Episode 5

When the totally
unprecedentedperformance by
The Tokyo Ballet
School was overand things settled
down...

1961 was a yearof importantencounters for
Tadatsugu.

What!!

The Opéra
National de Parisis performing
Carmen on its
first visit toJapan!?

That isamazing!

You might be sorry
if you accept thejob so quickly.

I definitely
want to do it.

We have to
make all of thecostumes andstage sets inJapan based on
their designs.

Episode 5

It's just theperformers thatare coming.

But that could be agreat chance to learnauthentic techniques!

At the time,
Tadatsugu had
been doing stage
work for six years.

I brought threemembers of thecostume staff.

MauriceBrunet,
art director

Bonjour,Mr. Sasaki!

The first people
who came fromthe Opéra
National deParis were...

Robert Gilles,
stage
manager

Buh…
buh...

Thank youfor coming!
Bonjour.

First, weproducecostumes basedon the design.

Then, wedistress them,or soil them.

Their approachto their work
was extremely
stimulating for
Tadatsugu.

And...is there
anything else
you need?

Thedistressing
process...

...brings
reality to thestage.

Ah, yes. Pleaseget some pigbladders.

Bladders...!?

Thank youvery much!
They will bevery helpful!

Distressing
artists needa high levelof skill.

Pig!?

Meat
processing
plant in TokyoWe will
wash thesewell and drythem.
Sure. Any time.

Then, we will
inflate them andput candles inthem.

But what are you
using them for!?

In Spain, where
the story ofCarmen takes
place...

Uh... well...
... lanterns of thistype were actuallyused in the past.

We have no idea...

These people
pursuerealism to an
extraordinary
extent!!

Unbelievable!!

September 1961
—Carmen by
the OpéraNational deParis opens.

300 performers
and real horses
appeared onstage—theaudience wasastonished at theoverwhelming
scale of theproduction.

We were able to
make theperformance a
success becauseof your support.

Thank you,Mr. Suzuki.

Come andvisit us in
Paris sometime.

We'll be waiting
for you!

Yes, I will!

Tadatsugu'sfriendshipwith these twotalented men...
...continued
for a long time
thereafter.

June 1962

The Tokyo Ballet
School's second
performance,
Marimo, washighly acclaimed.

It is a tragic lovestory based on afolk tale of theAinu people inHokkaido.

Theirengagement
had beensworn before
the god of alake.

The maincharacter,
Setona, falls inlove with a young
man named
Manibe, who isengaged toanother girl.

The god of thelake imposed
three trials
on Setonaand Manibe.

Oh,that wassuperb...

Eternal love
reaching fruition
was expressed
well in the lastpart...

What?

The stage
was superb,but...

In the end, theirlove is fulfilled
and the two turninto marimo(algae balls)
unique to thelake.

...reality is harsh,
they say.

079

Really!?

People are sayingthat The Tokyo
Ballet School isalready having
serious financialtrouble.

They were paying
a substantial
amount for stage
expenses, so I
thought they had
ample funds...

The lessons arehard, but they
supply two pairsof point shoes
every week to allof the students.

.....

The Soviet
teachers aretreated extremely
well, too. They use
chartered taxis
wherever they go.

You'll never
have sufficient
funds to pay for
all of that.

The school director
has nomanagement skills.

The Soviet
teachers
returned homeas contracted
after theMarimo
performance.

Since no new teachers
were sent from theSoviet Union for nearlya year after that, manystudents left school.

Tadatsugu,
you reallyaccepted
this offer!?

The Third
The Toky Performance ofo Ballet School

Then...

Swan LakeYes.
You must bejoking!

Well, I've beenwith them all
this time...
I've got to do it.

They haven't
even paid for theMarimo
performance yet!

081

The story is about
the true love
between Prince
Siegfried andOdette, who has
been transformed
into a swan by aspell cast by theevil sorcerer VonRothbart.

It is a timelessmasterpiece thatcontinues to bestaged throughout
the world morethan 140 years
after its premierein 1877.

Swan Lake is one
of Tchaikovsky's
three greatest
ballets.

Prince Siegfried
is tempted by
Odile andbetrays Odette...

Prince Siegfried andOdette profess theirlove for one another,but before Prince
Siegfried can pledge
his eternal love, which
would break the spell,
Von Rothbart sends
him a beautiful
seductress, Odile.

Variousversions
have been
produced bydifferent
stage
directors.

There aredifferences in
how the music isused and howthe story ends.

Isn't the story
intriguing?

Oh, yousound so carefree...

It's interestingthat it's a tragedy
involving pledgesof love at a lake,
just as Marimo
was.

You might not
get paid for thisperformance
either, youknow.

084

Swan Lake was
performed 14 times
in four halls, withguest dancers
invited from theLeningrad State
Ballet.

※当時の一般名称

Tadatsugu madefull use of his
connections andplanned theschool
performance asa ballet concert
program.

A splendid
performance canreach the heartof an audience.

The day will
surely come whenthese huge debts
will turn into
success!!

But the following
year, The Tokyo
Ballet School
went bankrupt.

It had only beenfour years since
the school
opened.