A collaborative art project continuing from 2021, Kizuna forges connections between Okinawa and Neuchâtel, featuring artists, musicians, and dancers deeply inspired by Okinawan nature and culture. In this immersive experience, the audience can engage with the performance, through the creation of a banyan tree drawing, symbolizing connection. The project includes Melinda Stampfli (choreography and direction), Cédric Brégnard (scenic design), Laurence Crevoisier (music), Yuji Noguchi (stage direction), and Laurent Novac (videomapping). Performers include Okinawan dancer Tomoko Kin, Ballet Art Tang, Nago Boys and Girls Chorus, and traditional artists Soukei Mijitaya and LUCK.
On October 13 and 14, following the artistic project Les Liens, discover the choreography Kizuna by the melindadancecompany from Neuchâtel, Switzerland, at the Garaman Hall in Ginoza.
Les Liens is a choreographic work designed by Melinda Stampfli, inspired by the participatory fresco Banyan by the artist Cedric Bregnard, which was transmitted to the dancers of Okinawa during an intensive stay and finalized in the summer of 2024. An intense and emotional sharing with the artists. This piece explores our belonging to the living, inner wounds, and the need to express them while addressing the search for our place through human relationships supported by this invisible axis between earth and sky.
The project brings together a diverse group of Okinawan artists, including professional dancers, young singers from Nago choirs, Eisa artists, and Ginoza’s iconic lion dog, creating a rich cultural exchange. Melinda orchestrated the rehearsals and creation with meticulous attention, ensuring that everyone’s talents were harmonized so that the essence of Okinawa fully permeated the piece.
The new piece, Kizuna, draws its inspiration directly from the captivating beauty of the Japanese island. The splendor of nature is captured through a unique musical composition enriched with recordings made directly in the caves and other emblematic places of the island. This work resonates as a true homage to the magnificence of nature, a theme that unfolds harmoniously in the overall styling of the piece, permeating the music, the scenography, and the costumes.
It is the Japanese traditions that still keep alive today the memories of ancestors, the respect for the living and the spirits of nature, that inspire the choreographer in her quest for light in the midst of chaos, suffering and darkness. She tells of a profound exploration of expression, the revelation of oneself.
The banyan tree, with its intertwined root branches, evokes a natural weave, an image that inspired Melinda to collaborate with the famous Milan-based stylist Luna Tsou. Known for her commitment to using materials that respect nature, Luna Tsou brings an authentic and organic dimension to this collaboration.
Tomoko, a renowned Okinawan dancer, will join the Swiss dancers in Kizuna. Her solo, a suspended and magical moment, is accompanied by the sounds of nature recorded in Ginoza by the Swiss composer Laurence Crevoisier. Two musicians play the violin and viola live on stage, while the scenography imagined by Cedric Bregnard and video mapping creator Laurent Novac brings a modern and innovative visual dimension thanks to an immersive rendering.