Birthday Present for Myself

2019-20 Capitol Season Show!

Regular $25 Student $20
THEATRE & MUSIC Season Bundle: Four shows for $110

THEATRE & MUSIC Season Bundle is $110.50 and includes this show, plus: The Dime Notes , Vancouver Arts Club’s Bed & Breakfast , and Volcano Theatre’s Infinity

Accomplished dancer-choreographer-actor Hiromoto Ida skillfully merges dance, theatre, classical music and voice to tell the story of the old man, raising a glass of sake to himself in celebration on what will be his last birthday. Reminiscing about the richness of his life experience, he is visited by the spirit of his wife, soprano Allison Girvan.

Featuring musicians Nicola Everton (clarinet), Sue Gould (piano), Jeff Faragher (cello), and Martine denBok (violin & viola), performing an evocative original score by Russian composer Pavel Karmanov.

Inspired by the subtlety and simplicity of Japanese Noh theatre through western contemporary dance and music, Hiromoto touches the hearts of audiences; exploring a shared moment through the inner world and emotions of the old man, they are inspired to find unexpected beauty in their own lives through themes of love, transformation and regeneration.

The setting, a peaceful Zen garden, reinforces the concept of cycles and renewal; and the combination of traditional Noh Theatre with modern dance expresses the old man’s character and inner world with poignant effectiveness. “I see western culture giving messages of aging and getting old as being a negative element of one’s life,” says Ida, whose experience of growing up with his grandparents in Japan remains an inspiring memory for him. “Even when I was small I could feel something special about them.”

Hiromoto Ida received a Major Arts funding Award from the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance to create and present Birthday Present for Myself and the performance premiered at the Capitol Theatre in Nelson in 2016. Following the performance in Nelson in 2020, the show is touring to the international dance festival in Vancouver, Salt Spring Island, Vernon and Oliver. The project is also funded by the Canada Council and the BC Arts Council.

… a remarkable hybrid of dance, theatre, and live music confronting issues of aging and mortality in a poetical and uplifting manner

Trailer link HERE

Performance venue:

The Capitol Theatre

421 Victoria Street
Nelson, BC V1L 5R2
Phone: (250) 352-6363