sheep #1

US Premiere (A new version with live music)

Inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s writings, sheep #1 is the adventure of a sheep in search of the meaning of life. The performance is in the style of Microscopic Live Cinema-Theatre, where the performer manipulates small characters who are magnified with a video camera and projector.  This creates an intimate dream-like experience by combining cinematic presentation and live operation. An abstract storytelling, sheep #1 is presented without spoken words, accompanied by Electroacoustic soundtrack and a live musician.

Concept, Sound Design, Visual design and Performance: Nekaa Lab / Sachiyo Takahashi
Live music: Emile Blondel
Dramaturg: Peter Eckersall
Technical Advisor, Builder : Willie Gambucci
Production: Nekaa Lab / Sachiyo Takahashi
Co-production: The Tank

Bio

Sachiyo Takahashi: 

Sachiyo Takahashi is an artist, composer and musician whose work centers around storytelling. Compositing sensory elements in a minimalist manner, she explores the border between narrative and abstraction to generate fables for the subconscious.

Sachiyo founded Nekaa Lab in 2006 together with other "lab members" (stuffed toys and tiny figurines). She has been producing performances, installations and writings, while observing human nature from alternative perspectives.  Sachiyo’s Microscopic Live Cinema-Theatre — unique performances projected from a miniature stage — has been appraised as a quirky yet imaginative merging between theatrical and cinematic experiences. 

Her recent project Everything Starts from a Dot has been awarded The Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant in 2017 and Production Grant in 2018. It will premiere in November 2018 at La MaMa (Manhattan) as a part of Puppet Series.

Sachiyo currently lives in Brooklyn yet sometimes can be seen strolling the back alleys of Japan, where she originated.

More info: www.nekaa.org

Emile Blondel:

Emile Blondel collaborates regularly with musicians, dancers and artists of all mediums. He received BM and MM degrees from the North Carolina School of the Arts under the guidance of Eric Larsen. In 2001 he moved to France, studying at the Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot. While in Paris Emile was awarded a residency at the Cite International des Arts. Orchestral appearances include the Richmond Symphony, the Durham Symphony and the Heritage Chamber Orchestra. Emile was named a 2010 Kenan Performing Arts Fellow at Lincoln Center Education and most recently created the music for Marcel and Man Ray, which premiered in the 2016 Lalapalooza festival of new puppet theater at St Anne’s Warehouse. He is currently on faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, a teaching artist with National Dance Institute.

This production is presented with generous support from The Jim Henson Foundation.