Dance, Dance, Dance
novel by:
Haruki Murakami

Sapporo, Tokyo, and Honolulu in the 1980s. It’s the period of Japan’s Bubble Economy when many feel alienated from their surroundings, floating without a purpose or choosing illusion as an anchor. A young woman disappears in Sapporo. Another one is murdered in Tokyo. A third vanishes in Honolulu. A nameless protagonist, accompanied by a 13-year-old clairvoyant girl, attempts to solve these mysteries while also trying to rekindle an old friendship, foster new relationships, and understand how he might live a fulfilling life without strangling his own shadow. Literally.

If you think this sounds like the typical who-done-it, you might be right... but only partially. This is a play about connecting with places and people, about allowing
oneself to be guided in uncovering layers of experiences, stories, and voices from which we disconnect, lest we see the uncomfortable faces of prostitution, discrimination, exploitation, racism... As the protagonist realizes, “give it a pretty name, an attractive package, and you could sell it.”
 

Significant for our production are Murakami’s connections with Hawai‘i. Having spent a substantial amount of time on O‘ahu, he provides us with concrete “maps” of his characters’ movements: Mākaha, Fort deRussy, Chinatown, the Old Waterfront area, Kalākaua Avenue. While these bring the story home to us, they also map Hawai‘i as an Indigenous space, which, like Hokkaido, has a legacy that cannot – and shouldn’t – be bought or sold. Despite its grim existentialist and ethical undertones, this is a play full of humor, warmth, and love.