mitsu salmon – Butoh Curious Chi

Mitsu Salmon
Butoh Workshop Series

February 27th – March 20th, Saturdays at 11am PST
Visit Rogers Art Loft to Register

Mitsu Salmon will lead a Butoh, Japanese contemporary dance, workshop. We will work with guided imagery, movement and structured improvisation. The workshop draws from aspects and the trainings of Butoh and interweaves them with visions and textures of the desert from cacti to fission. The class will start with Noguchi exercises, which foster an experience of the body as water with the goal of encountering and releasing the body. Once our bodies and imaginations are opened, we will go into movement prompts. We will roll around in the sand, embody turtles and eat sour plums. Our bodies will become water seeping into cracks of rocks and ice creating ancient land formations. We will pull from imagery connected to animism, geology and physics. Students are welcome to modify exercises based on their comfort and inventiveness. The series works well together but also fine do drop-in. All levels welcome and please wear comfortable clothing.

Week 1

In week one, we will have a quick introduction to Butoh and Noguchi, looking at the history of the dance form and learning warm-ups. From there we will imagine rolling through various landscapes such as desert, ice and rock to embody land formations. We will explore various energies as connected to sensation and movement such as electric, nuclear and fission. We will then be introduced to brush walking (suri ashi), a meditative form of traditional butoh walking.

Week 2

In week two, we will start off again with the Noguchi warm-up. Looking at the writing of Kazuo Ohno, one of the founders of Butoh, we will dive into plant (desert and other) improvisation. We will explore ideas of ancestors and the environment. We will then be guided through layered imagery starting with a grandma eating plums to becoming a turtle.

Week 3

In week three, we will build upon the Noguchi warm up. We will then work with Kazuo Ohno prompt connected to family, the desert landscape and rain. We will then review brush walking. From there we will look at explosive energy and physical and emotional release.

Week 4

In week three, we will build about the Noguchi warm-up. I will then introduce examples and ideas of mythical creatures. From there we will be guided through one’s own imagery of mythical creatures. There creatures will then interact with one another whether through battle, dance or dream.

+++ CHECK THESE OUT TOO +++

Artist Talk February 12th at 6pm PST

Performance March 26th at 6pm PST

For more information, visit Rogers Art Loft

Solo Performance Works by Michael Sakamoto & Mitsu Salmon

Midwest Nexus Touring Grant Exchange

Sunday // December 3 at 7PM
Saturday // December 9 at 9PM

LINKS HALL
3111 W. Western Ave, Chicago, IL

As part of Trading Routes Festival

Info: http://www.linkshall.org/mitsu-salmon-michael-sakamoto/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/793864417459947

Tickets $12-15 at www.linkshall.org

BLIND SPOT
Michael Sakamoto & Christopher Jette
Sakamoto and Jette present excerpts from “blind spot,” a work-in-progress dance and sound performance. Using Michael’s autobiographical narrative and visual metaphors from photography and cinema, “blind spot” addresses the intersection between intellectual property, corporate militarism and personal narrative.

TSUCHI
Mitsu Salmon
Tsuchi is a solo interdisciplinary performance piece. It draws from Mitsu’s great- grandfather’s experience of immigrating from Japan to Hawaii as a farmer and then becoming his dream of becoming a high-end waiter. The piece delves into and obscures his life and then branches out to the stories of Mitsu’s. The work explores questions of family and travel through Butoh, contemporary, dance, and everyday movements with music and text. Awarded best collaborative multimedia dance performance and Top 5 best emerging dancer performances from Newcity 2015.

About the Artists:
MITSU SALMON creates original performance and visual works, which fuse multiple disciplines. Salmon received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2014. In 2005 she graduated from NYU where she majored in Experimental Theater.
She has performed solo work at places such Performance Space 122, Dance Theater Workshop, Highways Performance Space and internationally at Hebbel Am Uffer (Berlin) Central Saint Martins (London), and Urbanguild (Kyoto). She has participated in the Asquared Asian American Performance Festival in Chicago, the Berlin Performance Art Festival, and Act Art London Performance Art Festival. She has been awarded artists residencies at Earthdance in Massachettes, Oxbow in Michigan, Tsung Yeh in Taiwan and Villa Pandan Harum in Bali, Indonesia. In Chicago, she has been awarded residencies through High Concept Lab, the Cultural Center, and Links Hall. www.mitsusalmon.com

MICHAEL SAKAMOTO is an interdisciplinary artist active in dance, theatre, media and photography and one of the leading butoh-based performers in the USA. Dedicated to nurturing intercultural dialogue and cultural sustainability through performative and visual methodologies, Michael creates choreographic and narrative performances, media works and photo essays designed to challenge audience assumptions and reveal diverse experiences across geography, language and social boundaries. His works have been presented in 14 countries throughout Asia, Europe and North America, including at REDCAT, Vancouver International Dance Festival, Dance Center of Columbia College (2016), TACT/Fest Osaka, UCLA Fowler Museum and many others. He is currently touring: “Flash”, a butoh/hip-hop duet with acclaimed choreographer Rennie Harris; “Soil”, a dance theater trio with Southeast Asian dancers; and “blind spot”, an intermedia solo performance exploring intellectual property censorship and corporate militarism. Michael is also writing a book project, “An Empty Room: Butoh Performance and the Social Body in Crisis” for Wesleyan University Press.

CHRISTOPHER JETTE is a curator of lovely sounds, creating work as a composer and new media artist. His creative work explores the artistic possibilities at the intersection of human performers/creators and technological tools. Christopher’s research details his technical and aesthetic investigations and explores technology as a physical manifestation of formalized human constructs. A highly collaborative artist, he has created works that involve dance, theater, websites, electronics, food, toys, typewriters, cell phones, instrument design and good ol’ fashioned wood and steel instruments. In addition to creating concert music, Christopher explores Creative Placemaking through site-specific and interactive work as a core-four member of the Anchorage based Light Brigade. He was the 2015-16 Interdisciplinary Grant Wood Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Iowa and currently serves as Visiting Artist at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.