A love letter to clumsiness

Japan is a contemporary dance production created and directed by Mabel Olea, with dramaturgy by José Luis Olea, which reviews life from an exaggerated, fantastic, passionate and naive point of view. The characters go through different stages of life, from childhood to old age, and we can see how the clumsiness that operates in our bodies accompanies us throughout our journeys. The choreographer said: "I have intended to reverse the meaning of clumsiness and praise it, valuing its playfulness, creating a naïve and sensitive scene that opts for a radical simplicity." The piece, which, in a shorter format, won the SAT! 2020 Award as part of the Institut del Teatre's Dance Award, will be presented on the weekend of 21 and 22 May at the Sant Andreu Teatre (SAT!), where it will be performed by Laia Camps, María Jurado, Eira Riera, Joan Sentís, Hanna Tervonen and Olea herself. After Saturday's performance, there will be a colloquium with the company.

The play explores how extremely clumsy bodies behave in daily situations, like a romantic date, and how they are affected by the evolution of life and the loss of physical qualities due to ageing. It is a homage to the lack of dexterity but also surprise and playfulness. It seeks the empathy of the spectator by creating a close atmosphere. The scenography and sound space are by Guillem Font, and costumes by Jan Ros.

In Mabel Olea and her company's artistic trajectory, her interest and reflection lead her to an exercise of constant reinvention of the limits of her own body, inviting critical deliberation and contemplation of detail. She explores the audiovisual format and the meeting point between performance and fashion through international collaborations with Balenciaga, Paloma Wool and Helmut Lang, among many others.

For further information and tickets, check this link.