Vangeline Theater - butoh - at Triskelion Arts
Company:
Vangeline Theater
Triskelion Arts Presents
A New Butoh Sci-Fi Fantasy by Vangeline Theater
"5th"
5 Dances about the 5th:
5th dimension, 5th element, 5th position, 5th amendment, 5th of Beethoven
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, February 7, 8, 9 at 8 PM
Triskelion Arts' Aldous Theater, 118 North 11th Street, 3rd floor, Brooklyn, NY (between Berry and Wythe)
By subway: L train to Bedford or G train to Nassau
Tickets: $15
Reservations: 800.838.3006 or http://vangelinetheater2014.brownpapertickets.com
The company of ten: Margherita Tisato, Azumi Oe, Shiho Tanaka, Madelyn Koch, Maiko Ikegaki, Beatrice Schleyer, Pamela Herron, Sindy Butz, Stacy Lynn Smith, Vangeline.
Guest dancers: Shoshana Green, butoh artist from San Francisco; Sakie Hachiya, ballet dancer from New York
Guest musician: Ysanne Spevack, violinist/vocalist of the Smashing Pumpkins
"Vangeline moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese butoh artist."
Los Angeles Times, 2011
"bone-chilling"
Best Dance Visits/2011, Time Out Chicago
"a triumph"
Japan Culture NYC, 2013
"Vangeline is captivating in her devotion to simple movements."
Claudia La Rocco, The New York Times, 2008
Dancer/choreographer Vangeline continues to carry the art of Butoh into the 21st Century when her Vangeline Theater premieres "5th", a new butoh sci-fi fantasy of 5 dances about the 5th: 5th dimension, 5th element, 5th position, 5th amendment, and 5th of Beethoven. Each dance also represents one of the five elements in Japanese philosophy: Earth, Water, Wind, Fire and Void. Joining the Company for this special season are guests Shoshana Green, San Francisco-based Butoh artist, ballet dancer Sakie Hachiya of New York, and Ysanne Spevack, English composer/performer and member of The Smashing Pumpkins. Three performances, February 7-9 at 8 PM at Brooklyn's Triskelion Arts, 118 North 11th Street.
The Company's unique style, which might be described as "butoh meets film noir," is informed by Vangeline's training with Butoh Masters, including Tetsuro Fukuhara, Diego Pinon and Katsura Kan, as well as performing a Butoh solo on stage and film (she has a starring role in the feature film "The Letter," appearing alongside James Franco and Winona Ryder, filmed in New York in 2012).
Music choices for "5th" are also especially adventurous and forward thinking, and include compositions by French composer Francis Cabrel, the famous "5th of Beethoven" from the movie Saturday Night Fever, and Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind," which will be performed by Ysanne Spevack and Azumi Oe, and included because it was written in 1963, the same year that it became law to read the fifth amendment rights - the right to remain silent - to the accused.
The Vangeline Theater is a NYC-based dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese Butoh while carrying it into the 21st century. Since its inception in 2002, the Vangeline Theater has fused the post-apocalyptic vision of Butoh with the aesthetics of 21st century film noir. Dancer/choreographer Vangeline, a native of Bourgogne, France, specializes in the Japanese postwar avant garde movement form Butoh. Vangeline and her company have performed and taught in venues around the world, and brought master teachers from abroad to teach workshops in New York. The ensemble looks forward to more touring, including appearances at the Avignon Dance Festival in July 2014. Their work has been acknowledged with awards from the Puffin Foundation, the Japan Foundation, the NY Department of Cultural Affairs, the NY Foundation for the Arts, the Asian American Arts Alliance, the Actor's Fund, and the Robert Friedman Foundation. Also active in films, Vangeline's recent roles include her critically acclaimed performance as Elizabeth Short in the Los Angeles production of "The Chanteuse and the Devil's Muse," directed by David J. Bauhaus, and a starring role, with actors James Franco and Winona Ryder, in the feature film by director Jay Anania "The Letter (2012-Lionsgate)." She was also featured in an eight-page spread in Vanity Fair Italia in August 2012.
Music guest Ysanne Spevack, a Brit in the USA since 2004, studied violin, composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music and is best known for her performances and/or string arrangements for The Smashing Pumpkins as well as Laurie Anderson, Elton John, and Tiesto. At the request of Vangeline Theater, Ysanne has prepared a lush and haunting cover version of Bob Dylans' classic "Blowing in the Wind," and for the February season at Triskelion, her recording will be running simultanously with Ysanne's live vocals and acoustic violin.
