On Nov. 19, the Pit hall of the New National Theatre, Tokyo, in Shibuya, was filled with hundreds of eager theater-goers. They had come to see a performance of "Onna Goroshi Abura no Jigoku" ("The Women-Killer and the Hell of Oil"), a play written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) — Japan's greatest dramatist, known for his kabuki and traditional bunraku puppet works. For this version of the play, however, the performance was to be far from traditionally Japanese.

In the NNTT show, Mayumi Kagita, one of Japan's most famous flamenco dancers, and her husband, choreographer and director Hiroki Sato, took the well known play and created a fusion of kabuki and flamenco, which was staged by the couple's Arte y Solera dance company.

Kagita herself convincingly played the male lead — the villainous Kawachiya Yohei — by dancing in a powerful, masculine style. Accompanied by Spanish guitar, songs and percussion, Kagita strutted across the stage like a prancing stallion, showing her marvelous zapateado — the flamenco technique whereby dancers create rhythm by stomping or tapping their feet.