Ikebanapapa is a new multimedia performance created by Toronto-based artist Philip Nozuka, presented as part of Festival Accès Asie. In the work, a performer and his kuroko — a stagehand figure from traditional Japanese theatre — carry out a ritual designed to honour ancestors and forge new ceremonial forms for encountering those who have come before.
The piece draws on several Japanese cultural traditions, including Ikebana (the art of floral arrangement) and Bon Odori (a dance associated with Japan's Obon festival, traditionally performed to welcome the spirits of the deceased). These are filtered through a contemporary lens, combined with ambient electronic music and live video to create an immersive theatrical experience.
At its core, the work responds to a personal absence: Nozuka's disconnection from the traditions of his paternal family. Through choreography, sound, and image, he builds his own ritual language — a means of reaching across generational and cultural gaps to commune with an unmet lineage.
Performances take place at 19:30 on Wednesday May 12 through Saturday May 15, 2027, at La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines, 3700 rue Saint-Dominique, Montreal.