Elaine Lemieux and Sara Zalek Friday, May 17 at 6:30 PM Free
Berger Park Cultural Center 6205 N Sheridan Road, Chicago IL
Mooove Voice combines classical vocal techniques with fundamental Butoh exercises, exploring the physical sensations of vocal sounds in our bodies and in the space around us. We work up to group improvisational scores by playfully passing sound and movement in simple patterns. No experience necessary, all are welcome!
RSVP now to ensure a spot. Walk-ins are encouraged as well; if we are at capacity, you will be placed first for the next event. Mooove Voice will last 90 minutes. As with all Roman Susan events, this event is free at no cost to participants. The movement space at Berger Park is on the third floor of the building, up two flights of stairs. You will need to remove shoes to enter the space. Parking is limited in the area – CTA and ride share encouraged! Please leave feedback in the RSVP form if these factors present any obstacles or concerns that would prevent you from joining us.
Each two hour workshop starts with connecting our focused attention to our breath and bodies. We warm our vocal chords using gentle repetition of constants, vowels, and classic vocal exercises. We use imagery and release techniques from the Butoh (contemporary dance) world to loosen our everyday body and open more playful aspects of ourselves.
Through games and simple improvisational structures, we practice listening to one another, exploring vocal improvisation and playfully passing sound and movement.
CURATED BY HELEN LEE COLLIDING MUSICIANS AND DANCERS IN UNEXPECTED CONFIGURATIONS
PROGRAM ONE: HANNAH MARCUS & MITSU SALMON MARCH 28, 29 & 30 AT 8PM
This program begins with Hannah Marcus performing bones fragile, a movement and live sound looping piece that explores moments of infiniteness, tenderness, and memory featuring Milo Sachse-Hofheimer. Afterwards artist Mitsu Salmon accompanied by Kikù Hibino draws from her own family history, voice, and geology in her work Desert Turtle. GET TICKETS >>
PROGRAM TWO: FREEDOM FROM AND FREEDOM TO & KINNARI VORA APRIL 4, 5 & 6 AT 8PM
Featuring: Cristal Sabbagh, Scott Rubin, Amanda Maraist, Sharon Udoh, Kara Brody & Krissy Bergmark.
A publicity image for Freedom From and Freedom To, part of MERGE. Photo by Ricardo Adame.
Freedom From and Freedom To, led by Cristal Sabbagh, invites a pair of movement and sound improvisors from across Chicago to gather in front of a live audience, where they are grouped by chance. Artist Kinnari Vora dives into ritual with her piece Kissing The Earth, an offering to the ancestors who lived and breathed and at the same time are alive within us. GET TICKETS >>
About The LookOut Series
The LookOut Series is excited for the return of its curatorial residency program, offering an opportunity for a Chicago dance practitioner to curate a series of performances over a two-week span. Following on the success of last season’s series work around curated by Kara Brody and Amanda Maraist, this season Helen Lee curates a series entitled MERGE, colliding musicians and dancers in unexpected configurations for two programs of work.
MERGE is a portal into the works of various movement and sound artists from all walks of life. Each program moves like a concert with an opening gesture followed by a headlining performance. Together these pairings collide creating a world where the entanglements of the chaotic and harmonious facets of dance and music can offer us a place to ruminate, delight and sometimes heal.
ABOUT HELEN LEE
Helen Lee (they/she) is a Queer Asian Chicago-born interdisciplinary artist raised by immigrant parents from South Korea. They received an MFA with a focus in Performance and Film from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Dance with a minor in Theatre from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. They are the Artistic Director of Momentum Sensorium and have presented works in the US, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Iceland, Finland and Canada. Helen was selected for 2022 Newcity Breakout Artist and has been an Artist in Residence at Chicago Artists Coalition and Links Hall with a current residency at High Concept Labs and Chicago Cultural Center. Previously, they curated the Dance Program for APIDA Arts Festival at the MCA and OPEN/CLOSED: stories on moms and other precarious issues for SAIC’s Open Studio Night. Much of their work focuses on the senses, death, and the entanglement of light/shadow, summer/winter, joy/grief.
ABOUT HANNAH MARCUS
Hannah Marcus is a Chicago-based dance artist and maker interested in supporting and deconstructing the materiality of the body. Her research finds form in collaborative performance and video work, often exploring the nexus between movement and technology, sound, language, visual design, and site-specificity.
ABOUT MILO SACHSE-HOFHEIMER
Milo Sachse-Hofheimer graduated with a BFA in dance from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities in 2023 where they received training from Erin Thompson, Ananya Chatterjea, Carl Flink, Hijack, Marciano Dos Santos and Laura Osterhaus. Throughout college, they performed repertoire from Gallim, Robert Moses, Annie Hanauer, BRKFST, Black Label Movement, Elayna Waxse, Leila Awadallah, and Brother(hood). In their final year of school, Milo performed with The Limon Dance Company and self-produced an evening-length show at the Red Eye Theater. Outside of school, they had the opportunity to perform work from Paulina Olowaska at the Walker, present work with Corpus Callosum Dance at the Southern Theater and Minneapolis/Indianapolis Fringe, participate in Sidra Bell’s Research Module, and attend the B12 Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival and Gallim Winter Intensive. Since graduating, they have begun working with Black Label Movement as well as House of DOV, Hannah Marcus,and Fever Dream Dance Collective.
ABOUT MITSU SALMON
Mitsu Salmon creates visual and performing works that fuse multiple disciplines. Creating in differing media—translating one medium to another—is connected to the translation of differing cultures and languages. Her work draws from familial and personal narratives and then abstracts, expands and contradicts them. Her current projects investigate familial histories, nature, imperialism and archives.
Salmon received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and BFA from NYU. She has participated in artist residencies such as at Taipei Artist Village (Taiwan), Incheon Art Platform (Korea), Guildhall (NY) and Utah Museum of Contemporary Art. She has presented work at places such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Indianapolis Museum of Art and Chicago Cultural Center. She has received the Midwest Nexus Touring Grant, Chicago Dancemaker’s Lab Grant, Utah Performing Arts Fellowship and grants from Salt Lake City. She is currently an assistant professor at Brandeis University.
ABOUT KIKÙ HIBINO
Japanese-born sound artist Kikù Hibino produces electronic music that focuses on unusual rhythmic structures and melodies inspired by nature, optical illusion and moiré patterns.
From chamber music for media productions to ambient noise for art installations, he has collaborated internationally with a wide variety of artists and scholars, including Whitney Johnson, Baudouin Saintyves, Yuge Zhou, Mitsu Salmon, Kawaguchi Takao (Dumb Type), Theaster Gates, Mike Weis (Zelienople) and Norma Field.
Kikù is on the Italian record label Superpang. His work has been shown in the Museum Of Contemporary Art Chicago, Bemis Center For Contemporary Arts, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago Cultural Center, Three Walls, Compound Yellow, Elastic Arts, Hairpin Arts Center, Hyde Park Art Center, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art among others. He is a 2017 Individual Artist Grant recipient from Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, 2021 Outer Ear Artist in Residency at Experimental Sound Studio. Kikù lives and works in Chicago.
ABOUT KINNARI VORA
Kinnari Vora shares stories of universal human conditions and emotions through movement, meditation and theatrical practices. Her movements are rooted in Bharatanatyam (disciple of Sarmishtha Sarkar, India), various Indian folk dances and kalaripayattu martial arts. Her work is guided by ancestral energy, wisdom of nature and collaborative communion. Being a physical therapist and a yoga practitioner/instructor, she integrates healing practices in her dancemaking. Kinnari is co-founder and artistic co-chair of Ishti Collective and a dancer collaborator with Surabhi Ensemble. Her works have been presented at The Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit Dance City Festival, Pivot Arts Festival, Ragdale Foundation, World Music Festival, among others and in India.
ABOUT CRISTAL SABBAGH & SCOTT RUBIN
Cristal Sabbagh is a teaching interdisciplinary artist influenced by film, history, politics, Butoh and improvised sound. In her performances, her goal is to embody transformational memories, challenge power structures and awaken viewers’ senses. Cristal has found that working with live improvised music has inspired her best work, which has become vital to her practice.
Scott Rubin is a interdisciplinary musician and improvising violist whose work interrogates relationships between sound and movement through analog and digital means. His recent projects have involved interdisciplinary collaborations with musicians and dancers, often incorporating interactive acoustic/electronic improvisation, expanded performance practices, motion-sensors and live video. In these projects, he engages themes of intimacy, control and the sublime.
ABOUT AMANDA MARAIST & SHARON UDOH
Amanda Maraist is a movement based artist from the Texas Gulf Coast. In Chicago she co-directs bim bom studios, performs with Khecari, and works collaboratively with other performance, music and visual artists.
Sharon Udoh (they/she) is a gay, first-generation Nigerian-American composer, pianist, arranger, bandleader, and vocalist based in Chicago. Their work abandons genre and is expansive, and tells stories of human complexity, chaos and connection. She sometimes takes the stage under the name Counterfeit Madison; their performances are magnetic, dangerous, and kind, and her work has been commissioned by New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, Portland Lesbian Chorus, Atlanta Women’s Chorus and D-Composed Chicago. Find out more at counterfeitmadison.com.
ABOUT KARA BRODY & KRISSY BERGMARK
Kara Brody is a movement based artist focusing her work towards collaborative spaces. She teaches frequently throughout the Chicago area and currently in collaboration with Lucky Plush Productions, Erin Kilmurray, Khecari and Faye Driscoll.
Krissy Bergmark is a tabla player, percussionist, composer and educator. Bergmark centers her creative work on bringing tabla to new genres and cross-genres through composition and performance with a grounded understanding of the traditions of the instrument.
Yumiko Yoshioka lands soon in Chicago for another deep training workshop called Body Resonance. Based on Butoh and Organic Movement, we focus on the Sensitive and Curious Body.
May 4-7 in person workshop at the Color Club, Chicago, Il, USA
All bodies and levels of experience are encouraged to attend. This workshop is not for dancers only! Anyone with a curiosity to know their body in more ways, to rekindle or develop a new way of relating to your body. There are an infinite number of ways to play.
SUNFLOWERS FOR ZVENIGORA*
Wannapa P-Eubanks performs at a performance art series to benefit refugees from Ukraine. Photo by Liv Nunn Band
with Wannapa P-Eubanks Saturday Aug.27 & Sunday Aug.28, 2022 10am – 1pm each day Location: (TBA outdoors in Evanston, IL)
Two day workshop culminating in group ritual performance. Three hours each day, outside and under the sky!
Mindfully focus on unearthing deep connection to oneself, each other, and Nature. Weaving these elements relationship, telling story and expressing it through Butoh movements and/or words, etc…[Sky is unlimited]
In hope to re-inspire, to re-spark joy and sense of togetherness.
What to bring: Yoga mat and blanket for some on the ground work, comfortable layers, clothes, snacks and water. Stay hydrated! Include bug spray or sunscreen as needed.
All levels are welcome. Email me with any questions or accessibility needs.
Wannapa performing at Freedom From and Freedom To at Elastic Arts. Photo by Liina Raud
Wannapa P-Eubanks is as a Butoh dance performer, Improviser, Choreographer, Movement Coach, and emerging actor, who creates expressive dance/ movement inspired by personal memories. Her performances often stems from a personal experience or a specific memory that grows into a poetic image that she imbues with the memory. Her venues include Goodman Theatre, Raven Theatre, Chicago Cultural Center, The Athenaeum Theatre, Victory GardenTheatre, MCA, Links Hall, Ruth Page Center for the Arts, Access Living, Out of Site Chicago, Elastic Arts, and many more… She was selected to be one of Chicagoan artists to showcase for Dance/USA 2011 at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. Wannapa has been part of Laura Crotte’s theatre group to present the “Day of the Death” show for students in Chicago schools. She is a former company member of Erasing the Distance [ETD.]: a documentary theatre exploring mental health. As one of the 4 selected grantees of ETD, she has conceived and produced the performance piece titled: “Through My Daughter’s Eyes” as part of the 2016 PopUp Series for Erasing the Distance by collaborating Theater, and Butoh in the work. Her recent work as a Movement Coach/Choreographer for Collectivo El Pozo theatre group, and Out of Site Chicago to perform in 2018, 2019, Live Streaming in May 2020, and Summer Open-Flow interactive Public performance in collaboration with Chicago Park District in August 2021. She has taught Butoh workshops such as Butoh workshop for actors at Collaboraction Theatre Company, Erasing the Distance [Doc.Fest 2018], Halcyon Theatre, Butoh Body, Chicago Inclusive Dance Festival 2019 [Co-curated by Body Work, Access Living, and Momenta], and individuals artists/actors as part of movement coaching.
Butoh Curious Chi 