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Cultural Capital of Europe Sibiu2007
　

<As of September 2007>
Exchange Prgram
Volunteer Staff Program

Dates：
 Apr. - Sep.
＜Volunteer staffs (names listed in no specific order) ＞
Mr. Ryohei TOMITA(Department of Musical Creativity and the Environment, Faculty of Music, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music）
Ms. Makiko MIZUNO(Graduate School, University of Tokyo）
Ms. Naoko FUKUSHIMA（a one-time stage management of Shiki theater Company/Art Coordinator）
Mr. Yusuke SAKUMA（Teacher’s training course, Fukushima University）
Ms. Natsumi KUBOTA（Program Officer of Tokyo Performing Arts Market）
Mr. Yasunori HONDA(Farm "Miyamoto")
Ms. Marie TAKIMOTO(An Creative Inc.)
Ms. Ayako MIYAKE（Arts Program coordinator, producer）
Ms. Harumi YONESAKA
Ms. Yuki SHIMIZU（German culture studies, Osaka City University）
Ms. Ayumi HARADA（Organizer of Nagareyama Art Laboratory）
Ms. Chihaya KANAMORI
Ms. Reiko HIRAMATSU（Director of Ms. NO TONE）
Many students and persons interested in culture and the arts came together from inside and outside Romania to work in the volunteer staff program for Cultural Capital of Europe Sibiu 2007 and assist with operational functions. This provided an opportunity for many people to gain experience and build networks through the Cultural Capital of Europe program. This year's participants included 13 volunteer staff from Japan. We are sure the varied experiences they had in Romania feed through to their activities in future and lead to their further development.

Exchange Program
Artist and Curator Exchange Program
Photography Project "European Eyes on Japan vol.9" Selection Conference

Selection Conference in Sibiu
Date：
 6-16 May
Place：
 Sibiu, Romania; Paris, France; Milan, Italy
Participants：
 Mikiko Kikuta (Artistic director of the photography project)
Stephen Gill(Photographer/UK)
Nicu Ilfoveanu(Photographer/Romania)
Cuny Janssen(Photographer/the Netherlands)
Jeffrey Irish(Writer)
Masato Morishita(Artist)
Takumi Maemura(Curator, Tanaka Isson Memorial Museum of Art)
Three European photographers spent the period from October 2006 to March 2007 photographing Kagoshima prefecture, and the selection committee handling their work met in Sibiu. The photographers themselves, the artistic director, and artists and museum curators from Kagoshima engaged in wide-ranging discussions with the work before them. This was an opportunity for the participants from Kagoshima to visit not only Sibiu, but also institutions of culture and the arts in other European cities.

Performing Arts
Contemporary Dance: Leni-Basso "Finks"
Date：
 24 May
Place：
 Pavilion2007
Performer：
 Leni-Basso
※The performance in Japan is here.
※The performance at Cultural Capital of Europe Patras 2006 is here.

A performance of "Finks" by Leni-Basso, a long-standing objective of the Sibiu international theater festival. Interweaving brisk dance with spatial presentation comprising film, acoustics, lighting and multimedia, their performance graced the opening day of the festival.

Music
Wadaiko Drumming: Joji Hirota and Japanese Drummers
Date：
 24 May
Place：
 Piata Mare Scena
Performers：
 Joji Hirota　and Japanese Drummers

Based in Britain, Joji Hirota has since the 1970's established a trailblazing presence with his performances of wadaiko drumming. He appears together with a variety of performers from Japan and Europe. Rather than traditional wadaiko, his performances are wide-ranging and imaginative, incorporating shakuhachi performances and his own arrangements of Japanese folk songs and uta. The opening of the 14th Sibiu international theater festival resounded with the sound of the wadaiko team led by Hirota.

Performing Arts
Contemporary Dance: Co. YAMADA Un "One Piece"
Date：
 29 May
Place：
 Sala de Sport Piata Teatrului
Performer：
 Co. YAMADA Un
※The performance in Japan is here.
※The performance at Cultural Capital of Europe Patras 2006 is here.

A performance of "One Piece" by Co. YAMADA Un, which received acclaim at the Cultural Capital of Europe Patras 2006. Un Yamada's distinctive world view and her choreography, rich with humor and wit, was attended with deep interest by the people of Sibiu as well.

Performing Arts
Theater: Shinjuku-Ryozanpaku: "King of Yebi"
Date：
 30 May
Place：
 Pavilion2007
Performer：
 Shinjuku-Ryozanpaku

Having doubled with the drama award and production award at the 2002 Seoul festival of the arts, Shinjuku-Ryozanpaku's "King of Yebi" played to Sibiu. The author is Hong Won-ki, who constructed, amid the tense conditions of the Korean ban on Japanese culture, the foundations of cultural exchange between Japan and Korea that remains ongoing. "King of Yebi" is an expression in the free sensibility of ancient Asia lacking boundaries of myth or history of an epic poem that may well be considered the Asian Lear. Desire, conflict, tragedy, hope . . . themes common to all mankind engaged the people of Sibiu with fresh imagery.

Performing Arts
Theater: Chiten "Uncle Vanya"
Dates：
 31 May - 1 Jun
Place：
 Casa Sindicatelor Sala de Sport
Performer：
 Chiten
※The performance in Japan is here.

The two years through autumn 2008 saw the staging of four Chekhov plays -- Uncle Vanya, The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard and The Three Sisters. Troupe leader and performer Motoi Miura reexamined Chekhov's work from his own perspective and sought here to create a new work digested in continuous performance. The people of Sibiu showed their great interest and applause to Miura's distinctive performance.

Music
ZIPANG with African musicians
Date：
 1 Jun.
Place：
 Piata Mare Scena
Performers：
 ZIPANG with African musicians
Marius Mihalache（Romonia）
Performing Arts Sibiu, Romania
ZIPANG with African Musicians Performance at Sibiu International Theater Festival
※The program which ZIPANG participated in before is here.

Following on the tremendous response they received when appearing at the Sibiu international theater festival in 2006, Zipang with African Musicians returned this year for another outdoor performance. This year they made joint performance with Romanian musicians. Fusing classical Japanese music, salsa, reggae and many other genres, their performance and collaborations with local musicians provided opportunities for sharing the joy of music across borders and genres.

Performing Arts
Yoshiko Chuma / School of Hard Knocks Japan "A Page Out of Order"

Photo: Louis Guermond
Date：
 3 Jun.
Place：
 Casa Sindicatelor
Performer：
 School of Hard Knocks Japan
Director：
 Yoshiko Chuma

A collaborative performance project by artists who have gathered around the New York-based artist Yoshiko Chuma. A new sort of performance, unlike any other, that incorporates elements of music, film, dance, theater and many others unfolding within a single installation.

Performing Arts
Volunteer Staff Performance: "Before the Law"
Date：
 June 29
Place：
 Courtyard, Radu Stanca National Theater
Players：
 Man - Tomohiko Kogi
Gatekeeper - Horia Nicoara
（Radu Stanca National Theater）
Ms. NO TONE theatrical
company Plus：
 Director: Reiko Hiramitsu
（leader, Mizu no Oto theater company）
Producer: Ayako Miyake
（drama producer）
Production Manager: Natsumi Kubota
（program manager, Tokyo Performing Arts Market）
※For information on the Sibiu volunteer staff program, see here.

Japanese volunteers working at the Cultural Capital of Europe 2007 put their local experience to advantage in launching a new project. As part of the official program of Sibiu 2007, they produced and presented a joint production of Kafka's "Before the Law" with renowned Romanian actor Horia Nicoara of the Rado Stanka National Theater. Despite having but little time to prepare, their performance drew an audience of 200 and the performance generated such excitement as to promote the local organizers to request a repeat performance.

Traditional Culture
Yorozu Kyogen Performance
Date：
 August 16
Place：
 The Radu Stanca National Theater
Appearing：
 NOMURA Manzo, NOMURA Manroku,
NOMURA Senjo, YOSHIZUMI Ko,

Kyogen has been of increasing interest in Romanian performing arts circles, and this year Sibiu was treated to a performance by Nomura Manzo. This was further opportunity for the Rado Stanka National Theater to offer a Romanian version of "Bo-Shibari (Tied to a Stick)" by Romanian actors, which proved an intriguing essay in new interpretations of Kyogen.

Performing Arts
Ana-Lucretia Nedelcu + Chihaya Kanamori
Dance Performance　“RO”
Date：
 September 15
Venue：
 City Hall“Holul Mare”
Performer：
 Ana-Lucretia Nedelcu , Chihaya Kanamori

Japanese volunteer and dancer and Chihaya Kanamori Romanian dancer Ana-Lucretia Nedelcu offered a joint performance on the theme of intercultural communication that had a major impact on local audiences.

Fine Art
International Festival of Documentary Film and visual anthropology
“Astra Film Sibiu 2007”

Date：
 October 22-28
Venue：
 Astra Film Studio screening hall
Participant from Japan：
 Kaori Sakagami (associate professor, Tsuda College)
※Website of Astra Film is here!

Special program：
 photograph exhibition "MY TRANSILVANIA"
Time & Date：
 10:00-24:00, 23-28 Oct.
Venue：
 Casa de cultura a sindicatelor
Special guest：
 Kousei MIYA (Photographer/Japan)

The documentary film festival that has long been held in Sibiu received over 700 entries from 35 countries, especially those of Eastern Europe, and is highly esteemed internationally for its high quality. However, the festival had in the past seen little participation from Japan or other Asian countries. This year's Cultural Capital of Europe program was the occasion for inviting the Japanese documentary filmmaker Kaori Sakagami to sit on the judges' panel and for an exhibition of photography by Kosei Miya, who has spent many years photographing Romania. Expectations run high for further exchanges with Asia in future.

 
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