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Yugen Presents - 2006-2007 Season Na Honilima O Pele/ ePheMere - Naoko Maeshiba - Harupin Ha / Hiroko Sadamori - FeatherLead |
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Na Honilima O Pele (Pele’s Kisses) ePheMeRe Monday, November 20 and Tuesday, November 21, 2006 at 8pm Na Honilima O Pele (Pele's Kisses) looks at the juxtaposition of fire, ocean, wind, and landmass, and the new life that is formed when they all come together. We experience the fires of both destruction and creation within us, within the "hot spot" on the ocean floor that formed the Hawaiian Islands, and within the very planet itself, all through the aperture created by our bodies, our spirits, and butoh. ePheMere is a Butoh-ritual for the purification of our waters, exploring the multiple qualities of water from a daily necessity to the extraordinary cycles of birth, death, the feminine, eros, flow, ancestral memory, dream states and chaos. Bare Bones Butoh is a new performance showcase for local and International artists working in the areas of Butoh, performance art, and/or ritual performance. It exists for artists to try out new material, show works in process, hone improvisation chops or revisit previous material. Hosted by a veteran group of Bay Area Butoh performers, Bare Bones Butoh employs the grassroots ethic of working together to sustain an artistic culture. Collaborators Bob Webb, Iu-Hui Chua, Liz Saari and Christina Braun have respectively performed with (to name a few) Koichi and Hiroko Tamano’s Harupin-Ha Butoh Dance Company, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Black Stone Ensemble, Metropolitan Butoh, Barely Human Dance Theatre, Mary Sano and her Duncan Dancers, Katsura Kan’s Saltimbanques, Peace Dreams, Dandelion Dance Theatre, Inkboat, Kitsune Butoh company, Ryuzo Fukuhara, Anna Halprin, Salt Farm Butoh, Labayan Dance Contemporary Ballet, the SF International Butoh Festival, and in numerous solo performances locally and internationally, including an invitation to perform at the 2nd International Thailand Butoh Festival in Bangkok this December. Mizu Desierto is a ritual performance artist whose work is an excavation of liminal states, an exploration of physical limitations, and a navigation of both the personal and universal psyche. Following the lineage of Butoh in both rebellion and transformation, her dance vocabulary is also influenced by modern dance, physical theatre, yoga, contact improvisation, circus, and capoiera. Mizu has studied and performed with Yoshito and Kazuo Ohno (Japan), Harupin-Ha (San Francisco), and Diego Pinon (Mexico), amongst others. In 2005, she toured France and Spain with the PachaMama Project and over the past 12 years she has traveled, studied and performed in Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, and throughout the U.S. Mizu makes her home in the northern Arizona desert, but considers herself a “traveling artist.” Oregon-based Alenka Loesch has been a dance theatre performer/designer for 15 years. She co-founded uRo Teatr Koku Dance with Shinichi Koga, which later morphed into inkBoat, based in San Francisco/Berlin. She has participated in many international festivals and been an artist in residence in France, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, US, and Japan. Loesch became primarily known as a Butoh dancer after 1991 when she began dancing under Hiroko and Koichi Tamano. Additionally, she has collaborated intensively with Yumiko Yoshioka and TEN PEN CHii Art Factory (Germany: 1996-2001), Antagon Aktion Theatre (Germany:1998-1999), Do Theatre (Russia: 1997-2000), Minako Seki (Germany: 1998-2000), Shadowlight Theatre (USA: 1993-1997), Michael Sakamoto and Mizu Desierto (USA:2006). Loesch, blauPage and inkBoat have received funding from Rockefeller Foundation, Irvine Dancemaker Grant, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Zellerbach Family Fund, Barkley Fund, American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, CASH grant and the California Arts Council. |
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This project received support from WESTAF (the Western States Arts Federation) and the National Endowment for the Arts, along with our season funders San Francisco Grants for the Arts and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. |
Yugen Presents Naoko Maeshiba in Residency Remains of Shadow
Body Weather Technique Workshop
Consisting of two parts, Remains of Shadow begins with Blue-Eyed Doll, centered in the journey of an American doll. In 1927, blue-eyed dolls were shipped from America to Japan to enhance the friendship between two countries. When WWII started, they were burned and buried as the representatives of the enemy country. Part I follows the doll's journey in its relationship with two characters, "Man" and "Woman." Part II, Forty Nine Days, further examines the 'shadow' through the visceral experience of the forty-nine days after death. Created by Naoko Maeshiba, this multidisciplinary performance piece explores the shape and form of 'traces' ingrained in a body that bridges Japanese and American cultures. Intricate human relationships, our conflicted existence, and the journey between life and death are vividly depicted through layers of evocative imagery. Connecting the past and the present, the old and the new, "Remains of Shadow" leads the audience into the sensorial experience of a drifting view through text, movement, objects, voice, music, and video projection. Remains of Shadow was conceived, directed, and choreographed by Naoko Maeshiba in collaboration with Tatsuya Aoyagi. Maeshiba sees the body as a continuously changing entity, a morphing vessel that reflects the landscape of memories and histories. Exploring and examining the boundary between body and space, her performance venues vary from outdoor to indoor, found space to theatre space. She aspires to create physically and visually provocative expressions that dissolve the boundaries between the existing disciplines. Fusing various performance elements, her work brings out rich texture, subtlety and intensity, often with unique theatricality and a touch of humor. Her visual poetry is underscored with jewel-like emotions distilled from life. A native of Kobe, Japan, Naoko Maeshiba directs, choreographs, and performs nationally and internationally. Since 1993, she has worked with Body Weather Laboratory training developed by a dancer/farmer Min Tanaka. She also studied Limon technique with Betty Jones and Fritz Ludin. Maximizing the body's potential to reflect the landscape of memory and history, Maeshiba aspires to create work that unveils the soul embedded in basic human conditions. Her interdisciplinary work examines the intersection of movement, voice, music, object, and images in an attempt to discover a new form of expression. Her works are described as "imaginative” and “enigmatic” which offers “challenging theatrical experience” (Honolulu Star Bulletin March 30, 1998). With spare elegance and bold imagination her work “defies categorization (Baltimore Sun June 10, 2004)” and “takes us on journeys into new worlds” (Washington Times, May 12, 2001). Most recently, she choreographed and directed Palimpsest (Studio Filmowe, Lodz, Poland), choreographed/directed/performed in Remains of Shadow (Capital Fringe Festival, Ko Festival, Amherst), Trace (Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Washington, D.C.), The Voyage (Baltimore Theatre Project), Spring that has gone too long (Warehouse Gallery, D.C.), and Communitas (Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum, D.C.). She also performed in Ancient Greenland and Ancient Women (Dir. Min Tanaka; Hakushu, Japan) and Fish in the Garden (Dir. Fritz Ludin; Dances We Dance, Hawai'i). Her collaboration with other artists includes Improbable Encounter with musicians Wlodzimierz Kiniorski & Dariusz Makaruk (Lodz Kaliska, Poland, the 5th Dialogue of Four Cultures Festival) and Olfactory Factory with an installation artist, Laure Drogoul (U.S.-Japan Creative Artist's Collaborative Project, International House of Japan, Tokyo). Her theatre directing credits include The Green Stockings by Kobo Abe (Tsunami Theatre Company, D.C) and The Vacant Lot by Ohta Shogo (Kumu Kahua Theatre, Honolulu). She is a recipient of Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in Choreography and Solo Dance Performance, Metro DC Dance Award in Sound Design, Kennedy Center Local Dance Commissioning Project Award, and DC Commissions on Arts and Humanities & NEA Artist Fellowship Award in Theatre Directing. She is a member of Lincoln Center’s Director’s Lab and Theatre Nohgaku in Tokyo. Currently, she serves as an assistant professor of Theatre Arts at Towson University in Baltimore and the artistic director of Naoko Maeshiba Performance Collective. Tatsuya Aoyagi is a native of Saga, Japan. He holds M.F.A. from Towson University and B.A. from University of Alaska Anchorage, and is a graduate of Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. His extensive background in movement training includes Butoh, Clowning, Commedia dell’Arte, Laban Movement Studies, Mask, Mime, and Physical Comedy. He is also trained in Japanese traditional arts in Wado-Ryu Karate and Taiko. Experienced as a stage fighter/choreographer, he is recognized as an Actor/Combatant by Society of American Fight Directors, and has served as a fight director for Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. As a performer, he has appeared at various venues including Kennedy Center, Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden at Smithsonian, Tsunami Theatre Company, Capital Fringe Festival, Baltimore Theatre Project, QuestFest, and Ko Festival of Performance at Amherst. He has taught theatre at Towson University, Community College of Baltimore County, Everyman Theatre, and Center Stage. Currently he serves as assistant professor specializing in movement at Salem State College in Massachusetts. Body Weather Workshop Saturday January 13 (11-3) & Sunday January 14 (1-5) Body Weather is a broad based training that proposes a practical strategy to the mind and to the body. It is not just for 'professional dancers' or 'performance practitioners' alone but is an open investigation that can be relevant for anyone interested in exploring the body. The term and philosophical basis for Body Weather was founded by butoh dancer Min Tanaka and his Mai-Juku Performance Company of Japan. Drawing from both eastern and western dance, sports training, martial arts and theatre practice, it is a ground training that develops a conscious relation devoid of any specific aesthetic. Sherwood Chen (Workshop Co-instructor) has worked with artists including Anna Halprin, Oguri, and Sara Shelton Mann, and was a resident member of Min Tanaka's performance collective Maijuku in rural Japan. Chen facilitates Body Weather Laboratory movement research training originally developed by Tanaka, was a participating artist for the CESTA Arts Festival of International Interdisciplinary Collaborations in the Czech Republic, a San Francisco Foundation Fellow, and currently Associate Director of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts. |
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Harupin Ha and Hiroko Sadamori Monday, April 16 and Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 8pm Stories of nature take center stage with San Francisco-based Butoh masters Koichi & Hiroko Tamano and their Harupin-Ha Butoh Company, plus a special solo performance by Hiroko Sadamori from Japan. Koichi and Hiroko Tamano and Harupin-Ha (Bob Webb, Christina Braun, and Hiroko Sadamori) perform "Sei Rei: Ma Ro U Wan” (Spirits of Nature: Let's Get Together), accompanied by the unconventional ethnic/chamber/cabaret sounds of acclaimed San Francisco new music ensemble Nanos Operetta, frequent collaborators of the Tamanos. In the tragic-comic “Hirame in the Sun”, Hiroko Sadamori dances the story of the timid, nocturnal flatfish “Hirame” (flounder) who becomes accidentally beached and falls in love with the fisherman who saves her life and returns her to the sea. Haunted by the her love for the man, Hirame goes back to the land, only to face the hot, brutal sun alone. |
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Yugen Presents a workshop performance of
Boop! is an original hot-blooded cabaret/play being developed about actress Helen Kane, the talented damsel beneath cartoon character Betty Boop’s bump and grind. This workshop production will present a performance of the draft script, followed by a post-show discussion with the audience. Created by Rococo Risqué founders Elisabeth Millican, Diana Rivera, Boop! presents a rollicking tale about Helen Kane’s controversial struggle to claim recognition as the un-credited creator of beloved cartoon character Betty Boop. The play blends aspects of vaudeville, burlesque, and whimsical cartoon antics to bring to life the dual-worlds of Helen Kane/Betty Boop, alongside a bizarre cast of characters including Bimbo the Dog, Pretty Boy Freddy, Koko the Clown, talking flowers, and a feisty whiskey bottle. A lively musical score and the honey-sweet music of Mitch Marcus and Dave Gantz wrap sweetly around the play, creating a surreal hot jazz-inspired landscape. Elisabeth Millican and Diana Rivera have collaborated and produced five original shows with theater company Rococo Risqué, and were awarded the 2005 San Francisco Weekly Award for Best Theatre Ensemble.
In 1930, Fleischer Studios decided to cash in on Helen’s popularity. They assigned staff animator Grim Natwick to come up with a girlfriend for Bimbo the Dog; the result was a caricature of Helen Kane, with droopy dog-ears and a squeaky singing voice. “Betty Boop,” as the character was dubbed, became an instant smash hit and the star of her own cartoons. By 1932, she became human, her long ears turning into loop earrings. The Betty Boop cartoons of the early 1930’s (before censorship set in) were brilliant, exhibiting a sexuality and dark surrealism missing from Disney’s films. In 1932, she filed an unsuccessful $250,000 suit against Paramount and Max Fleischer, charging unfair competition and wrongful appropriation in the Betty Boop cartoons. The trial opened in April 1934 with Helen Kane and Betty Boop films being screened by Judge McGoldrick (no jury was called). Betty Boop voice-over talent Mae Questel, Margy Hines and Bonnie Poe were brought in to testify. McGoldrick ruled against Helen in 1934, claiming that Kane's testimony could not prove that her singing style was unique or not an imitation itself. Featherlead is committed to developing, producing and performing new work for theater. We are seeking to keep theater relevant and exciting, and extending its impact in familiar and non-traditional ways. We hope you’ll join us in our mission by taking part in the creation of this piece. Elisabeth Millican (director/producer) is the founder and Producing Artistic Director of the award-winning theater company Rococo Risqué. Elisabeth has served as the lead director of their five original full-length productions, including the recent Liberties Taken. She was the Assistant Director on Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s production of John Guare’s The House of Blue Leaves, and Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul. Elisabeth writes poetry, short stories, plays, and by day, works full-time as Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Institutional Grants Manger. As an actor she most recently appeared with Stars and Garters Theatre Company’s production of The Robber Bridegroom. She also appeared as “Tiresius” in the west-coast premiere of Seamus Heaney’s The Burial at Thebes, produced by Rococo Risqué and the Quixote Project, performed the role of “Laura” in BRAVA Theatre’s production of Laura’s Bush, and has appeared with the sketch comedy troupe Funny But Mean. Diana Rivera comes to you with 15 years of experience as a Performing Artist, Producer and Teacher of Drama. She is a graduate of Theatre Arts at the University of CA at Santa Cruz with additional training from the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Pig Iron Theatre Company and the International University Global Theatre Experience, Her range of style melds naturalism-realism, commedia dell'arte, melodrama, mime, and ensemble-driven stage development into the bump and grind you?ll witness for this showcase. Ms. Rivera helped co-found, produce, assistant direct and perform as a lead actress in the "Rococo Risqué" series. She presently resides in Los Angeles and works professionally as a Drama Teacher and Professional Development Educator of Arts Education to LAUSD youth and teachers. |
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