*ALL WORKSHOPS WILL BE TAUGHT AT THE

BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street

This years festival will offer four exciting workshops for you to really get yourself satiated with the expressive art of butoh. Each workshop is designed for all levels of experience so spring into action and bring butoh into your body and life.

#1

WHEN: Friday April 26, 10 AM-1PM

TAUGHT BY: Maureen “momo” Freehill

#2

WHEN: Saturday April 27, 12 PM – 3 PM

TITLE: “One Drop”

TAUGHT BY: Keiko Hashimoto

DESCRIPTION: This class will explore the following questions:

How can we connect the unchanging and the ever-changing in our life?                            How can we bring one drop of life to the big river?

Through the human body, using exercises in space like walking, standing, levels, qualities of strength and delicacy, we will discover “space flower” or “stone back”. This workshop will connect to Friday’s workshop with momo, in that both these teachers’ primary mentor was butoh c0-founder Kazuo Ohno.

#3

WHEN: Sunday April 28, 12 – 3 PM

TAUGHT BY: Florence Poulain and Bob Lyness

TITLE: “Collective Consciousness at Play”

DESCRIPTION: In the tradition of butoh master Diego Pinon, this workshop will focus on exploring states of mind and attitudes, ranging from the subtle to the grotesque, through individual and interactive explorations. In this process of self-discovery we will connect with one another,  cultivating a supportive energetic exchange.

#4

TITLE: “Dance and the Archetypal Symbol: An Improvisational Butoh Workshop”

DESCRIPTION: This improvisational, Butoh inspired class will explore the question “How does the soul experience image and archetype?”  Through Butoh exercises and improvisation, we will delve into symbols and images, exploring them as vital seeds for dance, performance and the human experience.

TAUGHT BY: Jenni Cockrell

WHEN: Monday April 29, 6 – 9 PM

P R E S S  R E L E A S E

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 8, 2013

CONTACT: Julie Becton Gillum, 828-683-1377 / jbgbutoh@gmail.com

LEGACY BUTOH & ASHEVILLE CONTEMPORARY DANCE THEATRE
TO PRESENT
8TH ASHEVILLE BUTOH FESTIVAL
Legacy Butoh, in partnership with the Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre, will present the 8th Asheville Butoh Festival on Thursday, April 25 through Monday, April 29 at the BeBe Theatre and other venues in downtown Asheville. The Festival, under the artistic direction of Julie Becton Gillum, will feature both local and international dancers and will include ticketed performances and workshops, along with several free outdoor events.
The unique art of butoh originated in post-World War II Japan as a reaction to the loss of identity caused by the westernization of Japanese culture, as well as a realization that ancient Japanese performing traditions no longer spoke to a contemporary audience. One of the major developments in contemporary dance in the latter half of the 20th century, butoh combines dance, theater, improvisation and influences of Japanese traditional performing arts to create a unique performing art form that is both controversial and universal in its expression. Hallmarks of butoh include white painted faces and bodies, very slow and controlled movement, and contorted postures. The dances are often based on themes of nature and evoke images of decay and resurrection, of fear and desperation, and of eroticism, ecstasy and stillness.
“Butoh is a wonderful art form for dancers of every discipline to experience and learn, but it’s also great for actors and other performing artists,” said Susan Collard, Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre co-artistic director and the co-producer of the annual butoh festivals. “We’re proud to give our community the opportunity to interact with some of the butoh world’s most accomplished artists.”

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JULIE BECTON GILLUM
The 8th Asheville Butoh Festival is directed by the acclaimed Asheville area butoh dancer, choreographer, and teacher Julie Becton Gillum. As founder of three modern dance companies, and ultimately Legacy Butoh, Gillum has been creating, performing and teaching dance in the US, France, Cuba and Mexico 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 1998. 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 prestigious 2009 Choreography Fellowship by the North Carolina Arts Council, which enabled her to travel to Japan to study with several renowned butoh masters.
“Butoh is a natural for Asheville because we have so many adventurous spirits here,” said Gillum. “Interest has definitely been building for audiences and artists alike. In fact, I fielded so many requests to participate in this year’s Festival that I had to turn some dancers away.” Gillum is particularly excited about the four free outdoor performances occurring throughout the Festival. “The free concerts are our way of giving more people an entry point into butoh so they can see that it’s not intimidating or esoteric,” she said. “Butoh is actually the opposite of esoteric; it’s simply the body speaking for itself. The butoh workshops are also an entry point, as they are open to anyone 18 years or older regardless of their movement experience. Participants should wear comfortable clothes and come with an open mind.”

photography by Esneiver Keko Zorrilla

FEATURED ARTISTS
The internationally acclaimed Japanese actor /dancer Keiko Hashimoto experiments with using the “body as subject” through voice, movement, and theater. She studied and performed with Kazuo Ohno and his son Yoshito Ohno, the originators of the butoh movement, and went on to receive numerous grants for her performance work in the US, Japan, Paraguay, and Brazil.

Maureen “momo” Freehill is Artistic Director of the MomoButoh International Dance Company, based in the Seattle area. She has 30 years experience as a performer, educator and director of body-based practice and performance, and danced  for five years with Kazuo and Yoshito Ohno in Japan.

Bob Lyness, who hails from Washington, DC, has studied butoh with Diego Pinon and Yoshito Ohno, his main mentor and inspiration, and has performed with various Butoh artists in Japan, Hawaii, New York, England and Mexico.

Florence Poulain, Born in the Loire Valley, France now resides in New York City. A professional photographer, Florence’s mentor is Diego Pinon. Florence presently co-directs Deep Tanks Studio an art /performance space on Staten Island.

Local butoh performers include Jenni Cockrell, Lucas Baumann, Sara Baird, Melissa McKee, Monika Gross, Giles Collard, Julie Becton Gillum, Valeria Watson-Doost, and Brit Castaneda. There will also be a “Sound Installation by CILLA VEE LIFE ARTS”.

photography by Kristopher Johnson

8TH ASHEVILLE BUTOH FESTIVAL

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Thursday, April 25

5:00 PM “Black White Les Butoh” Valeria Watson-Doost, Brit Castaneda, and others
Pack Square Park
FREE, no tickets required
(Check www.ashevillebutoh.com for updates)

8:00 PM “Uninvited Guests” a concert featuring local butoh dancers
BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street.
$15 in advance; $17 at the door; Senior $12, Student $10

Friday, April 26 10:00 AM -1:00 PM Workshop with Maureen “momo” Freehill
BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street
$25 in advance; $30 at the door

5:00 PM “Butoh Tarot” by Jenni Cockrell
Vance Monument
FREE, no tickets required

8:00 PM “Uninvited Guests” a concert featuring Keiko Hashimoto, Florence Poulain, Bob Lynnes, Maureen “momo” Freehill, and local dancers
BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street
$15 in advance; $17 at the door; Senior $12, Student $10

Saturday, April 27

12 noon – 3:00 PM Workshop with Keiko Hashimoto
BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street
$25 in advance; $30 at the door

5:00 PM Performance of “Oracle of the Snake” by Maureen “momo” Freehill
Pritchard Park
FREE, no tickets required

8:00 PM “Uninvited Guests” a concert featuring Keiko Hashimoto, Florence Poulain, Bob Lynnes, Maureen “momo” Freehill, and local dancers
BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street
$15 in advance; $17 at the door; Senior $12, Student $10
Sunday, April 28

12 noon – 3:00 PM “Collective Consciousness at Play” a workshop with Florence Poulain
BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street
$25 in advance; $30 at the door

5:00 PM “Toothwort” by Melissa Mckee
Skully’s courtyard on Lexington Avenue
- FREE, no tickets required

8:00 PM “Uninvited Guests” a concert featuring Keiko Hashimoto, Florence Poulain, Bob Lynnes, Maureen “momo” Freehill, and local dancers
BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street
$15 in advance; $17 at the door; Senior $12, Student $10

Monday, April 29

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM “Dance and the Archetypal Symbol: An Improvisational Butoh Workshop” by Jenni Cockrell
BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street
$25 in advance; $30 at the door

Advance and door tickets for all Festival performances and workshops may be purchased in person at the BeBe Theatre, located at 20 Commerce Street in downtown Asheville, or by calling the box office at 828-254-2621. Discounted advance tickets must be purchased by April 24.

For updated information on the Festival schedule, artists, and workshops visit www.ashevillebutoh.com. For ticket information and box office hours, visit www.acdt.org or call 828-254-2621.

photography by Kristopher Johnson

# # #

Come to our regular butoh practice led by Julie Becton Gillum and other practitioners of the form.

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 – 11:30 AM,

Place: BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street, downtown Asheville

Cost: $5

For Info: jbgbutoh@gmail.com or 828 683-1377

photo by Briana Jones

Critic Mark Holborn has written that Butoh is defined by its very evasion of definition. A dance art form that started and developed in Japan after World War II, allegedly in response to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Butoh has spread to the United States and overseas, and continues to defy simple categorization. Unlike Hip Hop that also began as an underground movement but got quickly co-opted by corporate interest Concerts and molded for mass consumption, Butoh has remained true to its subversive roots. I recently witnessed what was described as a ‘Butoh-inspired’ performance in Seattle where Butoh has captured a following among a dedicated group of artists that have been evolving the form since the 90s. The production entitled 30/30 Concert was a two-day long performance that presented the work of four choreographers: Sheri Brown, Helen Thorsen, Diana Garcia-Snyder and Joan Laage, and featured a stellar lineup of Butoh dancers in and around the Seattle area. The slow, controlled movements and white-faced makeup that characterizes the form was still in use. Yet, I noted that these performances were ‘not your mother’s Butoh.’ Employing pioneering multimedia installations and fusing the form with modern dance sensibilities, there seemed a marked departure, an evolution from what had previously gone before. However, the iconoclastic underbelly remained, as well as the venturing into dangerous, uncharted territory where few dance forms would dare to tread. This, I suspect, is due at least in part by the organic structure and philosophical underpinnings of the form. Rather than mimicking a system of already devised steps, jumps, leaps and turns, Butoh is derived from the body discovering movement. As one enters into the discovery, bodies, minds, perceptions expand, and so necessarily, do the possibilities. It was precisely these possibilities, morphing into incredibility, which made the performances so thrilling.

Take for instance the piece entitled, Divided by Zero, choreographed by Sheri Brown, who also danced in it, along with collaborators, Angela Martinelli, Kaoru Okumura, Alisa Popova, Douglas Ridings and Alan Sutherland. The work poses the premise, “What happens when mathematical impossibility becomes bodily possibility? When humans import the infinite into their finite beings, putting the ungraspable on display in their bodies? Brown, who is a math teacher, and her dance collaborators, created an eclectic work that commingled the trademark Butoh slow adagio movements with gongs, spoken words, and da Vinciesque perfected anatomical poses. In developing the piece, Brown was interested in the discovery of how dance can be considered a valid and integral investigation into mathematical/cultural frontiers. She sites mathematical breakthroughs worked out first on paper that led to engineering know-how in building the space shuttle and traveling to the moon. What mathematical suppositions and technological triumphs can be derived from dance when its thrust is perpetual discovery? Fastidious control and precision movement, some of which brought to mind equations and geometric calculations being carved through space, shattered my notions of what the body can and cannot do. Brown, a petite woman, at one point during the performance carried a grown man across her back.

Breaking up the live performances, was the amazing short film, Scrap Life, choreographed by SU-EN from Sweden and featuring performers from the SU-EN Butoh Company. Filmed in a junkyard, dancers emerge from the rubbish, elegantly dressed, arms and hands moving in sublime and sacred phraseology. The junkyard setting seems pertinent, as Butoh is famous for being performed in unfathomable spaces, such as caves, or where life is absurd, dramatic or extreme.

Although the Seattle Butoh community has not received as much press in Seattle as some other art forms, it was interesting to note the full house and enthusiastic reactions of their audience, as they have garnered a most remarkable following. What’s most palpable in this teeming and blossoming milieu is the driven devotion of the artists themselves that are not only dancing the form, but living it fiercely.

photo by Briana Jones

30/30 Concert was performed on June 22 and 23^rd at Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, and was produced by DAIPANbutoh Collective, Last Leg and Danse Perdue.

“Deep Listening”

Ankoku Butoh Workshop with Vanessa Skantz

Saturday, June 16, 1 – 4 PM

BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street

Vanessa’s workshops are dedicated to creating a shared space of curiosity and trust while fostering intense physical/mental focus. The body in crisis of Butoh differs from a body that moves habitually. Its total existence is compelling. By witnessing  the simplest of movement:- crawling, rising, walking, falling-displays the naked immediacy of the natural world. Tree, stone, animal, water- embracing these energies re-connects the human body to the world beyond its skin and to the evolution of life within its own cells.

Workshop goals are:

- Communion with the breath

- Rigorous and rhythmic physical work, exploring limits of flexibility and strength, speed and stillness, lightness and weight, and the edge of balance

- Listening to the bones, understanding anatomical and energetic structure as one source

- Employing the instrument of the body with its spirals, waves, folds and twists

- Working with sound/voice to develop listening skills

- Honing “deep listening” skills through partner work involving direct touch, echoing, and the practice of being moved, being danced.

- Listening to the dance being born inside, seeking the unknown, allowing the world to be created anew at each moment

These elements are tools to create an empathetic bridge of our bodies. We strive for a dance in which we sacrifice our energy in recognition of the intense life that brought about who we are in this moment. To make this dance we must become, in the words of Antonin Artaud,” acrobats of the heart” as well as technicians of the physical body.

As these body practices are honed, we place imagery into the body to become other, and make the leap into transformation-a kind of willed possession in which the dancer viscerally draws other into his body.  How to find the raw feeling of the flower breaking through the earth, sucking at the sun, rather than the ideal?

Butoh Workshop by Nicole LeGette

Sunday June 17, 1 – 4 PM

BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street

“Taxonomy of Transformation”

Transformation is one of the salient and radical aspects of butoh. The dance itself is found within the very act of transformation. Yet oftentimes, the detailed process of transmutation, this deliberate transit of the transition, is overlooked, not crafted. A certain indulgent sameness results, with focus on A and B rather than the space the lies between A-B.  In this workshop we will identify and investigate specific techniques that bring renewed attention to and encourage detailed crafting of the dance of transformation.

BUTOH WORKSHOP:
“The Continuity of Becoming” by Monika Gross,

Monday June 18, 6 – 9 PM

BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce Street

This workshop offers simple principles of the Alexander Technique as a way into the butoh dancer’s imaginative process of continuous conscious transformation:  A widened awareness of infinite Time and Space. An undivided perception of Self. Giving consent to being “danced.” Moving with curiosity and confidence from the Known into the Unknown. Falling upward. Rising downward. Slipping effortlessly into the Between Space of endless possibility.

Monika Gross is a Senior Teacher of the Alexander Technique, teaching sine 1985. She has a BFA in Drama from the NC School of the Arts and has trained in butoh over the past ten years with such teachers as Akira Kasai, Tadashi Endo, Yukio Waguri, and Atsushi Takenouchi.
www.FormFitnessFunction.com

What: Asheville Butoh Festival presents an evening of butoh inspired films by video artists: Lucas Baumann, Peter Brezny, Rainer Doost, and Megan Ransmeier.

When: June 13, 2012 @ 6:00 PM

Where: Black Mountain College Museum, 56 Broadway, Asheville

Cost: $5

Here is the line-up.

“LAKE EDEN”

(2012)

-Directed by Megan Ransmeier and Lucas Baumann

-Photography and Editing by Lucas Baumann

-Performance by Julia Taylor, Mariana Templin, Amelia Burns, and Megan Ransmeier.

Shot in and around Lake Eden, site of the former Black Mountain College, this film presents emotionally evocative images of contemplative movement, influenced by the local landscape and individual narratives. Characters emerge and recede within an abstract world of relation, while housed in sculptural costume and situation.

2011 BOULDER BUTOH FESTIVAL

Excerpts from the performances of Diego Pinon, Yukio Suzuki, and Yukio Waruri

-Filmed and edited by Peter Brezny

“OBLIVION, THE ORIGINS, IMPACTS AND FUTURE OF BUTOH”

Pre-release excerpts from the documentary film

a collaboration between Peter Brezny and Julie Becton Gillum

(currently in production)

“GHOSTS OF THE SOUTH” An Affrilachian Butoh Homage

Filmed and edited by Rainer Doost, Zamani Productions

Directed by Julie Becton Gillum in collaboration with Valeria Watson-Doost

The 18 minute film honors and calls forth the Ghosts of the Asheville River Arts District, a part of town in which blacks thrived and from which they were displaced.Fo otage is derived from a live performance at the fall 2011 opening of Valeria Watson-Doost’s art exhibit entitled “NiceNasty.” The exhibit and performance addressed the continuing inhumanity we visit on each other through war, torture and racism.

The choreographers and lead performers Valeria Watson-Doost (a black woman) and Julie Becton Gillium (a white women) both have deep historic roots in Western North Carolina. In this profoundly personal performance the two dancers take us from deep racial dissonance to possible redemption.

It is the same ray of hope that makes Valeria Watson-Doost’s art not only bearable, but beautiful.

“THROW BODY”

5 minutes – 2012

-Photography by Megan Ransmeier

-Performance and Editing by Lucas Baumann

A short picture of human grace, curiosity and persistence in the forest.

]]> http://www.ashevillebutoh.com/2012/06/03/asheville-butoh-festival-film-night/feed/ 0 http://www.ashevillebutoh.com/2012/05/13/asheville-butoh-festival-2012/ http://www.ashevillebutoh.com/2012/05/13/asheville-butoh-festival-2012/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 02:37:52 +0000 Julie http://www.ashevillebutoh.com/?p=541 June 14 – 18

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/