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The first japanese-belgian improv project by Yuri Kunigawa and Yann van den Branden, performing in English language around the globe - presenting the craziest improv show around the world!
Ying Yang - the ShowTwo persons meet on stage. A man and a women. He’s tall, she’s tiny. He’s European, she’s Asian. They are totally different.The are like black and white. Like Yin and Yang. They fool around with stereotypes and cultural differences in an exciting and hilarious performance. It is a show about things we do everyday, without realizing we are doing them. It is about the small things in life we get irritated by. Why does she go crazy when he has left the toilet seat up again? Why is he irritated when she doesn’t stop eating while she’s on the phone? Why doesn’t she want to have sex every day? It’s crazy, it’s sensational, it’s confronting, it’s... the story of an ordinary life. But it’s also a show full of contrasts. The thrill of a first kiss and the frustration of a fading relation. It’s about the birth of a child and the death of a grandfather. And the difficult choice between beer or sake. The show brings a wonderful mixture of European emotional acting and Asian traditional theatre. But who will be playing which part? This show takes the audience on a roller-coaster full of crazy characters and touching emotional scenes. All layered in a wonderful musical landscape. Be aware... This show is dangerous! You might recognize frightfully much of yourself in this performance. Two of the worlds’ most crazy improv actors finally made a show together! Directed by Randy Dixon, they created a new and daring two person improv show. A man and a woman... an impossible relationship. They hate and love each other. But why all these problems? Wouldn’t it be just great, to be able to know what people really think of you? That you could even hear their unconscious? Oooh...this could be dangerous! In the Yin Yang show, the Bansai Twins say it out loud. Often too direct, too brutal, too erotic? Hell yes! But it’s hilarious! Yann and Yuri are performing a rollercoaster of feelings and crazy characters. Often inspired on the contrast between man and woman, beer and sake, love and lust. And then, all of a sudden they switch the game again. Performing right out of the hart, bringing 100 percent pure and honest emotion. In this way their show balances between high energetic comedy and touching emotional theatre. Yuri Kinugawa and Yann Van den Branden are both actors performing in theatreplays, tv series and movies. Since many years, they are well known in improv land too. With their own companies they have created new improv formats and toured around the world. Also as individuals they are often seen on international improv and theatre festivals. Both inspiring actors are also known for their high energetic way of teaching improv and drama. The show will have his sneak preview in february 2009 in Seattle, Then in june 2009 the show will go to Victoria, Vancouver, Portland, Bellingham and again to Seattle. In 2010 this show will tour in Japan. But before that, it is time for Europe!
Mixed shows with local improv ensembles: BANSAI COCKTAILBansai cocktail stands for "mixing teams". During the day, experienced improvisers have a workshop together with Yann and Yuri. In this workshop some of the improv formats that Yann and Yuri perform around the world, are teached. hen at night, the Bansai twins and some players of the hosting theatre company, perform an this new improv-form together. For groups only familiar to theatresports it could also mean that they bring a crazy vening of theatresports together.
The idea
Yuri and Yann met during the World Championship of improvisational theatre in 2006, in Germany. Later that year, Yann went to Japan to teach improv, with Yuri being his translator. They started to play together, on different stages all over the world; Seattle, Kawasaki, Amsterdam, Bellingham, Tokio... Slowly the idea of creating a performance together grew. While working together, people often said: "You are so different and yet so similar." Yuri and Yann were convinced that the visual contrasts: man and woman, tall and small, European and Asian could be an interesting starting point for creating a new show. In spite of the differences, they are, indeed, very much the same. They are both very physical and energetic actors. This proved to be a perfect match on stage. And of course the most powerful quality they have.... They are both crazy! Still many questions popped up. “Is the unbridgeable gap between their both of their worlds not too wide?” “Are the cultural differences between them not a crazy barrier?” “And what about the language.... English?.... Japanese?... Flemish?...” “What about Yuri speaking English and Yann speaking Japanese?”. It was certainly challenging. In addition, they also explored human issues in daily life such as relations between the sexes, ethnic troubles, differences in customs and culture and different values in life. The show became a high energy roller-coaster of laughs and emotions. Every show again will be unpredictable and unexpected because... it’s all improvised! The Cast
Yuri KinugawaYuri is the artistic director of Impro Works (the longest-running improv theater company in Japan) and Yellow Man Group in Tokyo, Japan. Yuri is a professional actor and improviser. She has worked as a professional actor for theatre, TV, and film for about 20 years in Japan. Her international acting career started in 1996. For her role as Sayo in Memory and Desire, a Niki Caro movie, she was awarded Best Actress in the Stockholm International Film Festival. As best foreign performer she received the New Zealand Film Award. She studied improvisation with Keith Johnstone and Charna Halpern since 1994, has performed in Japan, USA, Canada, Germany, France, Holland, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. She was a member of the first winning team of Theatresports ™ in Tokyo, Japan. As a teacher, she created the program Business Impro Training ™ and has worked with many organizations, throughout Japan, businesses and non-profit organizations. She also worked for human services, government, health care, Schools and Universities on the use of creativity. She is the author of Impro Game, the first book about improvisation in Japan. In total she published 4 books about improvisation. Actually she is writing her fifth book focusing on Zen and Impro.
Yann Van den Branden
Yann van den Branden is the artistic Director of Quicksilver Productions. He likes to divide his work as an actor between playing in regular theatre and musicals on one side and television work on the other side. Yann played during two seasons in the Belgian version of Who’s line is it anyway. Later on he even dared to host weekly a one hour live improv show on national tv. It became a very controversial live show. In 2004 he created the Wake. An improv format that he brought to Stockholm, Seattle, Edmonton, Victoria, Ljublijana, Vienna, Berlin and Amsterdam with Quicksilver. That Yann and his Quicksilver team know how to excel in fast and funny improv, became clear in 2006 when they won the World championship of theatresports. As an actor, Yann has played in a lot of tv series. Several years ago he started to write scripts himself. He created Booh!, a series full of crazy ghosts, that found its way to national Belgian tv. He also developed a new sitcom inspired on global warming for which he did not only write most of the 88 episodes but also played one of the main characters With the highly praised poetical dance performance Duxtrou, Yann produced a controversial theatre play about Marc Dutroux, a Belgian serial killer. Recently he played emperor Joseph II in Peter Shafer’s award winning piece Amadeus. He loved his part in the musical TINTIN and the Prisoners of the sun where he played the double role of the butler Nestor and the Great Inca. This musical ran for almost a year in Belgium, as well as in the Netherlands.
The international aspectSince 2006, Yuri and Yann have been performing together all over the world. Growing towards their new show, they discovered the magic of the unique combination they form on stage. 2006, Heidelberg, Germany. World championships improv. 2007, Amsterdam. International Improvisation Theatre festival. 2008, Seattle USA. 25th Anniversary, Unexpected Productions. 2008, Tokyo, All Japan improv convention.
Yann Van den Branden
Yann Van den Branden is the artistic Director of Quicksilver Productions. He likes to divide his work as an actor between theatre and television. Playing as well in regular theatre, musicals and television series.
Yann has a passion for improv theatre and he likes to perform in all kinds of formats. On tv, he played during two seasons in the Belgian version of “Who’s line is it anyway” and later he even dared to host a one hour live improv show, on national tv. It became a weekly live show that provoked a lot of controversy. Typically for his high energy way of playing is his on going search in finding a balance between going “totally crazy” and trying to involve things out of his personal life in his improv story telling.
In 2004 he created “the Wake”. An improv format that he brought with Quicksilver to Stockholm, Seattle, Edmonton, Victoria, Ljublijana, Vienna, Berlin and Amsterdam. In 2006 he streched the limits of improv again by bringing a Muppet show-inspired improv show to Belgium. The audience was fascinated by the weird show “Ploesj!” and the more serious “Shakespeare and puppets”.
Although he prefers long form improv, he always stays in touch with the fast and shorter forms of improv like theatresports and improvmatch. That Yann and his Quicksilver team are knowing how to excell in this kind of improv, became clear in 2006 when they won the World championship of theatresports. In 2007 they even won the open German improv championship in Hamburg.
Since 1999 he has been touring around in the world to perform and to teach improv. From Victoria to Ljublijana over Boston and Berlin, passing Tokio, Amsterdam and Paris he’s always glad to be back in Antwerp... for a while.
Improv for improvisers Yann has been teaching improv, all over the world for many years. His classes are very different from other more traditional improv teachers. Keywords during his classes are certainly: “high energy, honesty and physical theatre”.
He gave classes to well known improv companies as: Rapid Fire – Edmonton English lovers – Vienna Theater Narobov – Slovenia The Gorillas – Berlin Japan improv convention - Kawasaki TVA – Amsterdam Unexpeted productions - Seattle Steife Brise – Hamburg Belgian improv league - Brussels Impromaniacs – Victoria Impro Works – Tokyo Ligue d’imporviation Français - Paris
But also thousands of drama students, beginners level or more expierenced followed his inspiring workshops uptill now.
Business workshops In 1999 Yann started to give improv classes in a more business oriented way. He created his own business training concept, discovering that Sales managers and HR people in many companies were often searching for more practical and interactive ways of training their personel.
Working with them around “cross selling”, “negotiating”, “evalution talks”, “presentation techniques”,... opened the way to many international companies for him. Since then he has been teaching HR managers, account excecutives, general managers, finance staff, accountants, sales people, back office workers of:
Coca cola, Pfizer, Vedior interim, ACV, Toyota, Unilever, SD Worx, Janssens Pharmaceutica, Police Geel, Siemens, Cultuurnet Vlaanderen, BOIC, BASF, TMAB, Electrabel, Acerta, Molnlycke, Rems, Nashuatec, Rockwool, Belgacom, Creyfs, Axa insurance, Atlas Copco, and many others.
Example improv workshops. Beginners Workshop Workshop given by Yann Van den Branden, artistic Director of Quicksilver Productions. Improv is very often looked upon as witty and funny without any artistic depth. Very oftten it is the simple lack of skills of the actor/improvisor himself, he tries to hide with jokes. For his workshop Yann will work on finding a balance in going “totally crazy” and trying to involve things out of your personal life in your improv story telling.
Advanced Workshop Weren’t we all fascinated by “The Muppet show?” Why aren’t there more good puppet shows now? Why don’t we see more improv with puppets? Because it’s not easy! It seems that you have to learn every rule of drama and improv again when you work with puppets. But it’s such fun to work with these crazy characters. Let’s go nuts during this crazy improv puppet workshop. With his puppet workshop Yann has already toured the world. Amsterdam, Tokyo, Berlin, Kyoto, Vancouver, Antwerp. Only for advanced and expierenced Longform improv players.
YURI KINUGAWAYuri Kinugawa is the Founder and Director of Impro Works (the longest-running improvisational theater company in Japan) and Yellow Man Group of Tokyo, Japan. WORK EXPERIENCE as Improviser and Facilitator 1) For Business people She created the program Business Impro Training™ to build Life/Business Skills through Improvisation and her clients are including; RECRUIT Co., Ltd; Prudential Financial, Inc; Nissay Information Technology; EIKOH INC；Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd; Kubota Corporation; Nissan Motor Co.,Ltd ; Daiwa Securities SMBC Co., Ltd; Yamato System Development Co., Ltd; KUREHA CORPORATION; DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, Ltd; Mitsui Fudosan residential Co., Ltd; and ATM Japan, Ltd. She is also a special staff member for Coaches Training Institutes Japan, and part of the Co-Active Leadership Program in USA. Currently she is training trainers, facilitators and teachers in the use of improv skills in their own work. The contents of the workshops are such as; Teambuilding, Creativity, Innovation, Problem Solving, Communication Leadership, Character Development, Presentation Skills
2) For organizations. She has been teaching and developing training programs using improvisation skills. She advises and implements with many organizations, throughout Japan, non-profit organizations, human services, government and health care including; Benesse Corporation; INCS ENGINEERING INC; Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities; Japan Council of Performers’ Organizations; HOUJYUKAI social welfare corporation ; and The Center for the Advancement of Working Women. The contents of the workshops are such as; Communication skill, creative expression, and self-confidence Development.
3) For Education. The contents of the workshops are such as; Improvisation and Drama, Creative Drama, Truth of emotional expression, and Creativity Development.
4) For international improvisers. The contents of the workshops are such as; Be in a moment; Dance in the moment; physical approaches; Focus on flexibility; Emotion and Subtext; Yes And; Flow with the drama organically and Openness. Her approach to teaching is full of fun and joy aiming to peel off people’s fears to find and show their own truths. This is why Japanese people respond enthusiastically to her workshops. And she thinks improv’s theory and Zen’s are the similar. So she uses the idea of Zen for the workshop. Yuri believes that improv training can guide people to freedom and the meaning of life. And always it must to be tasty and exciting!
WORK EXPERIENCE as a writer She is the author of Impro Game, the first book about improvisation in Japan, and she published 4 books about improvisation and theatre. She is writing her fifth book focusing on Zen and Impro.
WORK EXPERIENCE as an actor She is also a professional actress. She won Best Actress 1998 Stockholm International Film Festival and Best Foreign Performer 1998 New Zealand Film Award for her role as Sayo in Memory & Desire (Best New Zealand Film1998) Director Niki Caro New Zealand. Tamagawa University BA in Theatre and Drama Other skills
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