from his Japanese upbringing coupled with his Juilliard schooling and tenure with Paul Taylor.
Ticket info here