The choreodrama Deep in Memory — built on Iris Chang’s account of the Nanjing Massacre — was staged for the first time in Paris, at the Opéra-Comique, from November 21 to 23, 2025. The Studio worked with the production team to bring this dance-borne act of remembrance to French audiences.
Choreography and direction are by Tong Ruirui. The work follows historical figures — Iris Chang, John Rabe, Minnie Vautrin, Li Xiuying, Higashi Shirō — and proceeds, through Iris Chang’s eyes, into the memories of those who lived through the Nanjing Massacre of 1937. The killing, the witnessing, the contrition, the denial — four keywords that compose mutually-confirming chapters; from different angles, all of them point to a single truth, which the body’s language sets back before the eye.
The Opéra-Comique gave this work its first European stage. A French audience — one that has lived through the same terrible century — bore witness, in the language of dance rather than words, to the staging of an Eastern memory.
Stills from the Paris staging follow below. For the full trailer and ticketing, please visit the official Paris site.
