MU
Japanese legend speaks of Mu as the under sea kingdom of the Dragon King, a place of light, wisdom and beauty where all creatures live in eternal harmony.
We are currently seeking touring partners for the national premiere of MU, an intercultural-interdisciplinary dance drama performed by traditional world and contemporary global dancers and musicians. Inspired by the lost continent of MU, this new work continues the successful collaboration between NEA Playwright Fellow Brenda Wong Aoki, Emmy-winning composer Mark Izu and Tony award-winning choreographer Kimi Okada. It will premiere on the last day of the Mayan calendar in San Francisco on December 21, 2012 at the Jewish Community Center and we are currently in conversation with the Krannert Center in Illinois and the Flynn Center in Vermont.
MU was inspired during a U.S/JAPAN Creative Artist Fellowship in 2008, when Aoki and Izu learned that scientists at the University of Okinawa recently discovered underwater pyramids off the southern coast of Japan that may be the world’s oldest civilization. Called MU, The Land of the Sun, this empire predates ancient Egypt and had colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Americas – all with sun deities, pyramids, and flood legends. Shared architecture and mythology suggest that these widely separated cultures owe their origins to a common source
As we approach 2012, the end of the Mayan calendar and world religions preach the apocalypse, the Legend of MU,an ancient empire of bountiful blessings and noble values destroyed by materialism and greed, is a parable for our times. A multimedia dance work with live music narrated by storyteller, MU is about the beginning, the end and ultimately our envisioned futures together.
Story Synopsis
Samebito, a creature from MU
A boy on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach rescues a Samebito (a magical Japanese sea creature black as ink, with the face of a dragon, and jade green eyes that weep tears of blood in the sea which turn to rubies on land)who in gratitude takes him down to the magic sea kingdom of the Dragon King where Past/Present/and Future exist simultaneously and no one ever grows old. He learns that civilizations come and go because humans think they live on islands separate from the rest of the world but the denizens of the sea know there is only one world with one ocean.
PARTNERS:
Jewish Community Center, San Francisco
California State Summer School for Arts
Cal Arts
California Presenters
Cal Artists Management
Gerbode Foundation
NEA Foundation
Talk About Mu:
aokizu@firstvoice.org (415) 221-0601, cell: (415) 992-2428
or visit www.aokizu.com
Book Mu: California Artists Management
Don: 415-362-2787 or Sue: 707-937-4787
And Individual Donors
