Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute presents New York Butoh Institute Festival 2024

from Emily MT

Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute presents the New York Butoh Institute Festival 2024: Honoring Latin American Women in Butoh, featuring Natalia Cuéllar (Chile), Eugenia Vargas (Mexico), as well as Akihito Ichihara (ELF) and Vangeline on from October 10-20, 2024. For tickets and more information, please visit https://www.vangeline.com/calendar-of-upcoming-events/2024/10/10/new-york-butoh-institute-festival-2024.



New York Butoh Institute Festival 2024 Program

Performances at Triskelion Arts, 106 Calyer Street, Brooklyn NY 11222

October 10 & 11, 2024 at 8pm: Natalia Cuellar and Eugenia Vargas

October 12, 2024 at 7:30 pm: Akihito Ichihara/ ELF and Vangeline Theater



Panel discussion:

Women, Latin America, and Butoh

October 14, 2024 at 6:30pm

City Lore.

Free.

With Dr. Alice Baldock (Oxford University), Raquel Almazan, Natalia Cuéllar, Eugenia Vargas and Vangeline.

Since butoh's conception, women have been the intellectual and artistic force behind its co-creation. This is especially true of butoh in Latin America. Here, dancers such as Natalia and Eugenia are leading a transnational network of mainly women butoh dancers, whose works speak to audiences across Latin America and the world. Join them to discuss the previously obscured histories of women in butoh and their importance, as well as the contemporary moment in which butoh is being shaped by a new generation of women.



Workshops and Masterclasses:

Saturday, October 12, 2024, 3-6 pm: Butoh Masterclass with Natalia Cuellar

115 Wooster Street 2F New York, NY, 10012



Sunday, October 13, 3-6pm: Butoh Masterclass with Eugenia Vargas

115 Wooster Street 2F New York, NY, 10012



October 18-20: Performance Workshop with Akihito Ichihara

Friday, October 18, 2024, 7-10pm: Workshop Rehearsal

Saturday, October 19, 2024, 1-6pm: Workshop Rehearsal

Sunday, October 20, 2024, 2-6:30pm: Workshop Rehearsal

Sunday, October 20, 2024, 8-9pm: Performance in Times Square, Costumes provided by Akihito Ichihara



Works presented October 10-12 At Triskelion Arts:

KI, The Breath of Time

Natalia Cuellar. Ruta de La Memoria. (Chile)

“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.



Reviews: “a dance made poetry” Circulo Critico Arte. https://www.circulocriticosarte.cl/ki-la-respiracin-del-tiempo-una-danza-hecha-poesa_por-csar-seplveda-v-5374.html

Trailer: https://youtu.be/80Jpb22BVJk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T6rf-hAVdo



UMBRIA or the dream of the moon - An offering for Natsu Nakajima

Eugenia Vargas

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,” an offering for her teacher and mentor Natsu Nakajima, who died last March in Mexico City.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/329231435



The Slowest Wave

Vangeline Theater

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.



Trailer..



Hinode 日の出（ひので) Sunrise

ELF: Akihito Ichihara and Natsuki Takakuwa



Recent work by Akihito Ichihara: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSy3neX2pBY.



ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

Dr Alice Baldock (she/her) is the Nissan Institute as the Okinaga Junior Research Fellow in Japanese Studies at Wadham College, University of Oxford. Her research interests include 20th century Japanese history, gender in postwar Japan and the transnational circulation of ideas around ‘the body’, particularly in the development of butoh dance. Her current research involves tracing the and the transnational circulation and reception of this body of knowledge, to see how and why these ideas about the body - that involved a complete eradication of hierarchies of gender, ability, and class, became so popular in Japan and then across the world. Her recent publications include ‘Body (of) Knowledge: Women, the Body, and Dance in Twentieth Century Japan’ (Journal of Asian Studies, January 2022), ‘Selling Bodies in the Age of the Flesh: Bodies, Dance, and Postwar Japan’ (Histories of Sex Work Around the World, 2024), and the foreword to dancer Vangeline’s first book, Cradling Empty Space (2020). Alice also has a creative practice, with recent work including an appearance in Nakajima Natsu’s Yume no yume, oku no oku, nokori no hi (April 2022) and a solo piece in butoh company Mutekisha’s Kokkyounaki Karada (July 2022). She is also interested in integrating performing arts and humanities into a useful dialogue, most recently by co-organising the international conference ‘Missing Bodies, Missing Voices: Ordinary Lives and the Reframing of Postwar Japan’ at St Antony’s College, Oxford (March 2023), which brought scholars, practitioners, and scholar-practitioners from around the world into conversation.



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 is a 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.



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. He is also in charge of the design and production of the accessories dancers wear on stage. 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. In the spring of 2023, ELF went on tour in Latin America in Bogota, Colombia, and various locations in Mexico, Taiwan, and San Francisco. These activities received critical acclaim and repeat invitations. The company plans a world tour in 2024. 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. He is interested in creating and directing various dance projects that transcend borders, cultural differences, and styles of expression. Ichihara aims to develop a form of dance that promotes empathy and mutual respect. His goal is to do this worldwide, even between countries and cities that still bear the scars of war. He would like to contribute by acting as a bridge and connecting people across the borders despite their differences. By sharing physical expressions, dancing, and empathizing with each other, the 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), a dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese butoh while carrying it into the twenty-first century. 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. "The Dream a Dream Project" contributes to the rehabilitation of New York's incarcerated population. Overall, our programs promote equity, diversity, and inclusion in the field of butoh.



Vangeline firmly believes that Butoh can be an instrument of personal and collective transformation in the 21st century. This transformation comes from holding a mirror to each other and integrating our many facets–the beautiful and the ugly; and from reintegrating the forgotten of our society into our midst.



Vangeline’s choreographed works have been performed in Chile, Hong Kong, Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, Singapore, 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). https://www.vangeline.com



Raquel Almazan was born in Madrid – Spain, is also of Costa Rican descent and has lived most of her life in the U.S. As an interdisciplinary artist she holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Columbia University. B.F.A. in Theatre from University of Florida/New World School of the Arts Conservatory. She develops work as a writer, director, actor, dramaturge and is also a Butoh dance practitioner. Almazan is the Artistic Director of LA LUCHA ARTS, producing several of her original works, including LATIN IS AMERICA play cycle and lecture-performance, a collection of bi-lingual works in dedication to Latin American countries. Select play credits include: La Paloma Prisoner Arthur J. Harris Social Justice Prize/Arch and Bruce Brown LGBTQ Prize – workshop: Signature Theatre,readings: La Mama ETC, INTAR, Labyrinth and The Lark). CAFÉ (Kennedy Center’s Latinidad Award, Columbia Stages workshop directed by Elena Araoz). La Negra (Workshop: BRIC Arts-directed by Mei Ann Teo, readings; Lincoln Center w/ Classical Theatre of Harlem, Teatro Iati). When I Came Home (Pregones- PRTT) La Migra Taco Truck and Dar a Luz (off Broadway NYC Theatre Row, Aspen Stage, New Theatre–FL). Does that Feel Good to you My Lark?: A Doll’s House Adaptation (Bushwick Starr reading/New Georges – Audrey residency, directed by Miranda Haymon). Cross//Roads: Re-framing the Immigrant Narrative (commissioned workshop: La Micro Theatre). Goddesses Return to the Temple, Live & In Color-June Bingham Commission Awardee. Artistic Advisor of R. Piniella’s bi-lingual Hamlet workshop (The Public Theater). She has been awarded a Professional Development residency with the Eugene O’Neill Center Playwrights Conference and Core Apprentice residency, affiliated writer with The Playwrights’ Center. She is the Executive Director of Indie Space.



VANGELINE THEATER/ NEW YORK BUTOH INSTITUTE aims to preserve the legacy and integrity of Japanese Butoh while carrying the art form into the future, with a special emphasis on education, social justice, research, and archiving. For more info, visit: www.vangeline.com Vangeline Theater programs are supported, in part, by 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 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. www.vangeline.com



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