KOICHI AND HIROKO TAMANO/ Harupin-Ha Butoh (Japan/S.F.)
Internationally touring artists of Butoh & Harupin-Ha creators, Koichi & Hiroko Tamano, were dancers in the first company of Tatsumi Hijikata (the founder of Butoh). They have been performing and teaching Butoh for over 30 years and are noted for bringing the dance form to the west. The influence of Butoh originator Tatsumi Hijikata, who performed with and shaped the two artists, has left its imprint on them, although the Tamanos have since veered into their own trajectory. Koichi Tamano, who was the principal dancer of Hijikata’s company, was named by him “the bow-legged Nijinsky” and has recently been given the status of Japanese National Treasure. www.harupin-ha.org
LARRY KOMINZ/ Portland State University’s Kyogen Theatre
Professor Kominz, Director of the Center for Japanese Studies, brings the joy of Japanese performing arts to students and audiences alike. He is a scholar and performer of nihon buyô and kyôgen, and directs student productions of kyôgen and kabuki. His writings on the Japanese Theatre have been published extensively. Kominz has been artistic director or assistant of summer Japanese performance festivals at PSU almost every summer since 1992. Kominz currently serves as Japan editor for Asian Theatre Journal and as a member of the Japan Society of New York’s performing arts advisory committee. Kyogen Theatre is a medieval Japanese Farce.
SAHOMI TACHIBANA/ Sahomi Tachibana Dancers
Sahomi Tachibana was born Haruno Abey in Mountain View, California, in 1924. She began dancing at the age of seven—performing between scenes at her grandparents’ amateur Kabuki theater. When she was eleven, she traveled to Fukushima, Japan to study at the Tachibana Dance School. While there, she studied under Saho Tachibana and earned her dancing name, Sahomi Tachibana (translated as “a beautiful bird of paradise who learned to dance at Tachibana”). At her grandfather’s urging, she returned to California in November of 1941, just weeks prior to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Tachibana spent the duration of the war interned with her family (and other Japanese Americans) first in California’s Tanforan Assembly Center, then later in Utah’s Topaz Relocation Center. After the war ended, she moved with her family to New York City, where she began studying modern dance and ballet. Following a successful New York debut in June 1948, Tachibana’s dance career blossomed, earning her international acclaim as a master of traditional Japanese dance.
Tachibana and her husband, Frank Hrubant, moved to Portland in 1990 to be near their daughter, Elaine. Since then, Tachibana has continued to teach and perform traditional Japanese dance. Her repertoire includes classical Kabuki dramas as well as folk and semi-classical dances. Many of the dances are national treasures of Japan and are based on historical incidents; others are part of festival celebrations. “Dance has been my life,” says Tachibana. “Through this form I like to entertain and teach whatever I can offer.”
LINDA K. JOHNSON
Linda K. Johnson has been a professional dance artist based in Portland, Oregon for over 20 years. She has taught, performed, created and produced extensively throughout the region. Her concerns as an artist are social and environmental, and her projects have often addressed these interests in unconventional compositional forms, formats and venues. Her teaching and making is informed by her interest in improvisation, somatic practices, architecture, sustainability and beauty. An Oregon Artist’s Fellow in 1999, her work has been generously funded by public, private and individual sources, and has received serious critical review in many venues including Metropolis Magazine, NPR and the Core Sample catalogue. She is honored to be a custodian of Yvonne Rainer’s seminal post-modern work, Trio A, and has performed extensively as a soloist in works by Bebe Miller, Mary Oslund, Kristy Edmunds, and Stephanie Skura, among others. She is a sought-after teacher by both professional dancers and serious hobbyists, and has taught for extended periods as a guest and/or as faculty at the University of Oregon, Reed College, Lewis and Clark College, Jefferson High School, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Conduit and the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics. In 1995, she co-founded Conduit, the epicenter for contemporary dance in Oregon, and was the Director of the Education and Outreach Programs for Oregon Ballet Theatre from 2000-05. Most recently, she was the author, director and curator of the South Waterfront Artist-in-Residence Program, as well as the groundbreaking The City Dance of Lawrence and Anna Halprin.
CHRISTINA BRAUN/ SF Butoh Lab (San Francisco)
Dance artist Christina Braun’s collaborations with composers have been presented regularly since 2002, including the Thailand International Butoh Festival “New Generations” 2006, and the West Wave Dance Festival “World Forms” 2007. Christina has performed with Koichi & Hiroko Tamano’s Harupin-Ha since 1998, and Mary Sano and her Duncan Dancers since 1997. Christina enjoyed choreographing the 2007 Woman’s Will production of Mac Wellman’s play Antigone. In 2008, Christina co-founded BUTOH San Francisco to foster the growth of the Bay Area Butoh artist and audience communities. SF Butoh LAB is Christina’s project, whose mission is to promote peace through art exchange by producing new dance performances, symposia and workshops. In her creativity and performance trainings, Christina gratefully acknowledges the direct sourcing of specific exercises and concepts. Influential master teachers include Akiko Motofuji, Anzu Furukawa, Hiroko & Koichi Tamano, Katsura Kan, Yoshito & Kazuo Ohno, and Akira Kasai.
BAD UNKL SISTA (San Francisco)
The intention and mission behind Bad Unkl Sista is the constant investigation into the fusion of wearable arts, sculpture, performance and installation to create a stimulating, thought-provoking experience. The aim of a Bad Unkl Sista performance is to suspend, for a moment, the judgment of reality and offer a journey into a lucid dream that is a celebration of imagination.
With 17 years of performance experience and 8 years of design, Anastazia Louise created Bad Unkl Sista as a vehicle for performance, visual art, costume, and clothing design. Since moving to San Francisco in 2006 Bad Unkl Sista has performed and designed for many events and performance troupes such as Maker Faire, Love Fest VIP fashion show, Sea of Dreams, The Crucible, The Carpetbag Brigade, LA Stilt Circus, Flam Chen, and Burning Man. Anastazia is also part-time artistic director and resident performer at SF Supper Club. badunklsista.com
SHERI BROWN & DOUGLAS RIDINGS/ Daipan (Seattle)
Sheri is a Seattle-based performer (www.sheribrown.com) who found butoh in Seattle eight years ago, after 11 years of theatre and street performance. Butoh satisfied her need to explore and express the place between words and dance inside her connection to her innermost self, the world, and the universe. She began serious study in San Francisco with Shinichi Momo Komo and has trained with numerous butoh masters since then including Katsura Kan, Diego Pinon, Akira Kasai, Minako Seki, Su-En, Joan Laage, and Jay Hirobashi. With her troupe, the P.A.N.(www.prettyartnumb.com), she has presented work in the International Butoh Festival in San Francisco, the Overseas Arts Convention in Korea, and International Mime Festival in Korea (where they won the Dokkebi Award) and toured Japan twice.
Douglas has performed with Dappin’ Butoh, PAN, and Katsura Kan (butoh), The Samadhi Yoginis (yoga- inspired dance), Locust (contemporary dance), Implied Violence (theater), and Urvasi (Classical Indian Dance under the direction of Dr. Ratna Roy). He has danced extensively in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and also in Madrid, Spain (with Katsura Kan). In November, he will assist and perform with Katsura Kan at the Naropa institute in Colorado. Performances in India, Greece, Spain, and Italy are being planned for 2010. He is also a teacher of yoga and dance.
MIZU DESIERTO/ Mizu Desierto Butoh Theatre (Portland)
Mizu is the founder and co-Executive Director of Portland’s Water in the Desert Festival and the founder and Artistic Director of The Headwaters: Center for International Exchanges in the Arts. She has been a collaborator, dancer, choreographer and costume designer with Human Nature Dance Theatre (AZ) for over a decade and was a founding member of the Carpetbag Brigade Physical Theatre Company (S.F.). She has performed with Harupin-Ha Butoh Theatre (S.F.), Yoshito & Kazuo Ohno (Japan), & Diego Pinon (Mexico); and her solo & collaborative projects have been showcased in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, Tucson, Portland, Boulder, Tokyo, Mexico, France & Spain. She has been a recipient of project grants from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, Oregon’s Regional Arts & Culture Council, The Multnomah County Cultural Coalition, Oregon Cultural Trust, and The Northwest Regional Burning Man Council; and has sat on the Arizona Commission on the Arts panel to award grants in the category of Dance. As an educator, she has been teaching workshops throughout the west coast throughout the past decade. In 2008 she served as adjunct faculty at Prescott College (Arizona), leading a course in Butoh-Ritual dance. www.mizudesierto.com
MICHELLE FUJII & TORU WATANABE/ Portland Taiko Folk Dancers
Michelle was awarded the prestigious Bunka-cho fellowship from the Japanese government in 2001 to study with Japan’s foremost traditional folk dance troupe, Warabiza, where she studied under the tutelage of master dancer/choreographer Shohei Kikuchi. Currently Fujii serves as Artistic Director of Portland Taiko, and is known for her innovative fusion of taiko and dance. She has played with numerous taiko groups including TAIKOPROJECT, On Ensemble, San Jose Taiko and is a member of the North American Taiko Conference Advisory Board.
Toru is a renowned folk dance artist and performer who began performing and choreographing in college for Yossakoi Team. In 2001, Watanabe became a performing member of Warabi-za, one of Japan’s foremost folk-dance performing groups located in the Northern prefecture of Akita. He has appeared in four original musical productions and has taught within Warabiza’s in-house residency program for youth. Currently Watanabe works for Portland Taiko as artistic staff.
NATHAN MONTGOMERY/Syzygy Butoh (Boulder, CO)
Nathan teaches and performs throughout the United States. He works in collaboration with such groups as Human Nature in Arizona and the Carpetbag Brigade of San Francisco. He co-created TinHouse Experimental Dance Theatre in Boulder, Colorado and continues to base his productions there. In classic proscenium, on mountaintop or in the town junkyard, Syzygy performs in diverse venues and settings. For Nathan, while the work is originally connected to the seed of Japanexe Butoh, Syzygy grows as an American Butoh. www.syzygybutoh.com
TRACY BROYLES & MESHI CHAVEZ/ Theory1:dance (portland)
Theory 1: Dance is a Portland based dance company directed by Tracy Broyles and Meshi Chavez. Together they create provocative, innovative performance, which exists at the crossroads of dance, theater, and visual art. Bringing an interdisciplinary approach to their work, Theory 1 fosters relationships with collaborators in other mediums in order to bring their unique vision to life. Interested in both site-specific and traditional venues, T1:D is passionate about redefining space and creating a unique experience for their audience. With influences ranging from post-modern dance, butoh, and improvisation, to psychology, energy work and current events, Theory 1: dance relishes exploring the full range of human experience in performance.
CYDNEY WILKES (Portland)
Wilkes’ dance work encompasses site-influenced, indoors and out, as well as traditional presentations. Her choreographic history has covered two decades in New York City’s downtown dance scene and seven years in Portland. She is the recipient of two NY Dance and Performance Awards (Bessies) as well as regional fundings, commissions and artist residencies.
BOB WEBB/ Bare Bones Butoh (San Francisco)
Bob Webb likes to divide his time more or less equally between dance and theatre, with the odd opera, rave, and/or street performance thrown in for good measure. He makes most of his living as a stage manager and an Equity actor. But his true love is Butoh (he feels there are often matters in life more important than making a living). He has danced with several butoh companies, most notably: Harupin-Ha (with Koichi and Hiroko Tamano), Saltimbanques (with Katsura Kan), Black Stone Ensemble, Barely Human Dance Theatre, Raw Egg, Metropolitan Butoh and his own company Bare Bones Butoh. He has performed all over the U.S. (including Hawaii), France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand. He produces Bare Bones Butoh Presents showcases every three months in San Francisco, and is one of the producers of Butoh SanFrancisco. Other companies he’s worked with include: Inkboat, Word for Word, Dandelion Dance Theatre, Deborah Slater Dance Theatre, Campo Santo, the SF International Butoh Festival, Magic Theatre, Lines Ballet, Traveling Jewish Theatre, Huckabay/McAllister Dance, Encore Theatre, Kunst-Stoff, EmSpace Dance, Foghouse Productions, Smuin Ballets/SF, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Eugene Opera, Portland Opera, Oregon Repertory Theatre, Eugene Ballet…oh, the list just goes on and on. When not on or behind a stage he reads a lot, models for artists, and spends as much time as possible outside with a pack on his back. He is quite pleased to be back performing in Portland.
JEFFREY SCOTT PERRY (San Francisco)
Composer Scott Perry’s music encompasses a broad spectrum of genres and styles. His compositions range from works for solo guitar, string quartet, and orchestra to choir, percussion ensemble, popular music, and electronic music recordings. As a prolific writer, producing over 10-20 compositions each year, Scott has developed a unique style of artistic expression that is both impressionistic and absolute. In 2004, he was awarded the Eva Thompson Philips award for music composition. Matador, a piece for string orchestra, was premiered by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra in 2007. From 2005 – 2008, Scott scored and designed sound for five theater productions and two independent films in San Jose, CA . In December of 2008 he composed five pieces that accompanied five pieces of artwork by artist Corinne Okada Takara at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, CA . www.jspguitarsoundstudio.com
CORRINE OKADA TAKARA (San Francisco)
Corinne Okada Takara’s sculptural mixed media works range greatly in size from large eight foot wall hangings for California and Boston hospitals to elaborate broaches and hats for fashion events. Her works have shown in galleries and museums across the country and are in private collections in San Francisco , Chicago , Boston and Paris . Corinne’s unique collage work is included in the Peabody Essex Museum ’s permanent collection and has been exhibited and demonstrated at The de Young Museum, The San Francisco Asian Art Museum, The Fuller Craft Museum, The San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, and Kearney Street Workshop’s APAture festival. Most recently, Takara was selected for an Artist-In-Residency at the de Young Museum for the month of December 2008. She currently has work in an Art in Embassies exhibit, Plurality in America , in Brussels , Belgium . The Fuller Craft Museum ’s A Perfect Fit exhibition will feature Takara’s work in June. www.okadadesign.com
MARRON
In 1969 born in Siga, Japan. A guitarist, improviser, composer who works at the front line of the world-wide underground scene of the music, a smiley-free-musician in Kyoto who emphasizes the feeling of the music than the genres. Working on his electronica-pop unit “Dubmarronics”. In addition to his career as a unit, also playing in “dubdub on-seng” with Manabu Sakata, “Based on Kyoto” with DJ DAICHI, the first progressive band in japan “datetenryu”, “Annojyo” with Hiroshi Higo and Jun Isobe, and in many other units. As impro-costarrings playing with many artists, both japanese and foreign, including FERNAND KABUSACKI, Seiichi Yamamoto, KEI, BILL HORIST, PAUL RUCKER, Yoshitake EXPE, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Tatsuya Yoshida and so on. Also charged of the music parts of a dance unit in seattle “P.A.N”, a british animator MAX HATTLER and so on. www.myspace.com/marronmoreu
