If in chat we use the laughing emoji, are we laughing with it? And if we use the one shedding copious tears? What expression do we really have? Choreographer Kenji Shinohe explores, through the body and digital technologies, how emotions are expressed through keyboard symbols. A show that sets aside words to tackle the highly relevant theme of “superficial communication” created by new technologies.
Recommended age: from 8 years old
by and with Kenji Shinohe
lighting design Cristina Fresia
Production Fondazione Sipario Toscana
Recommended age: from 8 years old | running time: 45′
At the heart of the performance are emojis, the colorful faces tasked with expressing feelings in digital communication, and the doubt that their overuse impoverishes and conceals real emotional expressions.
If in a chat we use the laughing face emoji, do we laugh with it? And if we use the one that sheds copious tears, what face do we really make? But the real question at the core of the work is: how can we recover our true feelings?
Choreographer Kenji Shinohe explores, through the body and digital technologies, the way emotions are expressed through the symbols of the keyboard. A performance that sets aside words to address the very contemporary issue of “superficial communication,” created by new technologies and especially—though not exclusively—used by younger generations.
Kenji Shinohe is a Japanese choreographer and dancer born in 1990, currently residing in Wuppertal, Germany. He started ballroom dancing in early childhood with his grandmother and represented Japan at the Junior World Ballroom Dance Championships when he was a teenager.
He studied dance philosophy and art history at the University of Japan, where he later earned a master’s degree. In 2015, he received an international exchange student scholarship at the Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen, Germany. After graduating in the summer of 2019, he began his career as a freelance dancer and choreographer.
As a dancer, he has worked with the NEUR TANZ company (Düsseldorf), Tanztheater Erfurt (Erfurt), Carla Jordão (Cologne), Kompanie merighi | mercy (Wuppertal), Saeed Hani (Luxembourg), Dinamo Danza (Pamplona, Spain), and other international choreographers.
As a choreographer, he was awarded the first prize and the audience award “contact.energy 16” at the 5th Internationales Tanz Theater Festival 2016 in Erfurt, the Best Newcomer Solo award at the 10th Internationales Tanzfestival SoloDuo NRW in Cologne 2018, the Best Solo award and the audience award at the SzólóDuó International Dance Festival 2019 in Budapest, Hungary. In addition, he won 5 awards at TEATRI RIFLESSI in Catania, Italy in 2023. He has received international recognition for various choreographic works, both for his solos and group dances.
In his artistic work, he is interested in uniting body movements in relation to the structures of music, extending the expression of dance through metanarrative techniques. His choreographic pieces are hosted and performed in many theaters across more than 15 countries and 55 cities.
TICKETS
Single ticket: 6 euros
TICKET PURCHASE
- ONLINE: https://www.biglietteriafonderia39.it/home.aspx
- Box office at Fonderia: The box office opens one hour before the show starts (via della Costituzione 39, Reggio Emilia).
Tickets are not numbered.
CONTACT FOR RESERVATIONS
Cell and WhatsApp: 3341023554
Email: biglietteria@aterballetto.it
