Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute
Presents
ɪˈreɪʒə (Erasure)
with butoh dancer Vangeline
Photo by Geoff Shelton
THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2019
FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2019
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2019
8 PM
SUNDAY, May 19 at 3pm
at:
Theater for the New City (Johnson Theater)
155 First Avenue
NY NY 10003
TICKETS: $15
“Vangeline, with her controlled flow of energy and compelling energetic shifts, obliges a depth of concentration that nullifies time.
”
Brainwave activity recorded during rehearsal of ɪˈreɪʒə (Erasure)
ɪˈreɪʒə (Erasure) is the second installment of a performance triptych by butoh artist Vangeline. The 60-minute solo is a contemporary take on fairy tales Sleeping beauty and Rumpelstiltskin and explores the phenomenon of female erasure taking place in our society. Themes of female surrender, awakening and rebellion are interpreted through Butoh techniques (extremes in movement speed, from the extremely slow to the fast and furious).
Butoh dancers aim at reaching a form of “emptiness”. For the first time in Butoh’s history, this phenomenon is put to the test: the rehearsal process is scientifically recorded with the help of MUSE 2, a device capable of recording brain wave activity. The recordings are used to create fluctuations in lighting throughout the piece.
With ɪˈreɪʒə (Erasure), Butoh meets neuroscience and continues to take a place of relevance in the 21st century
ɪˈreɪʒə (Erasure) predominantly explores the Delta Brain wave activity in movement (.5-4Hz), a slow wave usually characteristic of “dreamless sleep.” Delta brainwaves can be found when accessing our deep unconsciousness.
ɪˈreɪʒə (Erasure) will take place between May 15-19, 2019 at the beautiful, spacious and historic Theater for the New City in the East Village.
Photo by Michael Blase
VANGELINE THEATER/ NEW YORK BUTOH INSTITUTE aims to preserve the legacy and integrity of Japanese Butoh while carrying the art form well into the future. 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. The Vangeline Theater is home to the New York Butoh Institute, dedicated to the advancement of Butoh in the 21st century.
About Vangeline
Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in the Japanese postwar avant-garde movement form Butoh. She is the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater (New York), a dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese Butoh while carrying it into the 21st century, and the founder of the New York Butoh Institute.
Vangeline's work has been heralded in publications such as the New York Times (“captivating”), Los Angeles Times, (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”) and LA Weekly to name a few. More recently her solo Butoh Beethoven: Eclipse received critical acclaim from the Ballet Review.
With her all-female dance company, Vangeline’s socially conscious performances tie together butoh and activism. Vangeline is the winner of the 2015 Gibney Dance's Beth Silverman-Yam Social Action Award. Film projects include a starring role alongside actors James Franco and Winona Ryder in the feature film by director Jay Anania, 'The Letter (2012-Lionsgate); she has performed with/for Grammy Award Winning artists SKRILLEX and Esperanza Spalding. She is the author of a forthcoming book about butoh.
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY (TNC) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning community cultural center that is known for its high artistic standards and widespread community service. One of New York’s most prolific theatrical organizations, TNC produces 30-40 premieres of new American plays per year, at least 10 of which are by emerging and young playwrights. Many influential theater artists of the last quarter century have found TNC’s Resident Theater Program instrumental to their careers, among them Sam Shepard, Moises Kaufman, Richard Foreman, Charles Busch, Maria Irene Fornes, Miguel Piñero, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Vin Diesel, Oscar Nuñez, Laurence Holder, Romulus Linney and Academy Award winners Tim Robbins and Adrien Brody. TNC also presents plays by multi-ethnic/multi-disciplinary theater companies who have no permanent home. Among the well-known companies that have been presented by TNC are Mabou Mines, the Living Theater, Bread and Puppet Theater, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, and COBU, the Japanese women’s drumming, and dance group. TNC also produced the Yangtze Repertory Company’s 1997 production of Between Life and Death, which was the only play ever produced in America by Gao Xingjian before he won the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature. TNC seeks to develop theater audiences and inspire future theater artists from the often-overlooked low-income minority communities of New York City by producing minority writers from around the world and by bringing the community into theater and theater into the community through its many free festivals. TNC productions have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and over 42 OBIE Awards for excellence in every theatrical discipline. TNC is also the only Theatrical Organization to have won the Mayor’s Stop The Violence award.
READ VANGELINE’S INTERVIEW IN TIGER MAGAZINE
Vangeline talks about butoh and feminism, and common misconceptions about butoh.
Photos by Michael Blase
Publicity by Michelle Tabnick
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
