| |
WEEKEND 1
breakdancing and beyond
Brickheadz / Ayako Kato
March 3-5, 2006
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 8:00 pm
$12
Local crew members from Chicago-land's notorious breakdance company,
the Brickheadz, lay down the anatomy of breaking battles through
the body. Using live DJ music and video, an atmosphere of broken
bodies, broken images, and broken melodies pervades the entire space.
Ayako Kato presents Fragile, a performance existing somewhere beyond
ballet or modern dance. This solo emphasizes the primacy of the
invisible spirit (human and non-human energy) that is conveyed through
the corporeal form. How can such simple movement have such great
impact? Kato recently moved from Japan to Chicago.
LATE NIGHT
Friday March 3, 10:00 pm, Free
DJ open floor dance session with DJ Kissyface & DJ Shon Roka
WEEKEND 2
breakdancing and butoh
Rodney Mason and Marianne M. Kim / Nicole LeGette
March 10-12, 2006
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 8:00 pm
$12
Rodney Mason (LA) and Marianne M. 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 "highly evolved" state of the human race
by creating a new creation/destruction myth of creatures formed
from the seeds of fear, panic, and denial. The performance includes
video by Christina Choe (LA) 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 3
butoh and beyond
Lani Fand-Weissbach / Carol Genetti
March 17-19, 2006
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 8:00 pm
$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
soundscore, 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 4
beyond butoh and breakdancing
Vangeline Theater / Nicole LeGette and B-Girl Stalls
March 24-26, 2006
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 8:00 pm
$12
Post-modern butoh dance company Vangeline Theater (NYC) 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, free
DJ open floor dance session, with DJ Kissyface & DJ Shon Roka
LinkUp performers in residence
March 31 & April 1 - 2, 2006
Friday - Sunday, 7:00 pm
$15, for access to all three performances
Three artists present the results of their six-month residencies
through the LinkUp program at Links Hall. 7pm: In Tongues by Margaret
Morris Experience an invigorating moment when the intelligent life
force moves through four dancers’ bodies, causing a sacred
language to erupt. 8pm: Land the land – 9, a peace of idea
by Ayako Kato Examining the root causes of war and peace, and their
impact on humanity, Kato’s work was provoked by the current
proposal to revise the Japanese war-renouncing constitution. 9pm:
Left Handed Saw Right Handed by Brian Torrey Scott & Mary Walling
Blackburn An abbreviated history of listening, which includes apache
dances, pro war songs, and live orchestration.
|
|
INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCES
At the Chicago Cultural Center CHICAGO
PREMIERE!
Before the Dawn
Yumiko Yoshioka (Japan/Germany)
March 16, 2006
Thursday, 7:00 pm,
free
at The Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago
Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington
Before the Dawn 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. Yumiko Yoshioka was
a member of the first all-female Japanese butoh dance group ARIADONE,
and has lived in Germany since 1988. She creates work that pushes
the limits of conventional butoh, through her integration of dance,
space and visual art. Presented along with breakdancing by members
of Chicago's notorious company, the Brickheadz, and a hybrid break-butoh
collaboration by B-Girl Stalls and Nicole LeGette.
US PREMIERE!
Ekua Itsi: Behind the Mirror
Diego Piñón (Mexico)
March 26, 2006
Sunday, 5:00 pm,
free
at The Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington
In celebration of a ten year history creating solo Butoh Ritual
Mexicano dance, Diego Piñón performs Ekua Itsi: Behind
the Mirror. This piece subverts dominant, macho mental traps and
attempts to locate where man and woman can exist with no gender,
where their shared essence can support the evolutionary process
of our planet. Piñón’s work combines bio-energetic
movement, contemporary dance and theatre, and traditional Mexican
ritual. He has danced in the Japanese groups Byakko-Sha and Min
Tanaka's Maijuku, and continues to refine master butoh techniques
with Natsu Nakajima, Yoshito Ohno, and the co-founder of butoh,
Kazuo Ohno.
FREE EVENTS
FILM SCREENING
March 5, 2006
Sunday, 3:00-5:00 pm
free
at The Spareroom, 2416 W. North Ave
A rare pairing of Facing Mekka by Rennie Harris Pure Movement with
Kazuo Ohno's work in Beauty and Strength promotes a dialogue between
the unexpectedly related dance forms of hip-hop and butoh. Harris
turned away from a violent and dehumanizing culture and used the
positive energy of dance as a creative and spiritual force; Facing
Mekka reflects his ability to push hip-hop movement into a more
universal performance context. Beauty and Strength includes performances,
interviews, examples of Ohno's drawings and writings, as well as
biographical information, to create a comprehensive look into the
world of Kazuo Ohno's dance. Collected from over forty years of
dance material, the film presents one of butoh's most luminous flowers.
SYMPOSIUM
The Shadow Body Speaks
March 19, 2006
Sunday, 3:00-5:00 pm
free
at The Shin Higuchi Institute, 3485 N. Clark St
Please participate in the lively discussion at this symposium event,
which considers 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 is facilitated
by Susan Manning (Northwestern University), and includes Sondra
Fraleigh (the State University of New York, and acclaimed author
of Dancing into Darkness: Butoh, Zen, and Japan; Dance and the Lived
Body; and Dancing Identity: Metaphysics in Motion), butoh dance
artists Yumiko Yoshioka and Diego Piñón, and breakdancer
Daniel "BRAVEMONK" Haywood.
|
|
