"Tatara — the heritage of Eurasia" is a projection choreographic show created jointly by teams from Tatarstan (Russia) and Japan. The show is dedicated to the Japanese furnace called "tatara". In ancient times, steel for samurai swords was smelted in tatara by using a special metallurgical technology.

Presumably, this technology was brought to Japan from China, and it got there from the ancestors of the Tatars in the 7th century. The plot of the show is based on the story of a blacksmith from whom a dragon takes his beloved. So the blacksmith has to go through the whole continent, meet the four elements, build a tatara furnace, forge a sword and defeat the dragon.

The show is based on the choreography of the main characters, their actions take place in locations created by the projection. The main antagonist character — the Dragon — comes to life with projection content too.

The project was created to strengthen intercultural relations between Tatarstan (Russia) and Japan. Therefore, the task was to create a joint show in cooperation with the Japanese team, which reflects both Tatar and Japanese cultural elements.

The show was created jointly by teams from Tatarstan and Japan. The script, video content and music were made in Tatarstan. And the choreography, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was staged by two teams independently. As a result, the show was presented in 2 versions - Japanese and Tatarstan. The Japanese version is based on the Tatarstan one. It is built on supplementing the Tatarstan version with its own national flavor.

A feature of working with video content was the creation of doubles on the projection for some specific characters —  nature element characters.  Images of Water, Fire, Air and Earth were visualized — exactly with them the main character meets on his way. To create rigs with complex choreography of nature element characters, we recorded all the dancers movements in the studio by using kinect sensors. Then we assigned them to 3d models and made them simulation sources for abstract water and fire particles.

Producer: Asiya Sadykova
Director: Tufan Imamutdinov
Screenwriter: Sombel Gaffarova
Video content: Marat Latypov, Damir Allyamov, Roman Kondratyev, Alexsander Zagidullin, Aidar Shakirov
Choreography of the Tatarstan version: Marcel Nouriev, Maria Nourieva
Choreography of the Japanese version: Sakakura Katsumi, Eiko Iwaki, Mami Miyamoto, Karin Kato
Music: Farid Garipov, Ruslan Gabitov, ethno music group “RIVAYAT”