When the mayor of a village is told by a frog king, who is fascinated by the elegance of swans gliding in the lake, that his villagers should wear toe shoes (ballet pointe shoes) all the time, he instructs everyone between the age of 8 months and 88 years to do so. Though at first this seems like a fun idea, the villagers soon find their new footwear uncomfortable, and the mayor decides to hold a referendum on the new fashion law.
"Tokyo Tango" tells this odd little tale with Jean Laurent Sasportes, a former principal dancer with the German-based Pina Bausch Wuppertaler Tanztheater, in the lead role of the mayor, and Mademoiselle Cinema, a Tokyo-based all-female dance company, as the villagers.
Sasportes and Mademoiselle Cinema have been collaborating since 1999, with Sasportes traveling from Germany every year to work with the company's dancers and theater students at Sessions House in Tokyo. "Tokyo Tango," which was first performed in 2005, was choreographed by Naoko Ito, who Sasporte says has developed a strong repertory of her own individual style and visual language.