Aichi Triennale 2025: A Time Between Ashes and Roses, Period:September 13 to November 30, 2025, 79 days, Venues: Aichi Arts Center, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Seto CityAichi Triennale 2025: A Time Between Ashes and Roses, Period:September 13 to November 30, 2025, 79 days, Venues: Aichi Arts Center, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Seto City

What’s On

Black Grace

  • Performing Arts
  • Aichi Arts Center

Performances

Japan PremiereDance
Paradise Rumour
  • “Paradise Rumour” 2023
  • Photo: Duncan Cole
  • “Paradise Rumour” 2023
  • Photo: Toaki Okano
  • “Paradise Rumour” 2023
  • Photo: Duncan Cole
  • “Paradise Rumour” 2023
  • Photo: Duncan Cole
  • “Paradise Rumour” 2023
  • Photo: Duncan Cole
Japan premiere for a vibrant dance performance addressing the deception behind the “paradise” image of Pacific islands.

A company of dancers who share heritage from Samoa or other Pacific islands, or Maori heritage from Aotearoa/New Zealand, performs in Japan for the first time in twenty years. The Pacific islands gained the image of being a paradise, but this performance looks behind that image to reveal the histories of immigrant communities exposed to discrimination and prejudice. Through lively, powerful movement and expression, four dancers each convey different parts of those experiences, representing hope + resistance, sorrow + acceptance, control + release, and faith + crisis.

Date
  • Childcare Services
  • Childcare Services
  • Childcare Services
  • MEET THE ARTIST *
  • Relaxed Performance
  • Childcare Services

* Guest: Karatsu Eri (Artistic Director of Aichi Prefectural Art Theater)

Venue

Aichi Prefectural Art Theater, Mini Theater (B1F)
(1-13-2 Higashisakura, Higashi-ku, Nagoya)

Performance time

70 min.

Language

Non-verbal-Partly in English-Japanese translation available

Tickets
Adult
¥3,500
U25
¥2,000

* Same-day tickets (General and U25) are ¥500 more than the advance price.
* Pair tickets (6,500 Yen) are sold only in advance.

Ticket Purchase

Seating

Unreserved

Staff
Direction and Choreography:
Neil Ieremia
Composer:
Faiumu Matthew Salapu aka Anonymouz
Lighting Designer:
JAX Messenger
Costume Design:
Tina Thomas
Makeup Design:
Kiekie Stanners
Performance flyer

It will be released at a later date.

Assistance for viewing
[Before you attend]
  • Parts of the performance are in English. A handout with Japanese translations will be provided.
  • Preschool-aged children are welcome to attend this performance. Children of preschool age may attend for free if they sit on an accompanying adult’s lap. A ticket is required for children who need a separate seat (U25 tickets are available).Childcare service is available for parents or guardians who wish to attend alone.
  • Visitors using wheelchairs are asked to contact i-Ticket at 0570-00-5310.
[Childcare Services]
Childcare services are available. Advance reservation is required. Further details will be announced on the official website at a later date.
[MEET THE ARTIST ()]
A talk with the cast and director(s) will follow the performance. Audience members are welcome to attend without a reservation.
  • Japanese-English consecutive interpretation is available.
  • Live text support via UD Talk.
[Relaxed Performance ()]
Relaxed performances offer a more flexible setting and looser audience etiquette. Attendees are welcome to make noise, come and go as they please, and enjoy the show at their own pace. These performances offer a welcoming space for parents with young children, visitors with disabilities, and anyone who finds traditional theater environments challenging.

Profile

  • Formed in 1995 in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand.
    Based in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Black Grace is a dance company whose founder, Neil Ieremia is Samoan, and whose members have roots in various Pacific Islands neighboring Aotearoa, New Zealand. Since its founding in 1995, it has become New Zealand’s foremost contemporary dance company. It has won the highest praises internationally for its distinctive style, which fuses traditional dance and ceremonial motions of the South Pacific with contemporary dance. About 20 years have passed since Black Grace’s last performance in Japan in 2005. For the Triennale they will perform Paradise Rumour, which had its world premiere at Sharjah Biennial 15 in 2023, and was roundly applauded at subsequent performances in venues including the Harris Theater (Chicago) and other stops on its US tour, as well as the Saint James Theatre (Wellington).
The work takes as its theme the contrast between the fantasy of “paradise” and the realities(= deception) that actually confronted South Pacific migrants who are exposed to prejudice and discrimination. The performance relates the individual and collective memories from the days when Western missionaries first set foot on the islands right up to the present day. The four dancers express the sub-themes of “hope and resistance,” “sadness and acceptance,” “suppression and liberation,” and “faith and crisis” with powerful movements brimming with vibrant energy.
Even today, discriminatory language continues to be used against immigrants and indigenous people in countries around the world. In its journey through the past and present, Paradise Rumour asks us, “How far have we really come since then?”

Selected performances
2023
“Paradise Rumour,” Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present (UAE)
2022
“O Le Olaga – Life,” Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Massachusetts (USA)
2018
“Crying Men,” ASB Waterfront Theatre (Auckland, New Zealand)
2016
“As Night Falls,” Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre (Auckland, New Zealand)
2012
“Vaka,” 9th Busan International Dance Festival (Korea)