Reviews
Reviews
“In the five plus decades I have watched dance theatre, such versatility is rare. Such power and restraint are also seldom seen in these decades of lengthy self-indulgence. Yoko Tahara, familiar with the Japanese Ghost tradition, remarked, “It was a tour de force.” For myself, I said to her, “I’ve seen only one other woman who could evoke the masculine with equal skill, and that was Balasaraswati.”
- Aoki, Izu, Honored for 30 Years of Storytelling and Music - Hokubei.com, December 2, 2009
- “When we saw Brenda and Mark on stage for the first time, her storytelling and Mark’s music, a kind of fusion of Japanese instruments and Western instruments together, it immediately captured our hearts. What is more, Mark’s music added such depth and added quite harmoniously with Brenda’s story so that I could almost visualize the scenes she was describing on stage.”
- Brenda Wong Aoki at the 2008 Hoosier Storytelling Festival - Indy Theatre Habit, October 17, 2008
- “She is stunningly beautiful now, with a musical voice and a dance-trained body that moves gracefully and deliberately as she shares her stories. She vocalizes her own sound effects and often uses a large wooden and silk fan, and sometimes her gorgeous, long, black hair, to help illustrate her stories.”
- Review of Legend of the Morning Glory, SF Chronicle Datebook, 4/23/2008(download PDF)
- Storyteller Brenda Wong Aoki Gains Strength from traditional ghost stories - San Francisco Chronicle, October 23, 2004
- “When you’re a ghost, what’s left is your story, to pass on to the yet unborn,” she says, with a meaningful smile. “What’s fascinating about ghost stories is that they transcend race and everything else. That’s because they have to do with the human condition — greed, jealousy, love.”Stories have been welling up inside Aoki all her life, and this evening, as she sits in a tiny noodle house in Japantown with Izu and their son, 11- year-old K.K., is no exception.
- Kuan Yin: Our Lady of Compassion, Ballet Magazine, December 2002 (download PDF)
- Kaze (in Japanese)
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“‘Legend’ synthesizes variety of cultures, techniques”, Monterey County Herald, April 15, 2010
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This production illustrates that, ultimately, it may be point of view that decides the fate of our lives — or at least our interpretation of that fate. In the end,” said Aoki, “all we leave is a story. All we’re really in control of is how we see our story. We make our own ending.”
