Wednesday, May 16, 2018

SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL BUTOH FESTIVAL: AWAKENINGS: July 5-15, 2018

PRESS RELEASE
SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL BUTOH FESTIVAL: AWAKENINGS
workshops, performances & a special evening with Mushimaru Fujieda
July 5-15, 2018
July 5-15, 2018 - this year's featured guest artist Mushimaru Fujieda, photo by Yukuhiro Toriguchi

DAIPANbutoh Collective is pleased to announce the 9th annual Seattle International Butoh Festival featuring Japanese Butoh artist Mushimaru Fujieda from Yakushima, an enchanting Japanese island known for its wildlife and cedar forests. And its second year partnering with Shoreline Community College.

DAIPAN continues to be the only group consistently bringing national and international butoh artists to Seattle and producing an annual festival that features both guest artists and local performers. From its birth in Japan nearly 60 years ago, Butoh has proven itself a vital and innovative global genre. This multi-faceted festival kicks off with a Butoh Parade and performance/installation in Pioneer Square on July 5 during first Thursday, moving on to workshops and performances in Shoreline, UW district and Greenwood. The second week includes a free family-oriented workshop and site-specific performance on the Elliott Bay waterfront, followed by an evening with Mushimaru at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of WA, and finishing up with a weekend Butoh retreat in nature.

This year’s festival is made possible in part by funding from 4Culture’s Arts Sustained Support, City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture’s Neighborhood & Community Arts Program, and The Morgan Fund at Seattle Foundation’s Puget Sound Initiative.

For more information & photos contact:
Joan Laage [davidthornbrugh@hotmail.com] or www.daipanbutoh.com
For workshop information/registration contact: 206-723-2315
Photo by Toshiyuki Shimokawa

FESTIVAL DETAILS: 
July 5 - First Thursday Art Walk Butoh Parade with Mushimaru Fujieda & DAIPAN
plus eco-centric Performance/installation by Ivan Espinosa
5-9 pm
FREE
@Tashiro Kaplan Artist Lofts, 115 Prefontaine Pl S, 98104

July 6 & 7 - Mainstage Performances: Shoreline Community College
Mushimaru & DAIPAN members
8 pm
$15/$22 Brown Paper Tickets; $18/$25 Door
@Shoreline Community College Theater, 16101 Greenwood Ave N, Building 1600,
Shoreline 98133

July 7 - Butoh workshop with Mizu Desierto (PDX)
2-5 pm
$25/$50  BPT https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3144252
@ UW Dance Program / 256 Meany Hall, 4000 15th Avenue NE., WA 98195-1150

July 8 - Butoh workshop with Mushimaru Fujieda
12-4 pm
$60
@Taoist Studies Institute, 225 N 70th St, 98103

July 8 – Performance: Taoist Studies Institute
with US guest artists Mizu Desierto (PDX), Crow Nishimura (DAE), & Ginger Krebbs (Chicago)
7 pm
$15
@Taoist Studies Institute, 225 N 70th St, 98103

July 12 - Special free workshop for children & families with Mushimaru
followed by a free performance by DAIPAN & guests
TBA evening
@Myrtle Edwards Park, 3130 Alaskan Way, 98121

July 13 - An evening with Mushimaru: performance with local musician Paul Kikuchi followed by an informal talk
7 pm
Donation
@Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Washington, 1414 S Weller St, 98144

July 14 & 15 - Snohomish intensive weekend workshop retreat with Mushimaru Fujieda
$200 includes food and lodging; early bird discount: $180 by June 14
@Snohomish, WA

 Joan Laage/Kogut Butoh, photo by Katrina Wolfe
Festival passes
THREE-PERFORMANCE PASS: Includes all three ticketed performances (July 6, 7 & 8): $50 (Save $18!)
FULL FESTIVAL PASS: Includes all three ticketed performances PLUS all three workshops (Saturday, Sunday, and weekend retreat): $300 by June 14 (Save $78!)

About our guest artist:
Using movement in relationship to breath and rhythm, Mushimaru has created his own style of dance which he refers to as an expression of Natural Physical Poetry (Tennen Nikutai Shi). Mushimaru’s work symbolically embodies the human tragedy during and after WWII, the “ashes” from which Butoh arose. He has worked as an actor, scriptwriter, producer, writer and director since 1972, and has performed throughout the world for more than 20 years. DAIPAN welcomes Mushimaru to Seattle for the first time. http://www.notus.dti.ne.jp/~mushimal/

DAIPAN artist information:
Lela Besom presents “Death, Cake, and Who You Want To Be,” a work digging into the garden of life and death with Adena Atkins and Kabriele Rosas.
On the spectrum of joyful noise and fearful silence Sheri Brown, Dhyana Garcia, and Alan Sutherland intend to handle it all in “Brave Voices” and come down firmly with our voices, word and dance voices, soul voices. A dream wave channel search and, if the Angels allow, a discovery of an invisible line waiting to be crossed.
In an outdoor pre-show piece, "Home Is Where," Erica Akiko Howard continues a long-term exploration of the confluence of Earth, body, and home—all that we emerge from but can never leave behind.

Joan Laage (Kogut) & Shoko Zama perform “Two Little Pierrots.”  Inspired by the famous Commedia dell’Arte figure known for its naivete, this work premiered in Europe this past spring with Italian dancers. Original music by Scott Adams and costumes by Shoko Zama.

Kaoru Okumura is joined by Aoi Lee in “KAGIROHI 陽炎(かぎろひ),” in which they revisit a piece specially created for the Hijikata Memorial 2018 evening, annually organized by Kaoru.

Helen Thorsen is joined by Erica Akiko Howard, Mary Cutrera and Cara Ross Berman in “The Brittle Sisters: the Bardo of Brú na Bóinne,” which is inspired by a 5000-year-old prehistoric chamber in Ireland and the bones of 16-year-old girl who died lost in a deep Mexican cave looking for water 13,000 years ago.

PHOTO CREDIT:
Mushimaru photo from poster: Yukihiro Toriguchi (photographer)