LONE ANT

This dance tells the story of a super ant who fights against “the evil” all over the globe. In the beginning she fights because she believes in justice, but she becomes skeptical about what justice is after a tragic incident in which she loses her dearest friend. In the end, she stops fighting and wanders around jaded cities as a "lone ant".

Premiered 2001, 60 minutes.

Super Ant: Kiyoko Kashiwagi

Temptation(special appearance): Monica Reyes

Temptation(special appearance): Mardi K. Shah

Music by Shu Nakamura and others

Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Heroes,

Romance

REVIEWS

"...a lighthearted ditty with moments of poignancy..."

by Susan Yung, The DanceInsider, 2001

"Lone Ant," a largely solo endeavor by Kiyoko Kashiwagi, was a minimally produced, lighthearted ditty. In "Lone Ant," seen Wednesday, Kashiwagi played the title insect, apparently a sort of super-heroine reachable by cell phone. Ideas were conveyed through pantomime and dance, primarily bits of jazz mixed with martial arts, pageantry, and aerobics, to a pop music soundtrack. The ant was assisted by numerous inflatable animals, insects and the brief appearances of Monica Reyes. The hour-long show traced the ant's inexorable aging process, and her attempts to maintain shreds of her youthful pride and physical prowess. Kashiwagi has a rubbery face that rapidly contorts between emotions to hilarious effect, and a wiry facility to capably shape the physical caricatures. It was a small production with moments of poignancy.

"Relying Upon One's Own Antennas"

by Tomohiro Imura, OCS NEWS, October 12, 2001

A New York based dancer/choreographer, Kiyoko Kashiwagi, founder of ANIME DANCE THEATER, presented a solo dance piece "Lone Ant" at the Joyce SoHo in downtown NYC on October 12th, 13th and 14th. Kashiwagi performs as a comical "super ant." She fights against "the evil" all over the globe, but decides not to fight anymore after a tragic incident. With the accompaniment of a dramatic soundtrack that reminds you of 1970 Japanese animations, and through the use of humorous props, Kashiwagi expresses how the ant believes completely in justice in the beginning yet becomes skeptical about what justice is in the end. Kashiwagi says that she was often told that she looks like and moves like characters in Japanese animation. So that's how she started calling her dance style "anime dance." She also said that she started conceiving this piece when she read a book about ants and found an interesting similarity between ants and herself: ants work together as a group, but they also act individually by relying upon their own antennas, and that is the same way Kashiwagi says she operates in American society.