Written and performed by Dawn Akemi Saito, directed by Jonathan Rosenberg and Sabrina Peck, with Visual Design by Eva Mantell, Sound/Music Design by David Van Tieghem, Costume Design by Donna Zakowska, Lighting Design by Philip W. Sandström, and Dramaturgy by Roberta Uno.

Dawn Akemi Saito’s “Bloody Cherries” is not simply a dance, it is a performance. In addition to movement, it incorporates elements of theatre (narrative of text), sound effects, Dawn’s chanting and folk singing, projected artwork slides on the background, lighting, and props. This combination is creative, entertaining and, at times, even overwhelming.

Many modern dance performances lack story lines, but “Blood Cherries” carries a complicated plot. Our attention is seized in the opening scene where Saito’s character reveals an intimate secret—she is sexually frustrated since her husband suddenly decided to become celibate. Her bottled-up sexual energy bursts out as she masturbates. This energy flows into an image of a horse that appears to be the embodiment of an orgasm. The horse image keeps repeating throughout the whole performance adding new depth of meaning along.

The opening scene definitely brought out some laughs in the audience; we were both amused and shocked. Saito craftily uses humor, especially in her imitations of different characters she acts out. Her acting skills are superb – there is never any confusion to which character we are looking at.

The story becomes complicated as we get further into the performance. From her relationship with her husband, she goes back to the death of her father, her mother blaming herself for his death, images of war, themes of fertility. The piece speaks of dealing with loss, moving on and using the past to discover oneself.

What makes “Blood Cherries” amazing is that it is driven from personal experiences. Saito’s real-life father died recently; she never had a chance to deal with her loss properly because her of her preoccupying lifestyle. She was traveling all over Europe, Russia, and Israel (elements of each country were subtly entwined into the narrative). At that time, she was keeping a journal with all her thoughts poured out into 60 pages. She used this as inspiration for “Blood Cherries”. Joined by Jonathan Rosenberg and Sabrina Peck, two choreographers, the trio worked on the piece for over a year and a half to create its present version. Most of their efforts went into sorting out Saito’s scrambled stream of consciousness writing, defining the story line, and looking for powerful images such as the horse. Saito said they actually went to a farm to look at the horses to capture its essence (originally, the husband was the one that would turn into the horse). The piece came a long way since its first state, but it could have used even more definition. Each piece needs some air of mystery for the audience to discover themselves, but it should not be confusing.

I enjoyed the cultural clashes in “Blood Cherries”. There is our plain Japanese American character, with conservative Asian parents, married to a French guy. I loved the part where, in the midst of her deep explorations and thoughts, her husband offers Saito’s character a Cappuccino, which she begins to lick like a horse.

“Blood Cherries” definitely offers brain food. There are references that not everyone will understand. She often uses French and Japanese, which adds cultural texture to the narrative but may leave some in the dark.

It is extremely hard for a one-woman performance to stay entertaining throughout. This is where visual effects and props come in handy. On stage, there is always a vase with tall dry flowers on one side, and a cast-iron pot and a long, accordion-folded palimpsest on the other. These serve as bases as she travels back and forth from one to the other. Inside the pot, she finds sticks which she beats together as she switches characters. She also finds a bottle of vodka filled with salt, which she unexpectedly pours out onto the palimpsest. Visually, it was captivating.

The title of the piece was not apparently tied to anything in particular. All the audience knows is that Saito’s character’s father loved cherries as much as he loved horses. Saito said she stumbled onto this image in Israel when she bought a basket of succulent cherries. The choreographers were planning to incorporate the cherries into the performance, which would serve as a symbol for life and death, but unfortunately they are not in season.

The piece ends with Saito unrolling the palimpsest, signifying her finally dealing with her father’s death, her moving on. The father’s mantra “To live, one must be ready to die” takes a new meaning for Saito’s character. By understanding her own mortality, she implies that she will now be able to create life herself, previously having unsuccessful pregnancies.

The ending left me unsatisfied, because it was a weak conclusion. I wished she would somehow tie in the sex from the beginning. She grabbed our attention in the opening, and let it slip away in the end. Overall, however, “Blood Cherries” was artistic, original, funny, deep, intelligent, personal, and definitely showed that it took hard work to create.

Info:
Dawn Akemi Saito
Blood Cherries
$25 regular price, $15 members
February 25, 26, March 6, 7, 15, 16
Dance Theater Workshop
DTW’s Bessie Schonberg Theater
219 West 19th street (btw 7th and 8th ave)
New York, NY 10011