Feeling very nostalgic about my proper hanami in Tokyo in 2009, I attended a Japanese Embassy / Sugihara Museum event in Kaunas, where a Japanese performance artist Kirie Oda cooperated with Lithuanian violinist and singer to create a performance around Sugihara House, which used to be the Japanese consulate before WWII and now hosts a Sugihara museum, foundation, and VMU Centre for Asian Studies. The artist wanted to use this space, with its sakura trees planted by Yukiko Sugihara herself, and a larger green space behind the building.
Japanese-Lithuanian artistic cooperation – click on the images to enlarge them
By graciously moving from one object to another, Oda, now residing in Kaunas, explored the boundaries of this space and established a connection between herself, the trees and land, as if translating music for immobile objects. In this photo her body posture mirrors the shade of a tree.
Dancer and tree
Angled lighting and insufficiently short shutterspeed produced an effect where her dress is in focus, but the skin of her moving, sun-lit limbs looks translucent.
Dance performance
I don’t know what to think of the photographers, who wouldn’t climb on a stage if this was a regular theater, but because the performance took place outside, they felt free to take close shots like this.
Photographers
After the performance, it was time to observe the sakuras and enjoy sushi, offered by the Japanese Embassy.
Sakura