An engaging stage production that utilizes diverse stage techniques to captivate the audience’s every sense – sight, smell, hearing, and touch. The creators have chosen a method where performers and spectators are not separated from each other but work together; the audience shares the same space with the dancers, not in seats.
Choreographer Kuik Swee Boon directs attention between the individual and the surrounding world, seeking to understand this complex relationship swirl. In his view, individuals should primarily look within themselves. The chaos and woes of the world are merely consequences of human activity. We live in an era darker than ever before, where everyone’s dignity and freedom are as fragile as glass. A free spirit that breaks away from uniform thought, cultures, and systems hiding behind a veil of wealth. Let’s take a look around; what conclusions can we draw from the socio-political, technological, and climate turmoil that threatens to turn our lives upside down? Kuik peels away the modern façade of affluent Asia to explore its complex culture, socio-political landscape, and identity.
To live – is it a boring challenge? To be smarter, better, to resist the void that devours us.
If we fail, has everything been in vain? Our passion, compassion – is it all just wind? No, we must confront the cruelty of life that seeks to make us dull and numb.
That’s why we exist. That’s why we dance!
The “1000 Cranes” Festival will take place from April 8th to 13th, 2024, in Viimsi and central Tallinn. Performances by Asian and Estonian performing artists can be seen this time at Viimsi Artium, Theatrum, and Artis Cinema.
The Great Wish of the Human Heart flows through words… How to express it, how to present our prayer? The hand finds paper, folding it into a message bird, the crane. Fold one, you are an Artist – enjoying the work done; fold a hundred, you are a Master – strong in thought; fold a thousand, you are a Seer – feeling the power of the human heart!
The festival’s name “1000 Cranes” refers to both the Japanese legend where paper cranes were a common gift for brides or newborns symbolizing a long and good life, and is also a fitting comparison to the exquisite detail and symbolism of the Japanese famous novelist Yasunari Kawabata’s novel of the same name, symbolizing the eternal longing journey of the human heart.
Performers from Singapore and Japan will take the stage, while from Estonia, the program includes the creative ensemble *birdname’s new ballet “The Devil and God.”
