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The Body Breaks:
Butoh, Breakdancing, and Beyond
Links Hall
Chicago, IL
March 16-19, 2006
Links Hall, in conjunction with blushing poppy productions, The
Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, The Spareroom, and the Shin
Higuchi Institute present:
THE BODY BREAKS: Butoh, Breakdancing, and Beyond
January to March 2006: Links Hall’s new Artistic Associates -
Jennifer Friedrich, Mark Booth and Nicole LeGette - each curate a
month-long series of performance, based on expertise in their
respective artistic fields. The March program has been curated by
Nicole LeGette.
Butoh and breakdancing are two iconic, contemporary dance forms that
use the body as the most critical material to confront essential
life forces in a personal/social/political rebellion. Brazenly,
the dancer comes to embody the universal body battleground in order
to reveal the spirit as a new beauty seen in a body deeply affected.
With this distinct objective, The Body Breaks seeks the dance that
slips between definitions and asks, what is the indescribable dance
of the beyond?
Post-show discussions with the artists take place each Saturday
WEEKEND ONE
breakdancing and beyond
Brickheadz / Ayako Kato
March 3-5, 2006
Fridays through Sundays, 8:00pm
$12
Local crew members from Chicagoland's notorious breakdance company,
the Brickheadz, lay down the anatomy of breaking battles through the
body. Existing somewhere beyond ballet or modern dance, and recently
locating to Chicago from Japan, Ayako Kato presents Fragile. It's
not that being scared. Outside is just so overwhelming. Hope must be
too outrageous. Be ready little by little from inside.
LATE NIGHT: Friday March 3, 10:00pm
DJ open floor dance session
Free with DJ Kissyface & DJ Shon Roka
WEEKEND TWO
breakdancing and butoh
Rodney Mason and Marianne Kim / Nicole LeGette
March 10-12, 2006
Fridays through Sundays, 8:00pm
$12
Rodney Mason (LA) and Marianne Kim (former Chicagoan) direct their
focus to the concept of "de-evolution" with Madam In Eden, I'm Adam
(part one: the final hour). The work calls into question the future of the "highly evolved" state of the human race in the 21st century by creating a new creation/destruction myth of creatures formed from the seed of fear, panic, and denial. The performance includes video work by Los Angeles filmmaker Christina Choe and sound by local musician LeRoy
Bach. In Raw Child, butoh artist Nicole LeGette (Chicago) posits her
own body as an assemblage of parts from disparate sources, from
other lives and beings not yet in harmony, and seeks reconciliation
by laying bare the phantom selves lurking within.
WEEKEND THREE
butoh and beyond
Lani Fand Weissbach / Carol Genetti
March 17-19, 2006
Fridays through Sundays, 8:00pm
$12
Lani Fand Weissbach (Pennsylvania) offers us a glimpse into one
woman's grappling with both the masks and the truths of her own existence in Waking Woman/Messy Beauty. Combining butoh and contemporary modern dance-theatre, this highly visceral work features an original sound score, sets, costumes, and text. Carol Genetti (Chicago) uses the human voice and tape recorders in ECHO, a performance sound piece about the disembodied voice. Genetti investigates the stages of decay inherent in the transference of vocal sounds, both physical and anthropological, from one generation to the next.
WEEKEND FOUR
beyond butoh and breakdancing
Vangeline Theater / Nicole LeGette and B-Girl Stalls
March 24-26, 2006
Fridays through Sundays, 8:00pm
$12
Vangeline Theater, a post-modern Butoh dance company based in New
York presents a pair of ensemble pieces. Drawing inspiration from
Greek mythological figures and exploring the feminine principle with
notions of sacrificial death, Naiads Metal follows an emotional and
spiritual awakening as the water within awakens. White Fencing locates two "brides" in opposition. Although sharing the same space, they are unable to confront life in the other. Among the vanguard of dance innovation in Chicago, Butoh dancer Nicole LeGette and B-Girl Stalls put their respective dances to the test in a hybrid break-butoh battle to the very end--and beyond!
LATE NIGHT: Friday March 24, 10:00pm
DJ open floor dance session
Free with DJ Kissyface & DJ Shon Roka
***
WORKSHOPS
Workshops are open to all; no prior dance experience is necessary.
Space is limited. Register for any workshop by March 8th and receive
a two-for-one voucher to see any performance during The Body Breaks
at Links Hall. For more information or to register for any of the
following workshops contact Erica or CJ at 773.281.0824 or
info@linkshall.org.
Tracing Transformation
with Marianne Kim and Rodney Mason
March 11, 2006
Saturday 11:00am-4:00pm, $50
at Links Hall
Marianne Kim will guide students to create and deconstruct image and
movement through the rigorous techniques of Butoh (Hijikata and Ohno
methods) and the Suzuki Acting Method. Rodney Mason will teach House
dance, a style dedicated to footwork
and living inside the music.
Butoh Ritual Mexicano
with Diego Piñón
March 11 and 12, 2006
Saturday and Sunday, 10:00am-6:00pm, $185
at The Spareroom, 2416 W. North Ave, Chicago
Complementing his extensive training in bio-energetics,
contemporary dance and theatre, and traditional Mexican ritual,
Diego Piñón danced with the Japanese butoh groups Byakko-Sha
and Min Tanaka's Maijuku. Since 1987, he has continued to refine the
master butoh techniques with Natsu Nakajima, Yoshito Ohno, and the
co-founder of butoh, Kazou Ohno; and continues to define his own
dance, Butoh Ritual Mexicano. The Butoh Ritual Mexicano approach
proposes research into how to discover, to direct, and to expand
personal energy through movement. Challenging physical, emotional,
and spiritual limits through group interactions and dance
explorations, you will receive provocation and guidance encouraging
the discovery of a deep and personal acknowledgment.
Body Resonance
with Yumiko Yoshioka
March 18 and 19, 2006
Saturday 10:00am-4:00pm at Links Hall and
Sunday 10:00am-2:00pm at The Spareroom, 2416 W. North Ave, Chicago $135
Yumiko Yoshioka was a member of the first all-female Japanese butoh
dance group, ARIADONE. Living in Germany since 1988 and co-founder
of TEN PEN CHii art labor, Yoshioka researches the interactivity
between dance, space, and visual art. With a background in butoh,
Noguchi Gymnastics and Juken (Chinese Soft Martial Arts) her
workshops are based on flowing, organic movement and vital energy
(ki). The root of this body work is threefold: to relax alone, to
obtain a higher level of concentration, and to activate potential
energy within us. Using the combination of imagery with body
movement, and through a dialogue with our body, we learn not how to
move, but to be moved. Consequently we realize that we are a part of
a universal wholeness.
Post-Modern Butoh
with Vangeline of Vangeline Theatre
March 25, 2006
Saturday, 11:00am-4:00pm, $50
at Links Hall
During the workshop we will create a supportive environment in order
to regenerate our energy through a dance offering. Participants should
be
willing to
explore their emotions and use them as a tool for expression through
the dance. The workshop will focus on connections between students,
will incorporate strength building exercises, and will awaken the
joints with bio-energetic movement. Vangeline is the Artistic
Director of the Vangeline Theater (www.vangeline.com). She is a student
of
Diegp Pinon and Tetsuro Fukuhara. She teaches an ongoing post-modern
Butoh
class in New York
and is a guest Dance teacher at Brooklyn College.
***
FREE SYMPOSIUM
The Shadow Body Speaks
March 19, 2006
Sunday, 3:00-5:00pm, free
at The Shin Higuchi Institute [address to add]
Please participate in the lively discussion at this symposium event,
which will consider the artistic, social, and political context that
gave rise to butoh in Japan and breakdancing in the US, with an
examination of the current cultural climate. The panel will be
facilitated by Susan Manning (Northwestern University), and will
include Sondra Fraleigh (the State University of New York, and
acclaimed author of Dancing into Darkness: Butoh, Zen, and Japan;
Dance and the Lived Body; Dancing Identity), and dance artists
Yumiko Yoshioka, and Diego Piñón.
***
INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCES
CHICAGO PREMIERE!
Yumiko Yoshioka (Japan/Germany)
March 16, 2006
Thursday, 7:00pm, free
at The Claudia Cassidy Theatre, Chicago Cultural Center
Yumiko Yoshioka was a member of the first all-female Japanese butoh
dance group, ARIADONE. Living in Germany since 1988 and co-founder
of TEN PEN CHii art labor, Yoshioka researches the interactivity
between dance, space, and visual art, and creates work that pushes
the limits of conventional butoh. "Before the Dawn", in its Chicago
premiere, is a dance of metamorphosis where darkness melts into
brightness.Through her own transformation, Yumiko Yoshioka
illuminates secrets and hidden creatures from a distant, forgotten
memory as they begin to reawaken in the body. Something grotesque
yet strangely beautiful grabs our attention. Presented along with
breakdancing by members of Chicago's notorious breakdance company,
the Brickheadz, and a hybrid break-butoh collaboration by B-Girl
Stalls and Nicole LeGette.
CHICAGO PREMIERE!
Diego Piñón (Mexico)
March 26, 2006
Sunday, 5:00pm, free
at The Claudia Cassidy Theatre, Chicago Cultural Center [address?]
In celebration of a ten year history creating solo Butoh Ritual
Mexicano dance and a Chicago premiere, Diego Piñón performs "Ekua
Itsi-Behind the Mirror". This piece subverts predominant macho
mental traps and tries to locate where man and woman can exist with
no gender, where their same essence can support the evolutionary
process in our planet. Diego Piñón combines extensive training in
bio-energetics, contemporary dance and theatre, and traditional
Mexican ritual, and was invited to dance in the Japanese groups
Byakko-Sha and Min Tanaka's Maijuku. Since 1987, he has continued to
refine the master butoh techniques with Natsu Nakajima, Yoshito
Ohno, and the co-founder of butoh, Kazou Ohno; and continues to
define his own dance, Butoh Ritual Mexicano.
***
FREE FILM SCREENING
March 5, 2006
Sunday, 3:00-5:00pm, free
at The Spareroom, 2416 W. North Ave, Chicago
A rare pairing of “Facing Mekka” by Rennie Harris Pure Movement and
excerpts of Kazuo Ohno's work in "Beauty and Strength" promotes a
dialogue between two distinct yet strangely related dance forms:
hip-hop and butoh.“Facing Mekka" reflects Harris's ability to push
hip-hop movement into a more universal performance context. Harris
turned away from a violent and dehumanizing culture and used the
positive energy of dance as a creative and spiritual force. "Beauty
and Strength" includes dance performances, film excerpts and
interviews, examples of Ohno's drawings and writings, as well as
biographical information, creating a comprehensive look into the
world of Kazuo Ohno's dance. This collection allows us to discover
many things we can not see on stage - original footage of old
performances and behind-the-scene looks into Ohno's workshops and
rehearsals as collected from over forty years of dance material from
one of butoh's most luminous flowers.
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