Action Briquette Z (EN)
Manga Beats & Dance
A journey into the world of manga that travels the distance between the real Japan and the Japan imagined by the West.Date
20 October 2026, 7:00 pm
Open rehearsal.
Teatro Astra, Vicenza
as part of Stardust Festival
13 November 2026, 7:00 pm Italian premiere
14 and 15 November 2026, 12:30 pm and 6:30 pm
Mattatoio, Rome,
as part of Romaeuropa Festival Kids + Family.
Il progetto
A theatre and dance solo that plays with the sounds, images and bodies of Japanese manga. The onomatopoeia of comics (explosions, blows, animal cries, action sounds, nonsense phrases) become the score of the performance, generated live with synthesiser, voice and loop station. The sound of an explosion or the barking of a dog, which in manga exist as a graphic sign on the page, here turn into music, bringing the characters drawn live into play with action, word and dance.
At its heart is popular manga culture: the one that never reaches the West, yet resonates in the ears and the gaze of every Japanese person. Kenji sets out to recount the bewilderment he felt in Europe when faced with the cult of a manga culture that does not represent the true soul of his country, and therefore the gap he sensed between a Japan shaped by artistic creation and by the market, and the real life he came from.Al centro la cultura manga popolare, quella che non arriva in Occidente ma che risuona nelle orecchie e nello sguardo di ogni giapponese. Kenji vuole raccontare lo smarrimento provato in Europa di fronte al culto di una cultura manga che non rappresenta la vera anima del Paese e quindi la discrepanza che ha sentito tra un Giappone frutto della creazione artistica e di mercato e la vita reale da cui lui proveniva.
Il titolo
The title of the piece, Action Briquette, takes up a nonsense exclamation spoken by Pinoko, a character created by the father of manga Osamu Tezuka, familiar to every Japanese child. It also echoes the word “briquette”, the small blocks of pressed wood used to light a fire: in this piece, sound becomes the spark that sets off sequences of movement. The Z, meanwhile, signals that this is a kind of sequel to a piece created in Wuppertal in 2021 and performed on a single occasion at Tanz Station – Barmer Bahnhof.
Crediti
Choreography and performance: Kenji Shinohe
Project curator: Cira Santoro Čengić
Production: La Piccionaia, Factory Compagnia Transadriatica, CollettivO CineticO
With the support of Romaeuropa Festival
Genre: theatre and dance
Age range: all audiences, recommended from 11 years
Kenji Shinohe
Kenji Shinohe is a Japanese choreographer and dancer, born in 1990. From early childhood he danced Ballroom with his grandmother and, as a teenager, represented Japan at the Junior World Ballroom Dance Championships. In 2015 he was awarded a scholarship through an international exchange programme of Nihon University in Tokyo to study at the Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen, where he graduated in 2019. He has since been based in Wuppertal, working as a freelance dancer and choreographer with a number of German contemporary dance companies and artists, including NEUER TANZ (Düsseldorf), Tanztheater Erfurt (Erfurt), Carla Jordão (Cologne), Kompanie merighi | mercy (Wuppertal), as well as other international choreographers.
Alongside his solo work he leads the groups ELTEN and Dai-Tōkyō Buyōdan, with which he creates and presents work in Japan, across Asia and in several European countries.
As a choreographer he has received First Prize and the Audience Award at the 5th Internationales Tanz Theater Festival in Erfurt (2016); the Best Newcomer Solo Prize at the 10th Internationales Tanzfestival SoloDuo NRW in Cologne (2018); and the Best Solo Prize and the Audience Award at the SzólóDuó International Dance Festival in Budapest (2019)
In Italy he has made his name with the performance K(-A-)O, warmly received by audiences and critics alike. It was awarded the Premio Eolo Awards 2025 for the creative use of the different languages of the stage and seven distinctions at the Teatri Riflessi 8 Festival in Zafferana Etnea (Catania), among them the “Giovanni Di Bella” Prize for Best Short Piece and the Audience Mention. K(-A-)O has been presented at leading Italian festivals and theatres for young audiences and beyond: Romaeuropa Festival Kids, Inequilibrio, Pergine Festival, Hystrio Festival, Teatro Nazionale di Genova, Teatro Metastasio di Prato, Aterballetto, Teatro Testoni Ragazzi, and abroad at FIT Festival in Lugano and Toplocentrala in Sofia.
