Click here to watch a short clip of rehearsals

Visionary Japanese manga artist and animator Osamu Tezuka provides the inspiration for internationally renowned choreographer and Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s brand new work - TeZukA.

Working with an international cast of 10 performers including Daniel Proietto (AfterLight) and long time collaborator Damien Jalet (Babel (words)), three musicians and a calligrapher, Cherkaoui explores Tezuka’s fascinating world - a blend of tradition, science fiction and contemporary reality. Two of Tezuka’s manga stories which are well known in Japanese popular culture – Astro Boy and Buddha – have particularly captured Cherkaoui’s imagination in creating this new work.

TeZukA will feature a specially commissioned score from award-winning composer Nitin Sawhney with lighting and visual design by Willy Cessa and costumes by fashion designer Sasa Kovacevic. Tezuka’s original illustrations will be projected alongside work by video artist Taiki Ueda and calligraphy by Tosui Suzuki. Using the dancers’ movements to trace the physical evolution of Tezuka’s drawings - from a line on a blank page to a single Japanese kanji (letter) to a fully-formed manga character - Cherkaoui will bring the “God of Manga’s” philosophy, drawings and characters to life.

Part of Out of Asia

Watch this video – Out of Asia: the future of contemporary dance?
A short film with a focus on Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Beijing Dance Theater and TAO Dance Theatre, plus interviews with Alistair Spalding and Akram Khan discussing the importance of dance in the East.