The Art of Butoh

When

Thursday, November 19, 6:00 pm–8:00 pm

Where

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Price

Free

The venue says: Free with RSVP

About

For over five decades, Butoh has been active in the Bay Area in the shadows, performed mostly in underground venues and intimate settings, with liberating uneasiness, expressions of existential anguish, and radicalism in the absurd. This presentation by Kumiko Uyeda highlights how Butoh first began in Japan in the 1950s; took root in the Bay Area in the 1970s, brought by Koichi and Hiroko Tamano; and subsequently found voice through the Japanese American lens of Judith Kajiwara. The Tamanos were students of Hijikata Tatsumi, who was the founder of the Butoh art form in collaboration with Ohno Kazuo. The Tamanos and Kajiwara have been the cornerstone of Butoh in the Bay Area, dedicating their lives to the expression of the unbridled imagination of the subconscious. The presentation will be followed by a performance of Uninterrupted Rest: A Butoh Awakening. Uninterrupted Rest: A Butoh Awakening Choreography: Judith Kajiwara Performers: Judith Kajiwara (Butoh), Erika Oba (flute), Kumiko Uyeda (piano) Soundscape and video montage: Kallan Nishimoto Uninterrupted Rest: A Butoh Awakening was inspired by the life cycle of a silkworm. The fragility and strength of a silk thread metaphorically illustrates the global turmoil we are currently experiencing. Have we forgotten our resilience as humans, wrapped in a perpetual cycle of uninterrupted rest, swaddled tightly in a cocoon of darkness? Rather than perish in oblivion, we can create the very freedom we once knew as a fleeting childlike imagination. Breaking the threads of repression, we must unfurl our tired wings, awaken, and begin creating a higher consciousness New Earth, where humanity will thrive in prosperity, harmony, peace, love, and unity.