SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

FOUR BEBE THEATRE PERFORMANCES

TIME: 8:00 PM Thursday thru Sunday June 14 – 17

PLACE: 20 Commerce Street

COST: In Advance – $15 (general), $10 (Seniors, Students); At the Door – $17, $12

THREE WORKSHOPS WITH GUEST ARTISTS AT BEBE THEATRE

#1: Workshop with Vanessa Skantze

WHERE: Bebe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street

TIME: 1:00 – 4:00 PM Saturday June16

COST: $30; $25 (if registered by June 1)

#2: Workshop with Nicole LeGette

WHERE:BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street

TIME: 1:00 – 4:00 PM Sunday June 17

COST: $30; $25 (if registered by June 1)

#3: Workshop with Alex Ruhe

WHERE: BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street

TIME: 6:00 – 9:00 PM June 18

COST: $30; $25 (if registered by June 1)

FOUR FREE DOWNTOWN ASHEVILLE STREET PERFORMANCES

# 1: “Excursus” performed by Anemone Dance Theatre & Legacy Butoh

WHERE: Pack Place Park

TIME: 6:00 PM Thursday June 14

# 2: Julie Becton Gillum

WHERE: Wall Street @ the staircase

TIME: 6:00 PM Friday June 15

#3: Valeria Watson-Doost

WHERE: Corner of Eagle and Market, in front of the YMI

TIME: 6:00 PM Saturday June 16

#4: Jenni Cockrell

WHERE: Pritchard Park

TIME: 6:00 PM Sunday June 17

PRESS RELEASE

Adventurous audiences are in for a treat! The ASHEVILLE BUTOH FESTIVAL, produced by the Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre and Legacy Butoh will bring provocative performances and engaging workshops by prominent American butoh artists from Chicago and Seattle as well as works by local professional dancers. Chicago-based artist Nicole LeGette (Blushing Poppy) as well as Vanessa Skantze and Alex Ruhe (Danse Perdue) in Seattle will be featured. Both companies are celebrating their 10th anniversaries this year. The BeBe Theatre at 20 Commerce Street will host performances at 8:00 PM Thursday through Sunday, June 14 – 18. Cost for these shows is $15 (in advance) for general audiences and $10 for Seniors and Students; at the door, tickets are $17 and $12 respectively.

ASHEVILLE BUTOH FESTIVAL will sponsor three exciting workshops by the guest artists at the BeBe Theatre. “Deep Listening” a Butoh workshop with Vanessa Skantze will be offered on Saturday June 16, 1:00 – 4:00 PM. On Sunday June 17, 1:00 – 4:00, Nicole LeGette will present “Taxonomy of Transformation.” Asheville Butoh Festival will conclude with Alex Ruhe‘s workshop on Monday 6:00 – 9:00 PM. Cost for each workshop is $30. There is a FULL festival package which includes all three workshops and 4 tickets to performances of your choice for $125. Four-ticket PERFORMANCE ONLY packages are available for $40. What a deal, live performance for $10 a show! It’s better than the movies.

Free performances featuring local dancers will take place on the streets of downtown Asheville at 6:00 PM each evening. “Excursus,” performed by Anemone Dance Theatre and Legacy Butoh will open the Asheville Butoh Festival at Pack Place Park. Julie Becton Gillum will perform on the staircase on Wall Street on Friday June 15. On Saturday an offering by Valeria Watson-Doost will take place at Eagle and Market Streets by the YMI. Jenni Cockrell will perform at Pritchard Park on Sunday June 17.

Nicole LeGette, a maverick of Chicago’s dance and performance art scene, is dedicated to performing, presenting, and teaching butoh. She created Blushing Poppy Productions to encompass these endeavors. Nicole has trained extensively with master butoh artists in Japan, Mexico, Canada,and the US including Yoshito Ohno, Natsu Nakajima, and Diego Pinon. She has received numerous grants from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. As a solo performer, LeGette has presented work throughout the US, Mexico, Indonesia and Japan.

“I consider myself a body theorist and practitioner whose concern is with the dilemma we encounter as beings possessing both spirit and body. I seek to illuminate a culture more responsive to body consciousness and use dance as the most direct means to confront this personal/social/political rebellion.” Nicole LeGette

In 2002, Vanessa Skantze and Alex Ruhe founded Danse Perdue (lost dance) a performance arts company with projects rooted in the exploration of internal, physical, millennial and universal crises. Danse Perdue aesthetics incorporates classical arts and outlaw arts, drawing inspiration from mental and social illnesses as well as psychological and transgressive literature. Joy Von Spain, an accomplished vocalist and instrumentalist will accompany Dance Perdue in the Asheville Butoh Festival performances. Danse Perdue has toured their intimate collaborations between bodies and sound in the United States and Europe. Their work reflects uncertainty and inevitability; the ambiguities of nature, philosophy, and ethics. Vanessa and Alex have trained and performed extensively with Jinen Butoh founder Atsushi Takenouchi since 2003.
. . . to seek to become an empathetic bridge, to offer the body to this tremendous life force habitually not seen and not appreciated. To dance as one crow, one sibyl, one outcast, one disappeared creature is to vibrate one-to-one with each being who witnesses, to allow them a space to experience: I am this creature, this creature is me.” Vanessa Skantze
For tickets or information about the Asheville Butoh Festival, please check out our websites at http://www.acdt.org and http://www.ashevillebutoh.com or call 828 254 2621.

Sincerely,

Julie Becton Gillum
Founder, Legacy Butoh

photography by Wesley Duffee-Braun

Anemone Dance Theater and Legacy Butoh

in association with North Carolina Stage Company’s Catalyst Series present an evening of butoh dance

Yugen

June 23, 24, 25 and June 30, July 1 & 2, 2011

7pm pre-show at 15 Stage Lane and 7:30 curtain

Anemone Dance Theater and Legacy Butoh, in association with North Carolina Stage Company’s Catalyst Series, present Yugen; an evening of butoh dance. The performance runs for two weekends – June 23, 24, 25 and June 30, July 1 & 2, 2011 at North Carolina Stage Company located at 15 Stage Lane Asheville, NC with a 7pm pre-show in Stage Lane and 7:30 curtain.

“Sara Baird, choreographer and Anemone Dance Theater’s artistic director, is Odysseus’s sea Siren, mesmerizing us with her spell of pure beauty.”- June Juilian, NY Arts Magazine

“Luscious” – Jennifer Dunning, New York Times

Sara Baird, artistic director of Anemone Dance Theater and Julie Becton Gillum, artistic director of Legacy Butoh premiere Yugen - an evening of experimental butoh dance. Sara Baird relocated her dance company Anemone Dance Theater from New York City and teamed up with Julie Becton Gillum of Asheville’s own Legacy Butoh two years ago. Yugen is the result of their unique artistic relationship.

Butoh originated in post-WWII Japan and is a postmodern movement in which formal dance technique is eschewed in favor of idiosyncratic movements. Butoh was born from many influences: the German expressionistic dances of Mary Wigman, western writers Genet, Artaud, and de Sade, and the artistic movements of Surrealism and Dada. Butoh uses the body brazenly to attain personal, social, or political transformations and to challenge convention to reveal the fervent beauty of the unique human spirit.

Joining Yugen are the talented and virtuosic performers John Crutchfield, Jenni Cockrell, and Julia Taylor with musicians Chandra Shukla, Elisa Faires, and Kimathi Moore. The “Procession of Bones” pre-show travels down Stage Lane while creating live music and dance from 7-7:30pm. Once inside, the performance unfolds like a dreamscape with each dance creating it’s own unique world; bizarre and beautiful – arresting and startling. Yugen refers to a concept in traditional Japanese aesthetics which means “a profound, mysterious sense of the beauty of the universe… and the sad beauty of human suffering.”

A butoh photography exhibit by Wesley Photography is on display in the lobby of North Carolina Stage Company in conjunction with the Yugen performances and received support from the North Carolina Arts Council – Regional Arts Program Grant, Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center, and generous personal donors.

Press photos and additional information is located at www.anemonedance.org

Photo credits: Wesley Photography

photography by Wesley Duffee-Braun

Dear Friends,

This is to let you know about a very exciting upcoming event in the Asheville arts community. In light of recent disasters such as in Japan, Haiti, and Pakistan, a portion of the proceeds from this event will be donated to The Red Cross and Doctors without Borders. Hope you can participate.

Sincerely,
Julie Becton Gillum

Press Release for April Fools Butoh Festival

What? 3 BUTOH Performances

When? Friday & Saturday, April 1, 2, 2011 @ 7:30
Sunday April 3 @ 6:00 PM

Where? BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street, downtown Asheville

Who? Seattle Dancers: Sheri Brown, Maureen “momo” Freehill
Local Dancers: Julie B. Gillum, Sara Baird, Megan Ransmeier,
Lucas Baumann, Andrew Braddock, Melissa McKee, Jenni Cockrell

How Much? In Advance – $15 (general), $10 (Seniors, Students)
At the Door – $17, $12

***
What? 3 BUTOH Workshops

When /Who? Saturday April 2, 1:00-4:00, Julie Gillum (Asheville)
Sunday April 3, 1:00-4:00, Sheri Brown (Seattle)
Monday April 4, 6:00-9:00 -“momo” Freehill (Seattle)

Where? BeBe Theatre, New Studio Of Dance,
20 Commerce Street, downtown Asheville

How Much? $50 per single workshop
$90 for all 3 workshops (9 hours!)

Get ready for the “APRIL FOOLS BUTOH FESTIVAL” Produced by the Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre and Legacy Butoh, the festival will feature guest artists Sheri Brown and Maureen “momo” Freehill from the Seattle area as well as Asheville dancers in a smorgasbord of workshops and performances at the infamous BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street in downtown Asheville. Performances are Friday April 1 and Saturday April 2 at 7:30 PM with a Sunday April 3 show at 6:00 PM. For tickets or information, please check out our websites at http://www.acdt.org/ and http://www.ashevillebutoh.com/ or call 828 254 2621.
Butoh originated in post-WWII Japan as an artistic reaction to the chaotic climate in the country following the war and the uneasy shift towards democratic values. Butoh dance is a postmodern m movement in which formal dance technique is eschewed in favor of primal and idiosyncratic movements. Butoh was born from an amalgamation of influences including the German expressionistic dances of Mary Wigman and Harold Krautzberg, western writers such as Genet, Artaud and de Sade, and the artistic movements of Surrealism and Dada. Butoh uses the body brazenly, in its most corporeal state, as a battleground to attain personal, social, or political transformations. Butoh dance challenges convention and avoids definition in order to reveal the fervent beauty of the unique human spirit. The “APRIL FOOLS BUTOH FESTIVAL” gives the Asheville community a rare opportunity to see a broad spectrum butoh dance performed by seasoned professionals as well as emerging artists in the field.
Sheri Brown met butoh in 2000, after 11 years of theatre and street performance and never looked back. She has studied with butoh masters Katsura Kan, Diego Pinon, Akira Kasai, Natsu Nakajima, and Yoshito Ohno to name a few. Brown collaborates with artists from all disciplines and has received numerous grants and awards for her artistic work, both regionally in the NW and internationally. Brown serves as the Artistic & Programs Director of Seattle-based DAIPANbutoh (www.daipanbutoh.com), an organization dedicated to strengthening the presence of Butoh in the Northwest, through producing performances and workshops for and by local, regional and international artists. And when she has time she tours as a solo performer and teaches butoh workshops.
Brown will perform “Ainsi Soit-Il” (“Amen“) a solo incorporating aspects of mother, father, dreams, and the subconscious. “Ainsi Soit-Il” means “Amen” or “So be it” in French. “Rivers of Industry” is work-in-progress informed by butoh-fu (movement vocabulary) created by the Vangeline Theatre in NYC, recent travel to Bangkok, and collaborative fusion with Alan Sutherland from Seattle, and Asheville’s own Megan Ransmeier, “Rivers “ will be performed by Ransmeier and Andrew Braddock.
Performing Sunday only, Maureen “momo” Freehill, is Artistic Director of MomoButoh International Dance Company; based in Seattle area, with 30 years experience as performer, educator & director of body-based practice & performance. She holds an MFA from U of Hawaii & Certifications in Yoga, Hypnotherapy & Dance Therapy. Momo danced for 5 years with Kazuo and Yoshito Ohno in Japan. Momo will perform “Flower Child” about babies, bees and her New Haven child-hood memories of protests and socio-cultural experiments during the 60s and 70s. In addition, Freehill will be joined by Sheri Brown for a duet in Sunday’s performance ONLY.
For those of you who want to learn more about the delicious enigma that is BUTOH, there are three tasty workshops offered during “April Fools Butoh Festival.” On Saturday April 2, 1:00-4:00 PM, Julie B Gillum will offer material from her recent work in Japan with Seisaku, a Yoko Ashikawa disciple. Sheri Brown’s workshop, Sunday April 3, 1:00-4:00 PM will focus on searching for the eternal presence of pure force beyond the civilizations of Capitalism, Socialism, Westernization, and Modernization. On Monday April 4, 6:00-9:00 PM, Momo’s workshop incorporates Poetry, Visual Art, Music and Dance to evoke our soul’s deepest “Callings” toward an artful Life. All of these exciting workshops taught by professionals whose total combined years of experience falls just short of 100, can be had for the same price $90 . . . or $50 for a single workshop.

www.ashevillebutoh.com
www.acdt.org

http://momobutoh.net/

Jeezard from Julie Gillum on Vimeo.

title: “The Jeezard Medicine Shows”
created by Julie Becton Gillum in collaboration with Sara Baird and Andrew Braddock
performers: Julie Becton Gillum, Andrew Braddock, Lucas Baumann (part 3)

part 1 – “Making The Jeezard”
location – in front of Asheville Art Museum at Pack Place
time – Thursday, January 20, 2011, 6:45 PM

part 2 – “Tongues”
location – Pritchard Park
times – Friday, January 21, 2011, 5:30 PM & Saturday, January 22, 2011, 5:30 PM

part 3 – “Snakearl”
locations – Friday @ BeBe Theatre, Saturday @ Black Mountain College Museum
times – Friday, January 21, 2011, 7:15 & Saturday, January 22, 2011, 7:15 PM

part 4 – “End Of The Jeezard”
location – starting at 140-D Roberts Street and ending at 123 Roberts Street
time – 7:30 PM both nights
music: Xambuco

The Asheville Fringe Arts Festival, January 20, 21, 22, 23, 2011

This is the annual multi-day and multiple venue performing extravaganza that ask artists of all types of genres and media (theatre, movement, music, spoken word, puppetry, spectacle, whatever!) to push their own boundaries and presents original and innovative performance art to a culturally adventurous audience. Now in our ninth year, join us and explore the Fringe. Keeping the “We” in Weird for Asheville for nine years!

The festival opening night event will be at the Asheville Art Museum, Pack Place on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. ARTmob will present Pecha Kucha Night. Pecha Kucha means “chit chat” in Japanese. The Pecha Kucha experience features a visual avalanche of images that are collected from many contributors, each image is shown for 20 seconds. Pecha Kucha is fast paced and entertaining. Tickets for this event are priced at $3 for Art Museum Members; $5 for Non-Members

Among the 2011 Fringe venues will be the official Fringe box office and headquarters, the BeBe Theatre on Commerce Street. Featured in the shows at the BeBe will be Brooklyn’s Mari Meade Dance Collective. Led by choreographer Mari Meade Montoya, the company will perform “questions and unfinished sentences” a multi-media movement exploration of people’s life questions. Also performing at the BeBe is Taryn Packheiser from Greensboro, Taryn be will performing a solo multi-media piece entitled “Stag Unassisted.” Also featured are funny and strange videos by Kathleen Hahn and beloved local comedy sketch group, the Feral Chihuahuas and a profound shadow puppet piece by Red Herring Puppets, Lisa Struz.

At the Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center on Broadway Street, there will be audio arts, experimental music and performance art for 2 nights (January 21 and 22, 2011). Musicians and composers such as Vincent Wrenn and Elisa Faires will premiere and showcase new music and ambient sounds along with digital visual artist Jason Scott Furr’s multimedia explorations. Featured at BMCM+AC will be AV Dance from Richmond, VA, led by artistic director, Ashley Valo, AVDance will perform “Tailed II” a movement piece that explores clothing and improvisation. Also premiering is “The Next Dog King” a theatrical performance collaboration from Jim Julien and composer Chandra Sukula with veterinarian Dr. Mark Ledyard that focuses on a young dog’s rise to power within a dog pack. Amanda Levesque and Tom Kilby of Interweave will perform an unique improvisational movement piece.

In the River Arts District, local dance company Moving Women and artist Shelley Pereda are collaborating on an installation and movement piece. Fringe performances by Runaway Circus, butoh dance priestess Julie Becton Gillum and dancer Amy Hamilton will be featured in a studio in the Wedge Building. Also, performances by multimedia artists, Stina Andersen and Marston Blow along with exotic dance performance by Dima.

An addition to the performances over the weekend is Saturday Fringe Ed Classes at Terpsicorps Dance Studio in the Wedge Building on Roberts Street. Among the class offerings are an intense Master Class with Mari Mead Dance Collective and theatre improvisation class with local imrov master, Mondy Carter along with movement improvisation with Kathy Meyers of Moving Women.

Artist performance schedules are subject to change and acts of gods and humans.

The Asheville FringeArts Festival is an annual presentation of the Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre.

The Asheville FringeArts Festival is recommended for mature audiences only.

Tickets for the individual shows at the BeBe Theatre, BMCM+AC and the River Arts District are $12.00, $10.00 students/seniors. An all-access Fringe Freak Pass is available for $25.00.

Individual show Tickets and Fringe Freak All Access Passes will be available in January, 2011 at the BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce St. Asheville, NC   Box Office Phone; 828 254-2621

Find out more at www.ashevillefringe.org

Jim Julien
Asheville Fringe Arts Festival
www.ashevillefringe.org
work phone: 828-255-1900

Our Mission–”The Asheville Fringe Arts Festival provides artists with opportunities to explore the edges of their work, to collaborate across genres and to bring new and innovative performances to culturally adventurous audiences.”

www.boulderbutohfestival.com

Check it out.

Come enjoy live performances with dancers and musicians Julie Becton Gillum, Erik Moellering, Julia Taylor, Elisa Faires, and Chandra Shukla

Join us for a glass of wine and live music and dance in the gardens. Suggested donation is $20/pay what you can.

All proceeds benefit Anemone Dance Theater and Legacy Butoh for the production of Yugen at the NC Stage Company’s Catalyst Series June 23-July 2 2011.

Please bring your friends. We hope you will join us!

Call Sara Baird/Anemone Dance Theater with any questions, 646.522-2518.
More information: www.anemonedance.org www.ashevillebutoh.com

More updates and video coming soon.

20081010-butap from Julie Gillum on Vimeo.

Here is the info about my upcoming workshop. Please let your friends know about this opportunity and feel free to contact me with any questions you have. Hope you can come!

What: Butoh Dance Workshop

When: Saturday, November 21, 1:00 – 4:00

Where: Bryson Gym, Warren Wilson College

Who: Taught by Julie Becton Gillum

Cost: $30.00 (FREE FOR WWC STUDENTS)

Contact: Julie Becton Gillum, email: jbgbutoh@gmail.com,

Telephone: (828)683-1377

“Create the form and the soul will follow.” Tatsumi Hijikata (founder of butoh)

“Follow your heart and the form will reveal itself.” Kazuo Ohno (founder of butoh)

Butoh History: Originating in post WWII Japan, Butoh dance is a postmodern movement in which formal dance technique is eschewed in favor of primal and idiosyncratic styles that transform the human body and allow raw physical energy to come into being. Butoh has revolutionized what dance is and can be. It ‘s influence on today’s dance world equals that of Martha Graham or Merce Cunningham. Butoh is an attempt to create new forms of movement and expression. Butoh uses the body brazenly, in its most corporal state, as a battleground to attain personal, social, or political transformation. It searches for the dance that pushes buttons, steps on toes and slips between the cracks of definition in order to reveal the fervent beauty of the unique human spirit.

Biography of Julie Becton Gillum: Julie Gillum has been creating, performing and teaching dance in the US and internationally for over 40 years. She currently teaches modern dance, musical theatre, performance art and butoh at Warren Wilson College. Gillum’s primary form of artistic expression has become butoh, which she has been practicing, performing and teaching since 1997. She has created and presented major pieces in the genre, at a variety of venues in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Mexico. Gillum was awarded the 2008-09 NC Choreography Fellowship and used the funds to go to Japan this past summer to study butoh at the source.

During her three month stay in Japan, Gillum studied primarily with Yoshito Ohno, son of Kazuo Ohno. She also studied extensively with Natsu Nakajima, a disciple of Hijikata during the early days of butoh. In addition she took weekly classes with Seisaku, who danced with Yoko Ashikawa, Hijikata’s first female dancer. Gillum also took intensive workshops and performed with internationally renowned butoh companies, Dairakudakan and Sankai Juku. The November workshop will delve into new material she learned in Japan this past summer.