Allegra at New York Live Arts

Choreographer Benjamin Akio Kimitch conjures a fantasy Japanese American court dance where history presses against memory, and memory against imagination. Drawing from family oral history and years of research in the United States and Japan, ballet stages give way to temple grounds, barren foothills, army barracks, and the stench of empty horse stables. Benjamin’s Allegra turns to Bugaku, an ancient dance form whose roots stretch across Persia, India, China, Korea, and Japan. In postwar US-Japan relations, performances of Bugaku inspired multiple collaborations with New York City Ballet, including George Balanchine’s own Bugaku ballet. These histories converge through a Japanese American lens anchored by the aftermath of the camps in World War II. Benjamin and his ensemble, Jessica Cook, Lai Yi Ohlsen, Glenn Potter-Takata, and Nami Yamamoto, bring these collective memories to life.