‘Dreams (Yume)’ is inspired by the 1 990 film of Akira Kurosawa. The work includes three dreaminspired movements, which contain at their centre a series of dances and processions.

In the first movement, during a rainstorm in which the sun is also shining, a young boy, against the instructions of his mother, heads into the woods to watch a procession of foxes who are attending a wedding. For his transgression, he must beg forgiveness of the foxes at their home under the rainbow.

In the second movement, on the day of the Doll Festival, the same boy follows a girl into a peach orchard that his family has recently cut down. The dolls come to life and dance for him. Despite the decimation of their orchard, the dolls give him one last opportunity to see the peach trees in bloom.

In the third and final movement, the boy has now become an adult and finds himself in a utopian village of watermills. There he meets an old man who speaks of the simplicity of life lived in the village. They head off together to join in a joy-filled procession celebrating the life of one of the community’s now-departed elders.