The Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute presents
New York Butoh Institute Festival 2024
HONORING LATIN MERICAN WOMEN IN BUTOH
Performances by Natalia Cuellar (Chile), Eugenia Vargas (Mexico)
Thursday, October 10 and Friday, October 11, 2024 at 8pm
at Triskelion Arts
106 Calyer Street
Brooklyn NY 11222
PROGRAM
KI, The Breath of Time. Natalia Cuellar. Ruta de La Memoria. (Chile)
“A dance made poetry” Circulo Critico Arte
“KI , the Breath of Time is a one-woman movement choreography that explores the transcendence of time and memory from a female perspective. Through the unique experience of childbirth, which also considers abortion as childbirth, the call of life and death is revealed, creating a poignant reflection on the essence of existence. Until the beginning of the 20th century and even today, in some countries, childbirth has been a critical moment in the lives of many women, as it is a thin line between life and death. This crossroads at the moment of giving birth is presented on stage as a journey where a woman immerses herself in different spaces and times. With the memory and presence of other women who accompany her on the journey of childbirth, she transforms herself into different organic matter, to remember and honor the origin of life, of her life, of the one she is about to give birth to, and the journey to death.
Created, choreographed, and directed by Natalia Cuéllar Díaz
Co-direction: Pablo López-Rojas
Performed by Natalia Cuéllar Díaz
Music by Pablo López-Rojas
Lighting designed by Anita Moya
Costume by Lorena Álvarez
Production Isabel Margarita Vera
Photo: @soyluacheia
Intermission
UMBRIA or the dream of the moon- Eugenia Vargas
An offering for Natsu Nakajima
Choreography from the UMBRÍA trilogy, created collaboratively between Eugenia Vargas and Tadashi Endo in 2018. Now, Vargas recreates this piece to turn it into the preamble to the presentation of what she calls "Flowers for the Wolf Girl,’ a scenic offering for her teacher and mentor Natsu Nakajima, who died last March in Mexico City.
CREDITS
General direction and dance: Eugenia Vargas *
Choreography first part: Tadashi Endo
Music: Guillermo González Phillips
Costume: Lila Méndez Pap
Production: Laboratorio Escénico Danza Teatro Ritual
Photo by Simone D´Alterio
Duration: 45 minutes
* Member of the National System of Art Creators, Mexico.
BIOGRAPHIES
Natalia Cuellar a performing artist with a solid academic background and a distinguished artistic career, has accumulated significant experience in directing, acting, choreography, and teaching. Her journey in Butoh began in 1995 under the guidance of renowned masters such as Makiko Tominaga, Itto Morita, Katsura Kan, and Minako Seki, with whom she collaborated intensively in Germany from 1999 to 2002. Additionally, she has explored other disciplines such as Balinese dances in Indonesia and physical theater in Hungary and Germany, contributing to her artistic versatility.
In 2008, she founded the Compañía Ruta de la Memoria, establishing herself as a prominent figure in the performing arts. Her editorial focus centers on Human Rights, memory, and gender, using theater, dance, Butoh, and audiovisual media as narrative tools to generate reflection and critical dialogue. Natalia Cuéllar’s international projection is evident in the presentation of her works in cities such as Buenos Aires, La Plata, Montevideo, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Lima, New York, Seattle, and Stockholm. She also serves as the Director of the International Butoh Festival in Chile, FIBUTOH, an event that brings together national and international exponents of the discipline.
With a profound academic foundation and a diversity of artistic influences, Natalia Cuéllar contributes not only to artistic creation but also to the development and dissemination of this performing arts language in Chile and Latin America. Her latest projects include the dissemination of her most recent work, premiered in October 2023, "KI, the Breath of Time."
Eugenia Vargas. Dancer, choreographer, teacher, manager, and researcher from Mexico. Her education integrates choreography, dance research, and literary creation. Her artistic interest is based on the question about the body, butoh, and the composition of the poetic image on stage. In her workshops, Vargas focuses on the investigation of the electrical impulse as a spark of sensation to delve into the training of nervous sensitivity and transformation body, based on energy and its multiple qualities.
She is the founder and director of Laboratorio Escénico Danza Teatro Ritual (LEDTR), a space that has served not only as an incubator for dance and interdisciplinary projects but also as an artistic residence and a formative space for butoh dance, from which several generations of artists have emerged or have been influenced.
She is co-founder and director of Cuerpos en Revuelta - Butoh International Festival -, of the Seminar “Thinking from the body with and against butoh”, among several other initiatives focused on the practice and study of butoh. She is a relevant figure in the promotion of butoh in Mexico.
Vargas has trained with some of the most recognized butoh dance teachers in Mexico, Japan, and Germany, performing choreographic productions of Natsu Nakajima, Tadashi Endo, and Yukio Waguri. She has directed choreographic projects at a national and international level and has participated in festivals and stages in various countries, being recognized for her work in specialized books on butoh. She has recently been selected as one of the resident artists at B.I.G (Butoh International Gathering) which will be held in Germany next August. She has received support from the National System of Art Creators in Mexico.
Masterclasses Oct 12, 13, Oct 18-20 www.vangeline.com/calendar
This program was made possible by an award from The National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, and the City Council.
Composite image credit- Photos by Francisca González, Some d' Alterio; Ojo De Soul Studio, and Ricardo Ramírez Arriola.
The Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute presents
New York Butoh Institute Festival 2024
Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 7:30pm
Performances by Akihito Ichihara and Elf (Japan), and Vangeline Theater.
at Triskelion Arts
106 Calyer Street
Brooklyn NY 11222
PROGRAM
The Slowest Wave
Director and Performer: Vangeline
Composer: Ray Barragan Sweeten
Music: Ray Barragan Sweeten
Staging for this performance: Vangeline
Costume: Maniere de Voir
Premiered: October 6, 2022 in New York
Duration: 60 minutes
Vangeline, Director of the New York Butoh Institute, pioneered The Slowest Wave. This piece is not just a solo performance but a collaborative effort that marks the inception of the first neuroscientific study of Butoh, the groundbreaking dance form originating in Japan in the 1950s. Developed in partnership with neuroscientists in 2022, This piece resulted in a groundbreaking neuroscientific study, conducted in Houston, Texas, that recorded the brain activity of Butoh dancers for the first time in history. The Slowest Wave refers to the slowest wave in the brain, the Delta brain wave. This dance piece explores stillness, femininity, and the wave as a symbol of female sensuality. More info about the research behind this piece at https://www.vangeline.com/research.
The Slowest Wave was originally supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the NSF IUCRC BRAIN Centre at the University of Houston, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
INTERMISSION
Akihito Ichihara and ELF
Hinode 日の出（ひので) Sunrise with Akihito Ichihara and Natsuki Takakuwa.
BIOGRAPHIES
Akihito Ichihara is Japanese Butoh dancer (ELF, Sankai Juku). Ichihara started acting in his teenage years. In the 1980s, he was greatly influenced by watching the renowned Butoh troupe Sankai Juku on TV, which inspired him to explore a greater range of physical expression on stage. In 1993, he majored in theater at Nihon University College of Art. He was moved to pursue a Butoh career in 1994; in 1996, he studied with Semimaru, a founding member of Sankai Juku. In 1997, he appeared as a dancer in an opera directed by Ushio Amagatsu, the artistic director and choreographer of Sankai Juku, and later joined Sankai Juku. Since then, he has been featured in Sankai Juku’s entire repertoire and most of Sankai Juku’s world tours.
Ichihara is very active in theater, dance, and Butoh. In addition to his solo projects, he has worked with the most significant butoh dancers and butoh troupes in the history of contemporary butoh. Since the 2005 recreation of “Kinkan Shonen” (which premiered in 1978), he has danced solos in many of Sankai Juku’s performances and has led the group dances as one of the principal dancers.
Parallel to his work with Sankai Juku, he collaborates with various choreographers, directors, and dance groups worldwide. He is also a guest faculty at Okayama University Graduate School and a guest speaker at international forums.
In 2022, he founded the dance company “ELF” with young dancers. Since then, ELF has held workshops and presented works at renowned institutions and universities worldwide.
While many underground and grotesque expressions exist in Butoh, Ichihara, and ELF’s Butoh dance has deeply resonated with people worldwide. This dance is based on the “Sankai Juku Method,” a method accessible to everyone. By developing this method, Ichihara aims to go beyond Butoh by developing a dance technique that can bring a higher level of excellence to professional dancers in ballet, modern, and contemporary dance.
Ichihara hopes to continue learning, collaborating, progressing, and contributing to the development of dance worldwide. By sharing physical expressions, dancing, and empathizing with each other, his hope is to transcend borders and contribute to peace efforts worldwide. Based on this idea, ELF advocates a ”Dance Project without Borders.”
Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in Japanese Butoh. She is the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute (New York). The Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute is dedicated to advancing Butoh in the 21st century, with a particular emphasis on education, social justice, research, and archiving.
The Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute reaches out to the New York and international community by offering public Butoh classes, workshops, and performances through collaborations with international and national Butoh artists. Our socially conscious performances tie together butoh and activism; our work addresses issues of gender inequality and social justice. Our yearly New York Butoh Institute Festival elevates the visibility of women in butoh, and our festival Queer Butoh gives a voice to LGBTQIA+ butoh artists.
Our award-winning, 18-year running program, The Dream a Dream Project, brings Butoh dance to incarcerated men and women at correctional facilities across New York State.
Vangeline’s choreographed works have been performed in Chile, Hong Kong, Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, the UK, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. She is a 2022/2023 Gibney Dance Dance in Process residency and the 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award winner. She is also a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellow in Choreography for Elsewhere, the winner of the 2015 Gibney Dance Social Action Award and the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Her work has been heralded in publications such as the New York Times (“captivating”) and Los Angeles Times (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”) to name a few. 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).
In recent years, she has been commissioned by triple Grammy Award-winning artists Esperanza Spalding, Skrillex, and David J. (Bauhaus). She is the author of the critically-acclaimed book: Butoh: Cradling Empty Space, which explores the intersection of Butoh and neuroscience. She pioneered the first neuroscientific study of Butoh (“The Slowest Wave”). She is also featured on BBC’s podcast Deeply Human with host Dessa (episode 2 of 12: Why We Dance).
This program was made possible by an award from The National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, and the City Council.
Composite image credit-Photos by Francisca González, Some d' Alterio; Ojo De Soul Studio, and Ricardo Ramírez Arriola.