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Bodies emerge, float, and then disappear into the shadows of a dimly lit architecture. In (glowing), Kota Yamazaki draws inspiration from the great modern writer Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s (1886-1965) essay In’ei Raisan (In Praise of Shadows), which plumbs the unique Japanese aesthetics of shadows and darkness. In this subtle and powerful work for six dancers, with a set made following principles found in the traditional Japanese house, Yamazaki draws on his own deep background in butoh, a dance form developed in Japan after WWII that embraces darkness, and connects it with traditional African dance and contemporary movement to mine the inherent similarities between these forms. Dancers from Senegal and Ethiopia join Japanese butoh dancers and US contemporary performers to create a scenario in which lightless vision ignites the imagination, conjuring illusion and upturning the ordinary between the shadows.

Curator: Hélène Lesterlin

Bio:

Kota Yamazaki was born in Niigata and studied fashion design in Tokyo. He was first introduced to butoh through the teaching of Akira Kasai at the age of 18. He was a finalist in the Platform of Bognolet Competition in France, and then formed his Tokyo-based dance company, Rosy co., where he created original works in collaboration with various artists, including architect Toyo Ito, until 2001. Since 2002, Yamazaki has worked with New York-based Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug, and his work has been presented nationally and internationally at PICA’s TBA Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival, BAM Harvey Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, and NUS for the Arts in Singapore, among others. In 2007, Yamazaki received the New York Dance and Performance Award (“Bessie”) with Germaine Acogny for the choreography of FAGAALA performed by Senegal-based dance company, Jant-Bi. Since 2009, he has been director of Body Arts Laboratory and organizer of the Whenever Wherever Festival in Tokyo.

Credits:

Directed and choreographed by Kota Yamazaki; sound by Kohji Setoh; set by Robert Kocik; lighting design by Kathy Kaufmann. Fluid hug-hug co-artistic directors: Kota Yamazaki and Mina Nishimura.

This tour of Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug is made possible by a grant from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.