MAN WOMAN with Akihito Ichihara and Vangeline with costumes by Machine Dazzle

Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute

in collaboration with ELF and 

legendary New York artist Machine Dazzle 

Partner to Create MAN WOMAN,

to Premiere in 2024

 

Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute has partnered with ELF and the legendary New York artist Machine Dazzle to create a new duet titled MAN WOMAN, a collaboration between Butoh dancers Akihito Ichihara (Sankai Juku, ELF) and Vangeline. Ichihara and Vangeline plan to develop MAN WOMAN in 2024 in the UK with a 2024 UK premiere at the invitation of Surface Area Dance Theatre. MAN WOMAN is expected to premiere in the US in New York in 2025. Machine Dazzle will create original costumes for this piece.

MAN WOMAN is a reimagining of Japanese photographer Eikoh Hosoe’s eponymous photo book from 1960. Choreographed and performed by butoh dancers Akihito Ichihara (Sankai Juku, ELF) and Vangeline, the duet explores the tension between male and female forms. The iconic poses from the book serve as inspiration and leitmotifs for this sculptural piece; like photographs coming to life, the dancers weave in and out of the poses, their bodies creating an intimate story built around the tension found in negative space. 

In 1960, with his photographic masterpiece, Eikoh Hosoe tried to “capture the human drama in the dark, like a ritual in a closed room." The founder of Butoh Tatsumi Hijikata and his wife Motofuji are famously featured in the book. This new, dynamic dance encounter between two 21st-century Butoh artists from Japan and France/US approaches the project from a new perspective on power dynamics and gender. We also imagine this encounter as cultural cross-pollination: the creation of something new and original choreographically, carrying Butoh into the 21st century.

Photos by Ricardo Ramirez Arriola and Michael Blase

BIOGRAPHIES

Akihito Ichihara

Akihito Ichihara is Japanese Butoh dancer (ELF, Sankai Juku).

Ichihara started acting in his teenage years. In the 1980s, he was greatly influenced by watching the renowned Butoh troupe Sankai Juku on TV, which inspired him to explore a greater range of physical expression on stage. In 1993, he majored in theater at Nihon University College of Art. He was moved to pursue a Butoh career in 1994; in 1996, he studied with Semimaru, a founding member of Sankai Juku. In 1997, he appeared as a dancer in an opera directed by Ushio Amagatsu, the artistic director and choreographer of Sankai Juku, and later joined Sankai Juku. Since then, he has been featured in Sankai Juku’s entire repertoire and most of Sankai Juku’s world tours.

Ichihara is very active in theater, dance, and Butoh. In addition to his solo projects, he has worked with the most significant butoh dancers and butoh troupes in the history of contemporary butoh. Since the 2005 recreation of “Kinkan Shonen” (which premiered in 1978), he has danced solos in many of Sankai Juku’s performances and has led the group dances as one of the principal dancers. He is also in charge of the design and production of the accessories dancers wear on stage.

Parallel to his work with Sankai Juku, he collaborates with various choreographers, directors, and dance groups worldwide. He is also a guest faculty at Okayama University Graduate School and a guest speaker at international forums. 

In 2022, he founded the dance company “ELF” with dancers Kei Kamioka, Rino Fujimoto, and Miu Shibata. Since then, ELF has held workshops and presented works at renowned institutions and universities worldwide. In the spring of 2023, ELF went on tour in Latin America in Bogota, Colombia, and various locations in Mexico, Taiwan, and San Francisco. These activities received critical acclaim and repeat invitations. The company plans a world tour in 2024.

While many underground and grotesque expressions exist in Butoh, Ichihara, and ELF’s Butoh dance has deeply resonated with people worldwide. This dance is based on the “Sankai Juku Method,” a method accessible to everyone. By developing this method, Ichihara aims to go beyond Butoh by developing a dance technique that can bring a higher level of excellence to professional dancers in ballet, modern, and contemporary dance.

Ichihara hopes to continue learning, collaborating, progressing, and contributing to the development of dance worldwide. He is interested in creating and directing various dance projects that transcend borders, cultural differences, and styles of expression.

Ichihara aims to develop a form of dance that promotes empathy and mutual respect. His goal is to do this worldwide, even between countries and cities that still bear the scars of war. He would like to contribute by acting as a bridge and connecting people across the borders despite their differences.

By sharing physical expressions, dancing, and empathizing with each other, the hope is to transcend borders and contribute to peace efforts worldwide. Based on this idea, ELF advocates a ”Dance Project without Borders.”

Recent work by Akihito Ichihara

Photo by Pili Pala

Vangeline

Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in Japanese Butoh. She is the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute (New York), a dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese butoh while carrying it into the twenty-first century.

The Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute is dedicated to advancing Butoh in the 21st century, with a particular emphasis on education, social justice, research, and archiving.

The Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute reaches out to the New York and international community by offering public Butoh classes, workshops, and performances through collaborations with international and national Butoh artists. Our socially conscious performances tie together butoh and activism; our work addresses issues of gender inequality and social justice. Our yearly New York Butoh Institute Festival elevates the visibility of women in butoh, and our festival Queer Butoh gives a voice to LGBTQIA+ butoh artists.

Our award-winning, 18-year running program, The Dream a Dream Project, brings Butoh dance to incarcerated men and women at correctional facilities across New York State. "The Dream a Dream Project" contributes to the rehabilitation of New York's incarcerated population. Overall, our programs promote equity, diversity, and inclusion in the field of butoh. 

Vangeline firmly believes that Butoh can be an instrument of personal and collective transformation in the 21st century. This transformation comes from holding a mirror to each other and integrating our many facets–the beautiful and the ugly; and from reintegrating the forgotten of our society into our midst. 

Vangeline’s choreographed works have been performed in Chile, Hong Kong, Germany, Denmark, France, the UK, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. She is a 2022/2023 Gibney Dance Dance in Process residency and the 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award winner. She is also a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellow in Choreography for Elsewhere, the winner of the 2015 Gibney Dance Social Action Award and the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Her work has been heralded in publications such as the New York Times (“captivating”) and Los Angeles Times (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”) to name a few. Film projects include a starring role alongside actors James Franco and Winona Ryder in the feature film by director Jay Anania, 'The Letter" (2012-Lionsgate). 

In recent years, she has been commissioned by triple Grammy Award-winning artists Esperanza Spalding, Skrillex, and David J. (Bauhaus). She is the author of the critically-acclaimed book: Butoh: Cradling Empty Space, which explores the intersection of Butoh and neuroscience. She pioneered the first neuroscientific study of Butoh (“The Slowest Wave”). She is also featured on BBC’s podcast Deeply Human with host Dessa (episode 2 of 12: Why We Dance).

https://www.vangeline.com

Recent work by Vangeline

Machine Dazzle

Machine Dazzle. Beloved downtown bon vivant and all-around creative provocateur Machine Dazzle has been dazzling stages via costumes, sets, and performance since his arrival in New York in 1994. An artist, costume designer, set designer, singer/songwriter, art director, and maker, Machine describes himself as a radical queer emotionally driven, instinct-based concept artist and thinker trapped in the role of costume designer, sometimes.

Machine designs intricate, unconventional wearable art pieces and bespoke installations. As a stage designer, Machine has collaborated with artists from the New York downtown scene and beyond – including Julie Atlas Muz, Big Art Group, Mx. Justin Vivian Bond, Taylor Mac, Basil Twist, Godfrey Reggio, Jennifer Miller, The Dazzle dancers, Big Art Group, Mike Albo, Stanley Love, Soomi Kim, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Opera Philadelphia, the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, the Curran Theatre, and Spiegelworld; and has created bespoke looks for fashion icons including designer Diane von Furstenberg and model Cara Delevingne for the 2019 Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala.

Machine’s costumes and sets were featured in Taylor Mac’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. A documentary feature film directed by Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein and co-produced by Pomegranate Arts will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023.

In 2019, Machine was commissioned by Guggenheim Works and Process and The Rockefeller Brothers to create Treasure, a rock-and-roll cabaret of original songs including a fashion show inspired by the content.

Recent collaborations include the Catalyst Quartet on Bassline Fabulous – a reimagining of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and his debut collaboration with Opera Lafayette, for the historic premiere of the never-before-seen Rameau comedic opéra-ballet, Io.

Dazzle was a co-recipient the 2017 Bessie Award for Outstanding Visual Design, the winner of a 2017 Henry Hewes Design Award, and a 2022 United States Artists Fellow. He delivered a TED Talk at TED Vancouver in 2023.

Machine Dazzle’s work has been exhibited internationally. His first solo exhibition, Queer Maximalism x Machine Dazzle, was held at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City in 2022.

https://www.pomegranatearts.com/artist/machine/

Photo by Gregory Kramer


PHOTOS FROM THE BOOK MAN WOMAN BY EIKOH HOSOE

Eikoh Hosoe pictures courtesy of Eikoh Hosoe. All rights reserved.

 

Vangeline is the recipient of US Artist International award to travel to FiButoh 2022 in Santiago, Chile

Photo By Hugo Angel

Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute is proud to announce that Vangeline was the recipient of a US Artist International award to travel to the FiButoh 2022 Festival in Santiago, Chile, October 9-23, 2022.

https://www.fibutoh.com/

As part of this engagement, Vangeline will perform her critically acclaimed solo Eternity123.

This program was made possible by generous support from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.


Vangeline is the Recipient of 2022/23 Gibney Dance in Process Artist Residency

Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute

Announces

Vangeline is the Recipient of

2022/23 Gibney Dance in Process Artist Residency

Azumi Oe and Sindy Butz wearing a Muse 2 brain sensing headband–Photo by Tal Shpantzer

Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute announces that Founder and Artistic Director Vangeline is the recipient of a 2022/23 Gibney Dance in Process (DiP) Residency.

During the residency, butoh artist Vangeline will continue developing The Slowest Wave, a pioneering project combining butoh and neuroscience. In collaboration with neuroscientists Sadye Paez, Constantina Theofanopoulou and Jose ‘Pepe’ Contreras-Vidal, and composer Ray Sweeten, Vangeline is choreographing a 60-minute ensemble butoh piece, which is uniquely informed by the protocol being established for a scientific pilot study researching the impact of butoh on brain activity. Vangeline and Sweeten are building on a 20-year history of creative collaboration with a soundscape that is informed by techniques of brainwave entrainment (techniques that affect consciousness through sound). The Slowest Wave investigates the relationship between human consciousness and dance through the use of scalp electroencephalography (EEG); and will foster connections and understanding between dancers, artists, scientists, engineers, and audiences from around the world.

In October 2022, the first iteration of The Slowest Wave will premiere at Triskelion Arts in Brooklyn. As part of her residency in January 2023, the dancers' brain activity will be recorded for the pilot study at the University of Houston, Texas, culminating in a live performance, with real-time visualization of the dancers’ neural synchrony and slow brain wave activity. Results will then be disseminated in scientific journals.

Vangeline is one of six mid-career New York City-based dance artists who are in the process of developing a new project being supported by Gibney Center this year. The other 2022/23 DiP Artists are Ori Flomin, Antonio Ramos, Stacy Matthew Spence, Kate Watson-Wallace, and Director's DiP/AiR Recipient Sidra Bell. 

DiP is designed to provide extensive, holistic support for artists. Resident Artists each receive three weeks of exclusive, continuous access to a studio at one of Gibney’s locations, as well as a $7,500 stipend and a $2,000 allowance for artistic consultants. During their season in residence, participating artists will also receive an additional 40 hours of discounted studio space in designated studios, as well as professional development and administrative support from Gibney Center staff.

For more information about Vangeline and her work, visit vangeline.com.

Gibney’s Dance in Process Residency Program was made possible with generous support from the Mellon Foundation.

 

ABOUT GIBNEY 

Founded by Gina Gibney in 1991, Gibney is a New York City-based performing arts and social justice organization that taps into the vast potential of movement, creativity, and performance to effect social change and personal transformation. Gibney deploys resources through three strategic and interwoven program areas: Gibney Center, a meeting ground for New York City's artistic community comprising 23 studios and 5 performance spaces that provide critical space for training, rehearsal, professional development, performances, and convenings; Gibney Community, programs that use movement to help address a range of social issues with a focus on gender-based violence and its prevention; and Gibney Company, the organization's resident dance ensemble. Gibney supports movement-based artists in every aspect of their creative development: classes, residencies, low-cost rental space, entrepreneurial training and incubation, presentation opportunities, commissioning, and operating a professional dance company.

Vangeline wearing a MUSE 2 brain sensing headband–photo by Tal Shpantzer

ABOUT VANGELINE

Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in Japanese butoh. She is the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute (New York), a dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese butoh while carrying it into the twenty-first century.

With her all-female dance company, Vangeline’s socially conscious performances tie together butoh and activism. Vangeline is the founder of the New York Butoh Institute Festival, which elevates the visibility of women in butoh, and the Queer Butoh festival. She pioneered the award-winning, 15-year running program The Dream a Dream Project, which brings butoh dance to incarcerated men and women at correctional facilities across New York State. Her choreographed work has been performed in Chile, Hong Kong, Germany, Denmark, France, the UK, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

She is the winner of a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award; is a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellow in Choreography for Elsewhere, and the winner of the 2015 Gibney Dance Social Action Award, as well as the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Vangeline has taught at Cornell University, New York University, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Sarah Lawrence, and Princeton University (Princeton Atelier). Film projects include a starring role alongside actors James Franco and Winona Ryder in the feature film by director Jay Anania, 'The Letter" (2012-Lionsgate). In recent years, she has been commissioned by triple Grammy Award-winning artists Esperanza Spalding, Skrillex, and David J. (Bauhaus). She is the author of the critically-acclaimed book: Butoh: Cradling Empty Space. Her work is the subject of CNN’s “Great Big Story” "Learning to Dance with your Demons.” She is also featured on BBC’s podcast Deeply Human with host Dessa (episode 2 of 12 : Why We Dance) and is a member of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science. www.vangeline.com

 

VANGELINE THEATER/ NEW YORK BUTOH INSTITUTE aims to preserve the legacy and integrity of Japanese Butoh while carrying the art form well into the future. The unique art of Butoh originated in post-World War II Japan as a reaction to the loss of identity caused by the westernization of Japanese culture, as well as a realization that ancient Japanese performing traditions no longer spoke to a contemporary audience. The Vangeline Theater is home to the New York Butoh Institute, dedicated to the advancement of Butoh in the 21st century.

Sadye Paez is a Research Fellow at the New York University’s Center for Ballet and the Arts and a Senior Research Associate in the Neurogenetics of Language Laboratory (Erich D. Jarvis) at The Rockefeller University, studying the neurobiology and genetic basis of why humans dance. She is also currently the science communications director for the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP), which aims to generate near error-free reference genome assemblies of all ~70,000 living vertebrate species. Sadye’s specific research efforts with these genomic projects focus on the sixth mass extinction and conservation. Sadye’s early training as a physiotherapist and biomechanist laid the underpinnings for her current work in understanding the evolution of dance. She earned her undergraduate and master degrees at the University of Central Florida in Micro and Molecular Biology and Physiotherapy, respectively, and her PhD in Biomechanics/Human Movement Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill). She was previously an Assistant Professor in Physiotherapy in the Schools of Medicine at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill. Decolonizing science by addressing the principles, processes, and practices that shape STEM culture is Sadye’s passion. She is currently an inaugural chair of the justice, equity, diversity and inclusion committee for the EBP. She is involved with Women in Science at Rockefeller (WISeR); she has also participated in Science Saturday, a STEM festival for K-8 students and their families. Sadye is also a competitive Latin dancer.

Constantina Theofanopoulou is an Associate Research Professor at Hunter College, City University of New York, a Visiting Associate Professor at Rockefeller University and a Research Fellow at the New York University. She is interested in understanding the neurobiology of social communication, in complex human behaviors, such as speech and dance. In her trajectory so far, she has led and collaborated in studies ranging from behavioral neuroscience to comparative genomics. Her studies have been published in impactful scientific journals (e.g., Nature, Proceedings of Royal Society B) and her findings have attracted media’s interest worldwide (e.g., Science), while she has been invited to give ~60 lectures, including at Harvard Medical School and Columbia University. Dr. Theofanopoulou has received more than 20 awards for her scientific studies, including the distinction in the Forbes 2021 list of the 30 most successful scientists under the age of 30. Dr. Theofanopoulou is also actively involved in the dissemination of science to the general public and in inspirational speech (e.g., speech at the University of Yale, TED talk), as well as in the support of underrepresented minorities in science. She has served as STEM mentor in the New York Academy of Sciences, teaching Life Sciences to elementary and middle school students in underserved communities throughout NYC, and in 2021, she was voted networking coordinator at the Council of the Rockefeller Inclusive Science Initiative. Lastly, Constantina is a flamenco dancer, having performed in many solo and group shows worldwide; in 2012, she was awarded with the first prize of the Spanish Dance Society.

Jose ‘Pepe’ Contreras-Vidal, PhD (Fellow IEEE, Fellow AIMBE) is Cullen Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the NSF Research Center for Building Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnology (IUCRC BRAIN) at the University of Houston. He pioneered noninvasive brain-machine interfaces to exoskeletons and prosthetics to restore motor function in individuals with disabilities. His work at the nexus of art and science is opening new windows to study the neural basis of human creativity in children and adults while informing neuroaesthetics, neural interfaces, and the power of the arts (dance, music, visual art) as a modulator of brain activity. Dr. Contreras-Vidal has collaborated with many performing and visual artists to investigate the neural basis of creativity; most recently, he collaborated with Tony Brandt, a Professor of Composition and Theory at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and Artistic Director of the new music ensemble Musiqa, and Noble Motion Dance Company on “LiveWire,” a new ballet in which each section was inspired by a different feature of brain behavior.  Two of the dancers were outfitted with EEG caps that monitored their brains during the rehearsal and performance. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, a new chamber work titled Diabelli 200, one of four winners of the 2022 Performing Arts Houston competition, will be premiered in Houston on February 25, 2023. Diabelli 200, composed by Tony Brand, reveals the inner workings of human imagination and will feature flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, and cello (Musiqa) while showcasing cutting-edge mobile brain-body neurotechnology to visualize the brain in action. Dr. Contreras-Vidal edited the Springer book Mobile Brain-Body Imaging and the Neuroscience of Art, Innovation, and Creativity. He was the co-chair of the 2022 International Workshop on the Social and Neural Bases of Creative Movement held at the Wolf Trap National Center for the Performing Arts. His career development in biomedical engineering was highlighted by the journal Science. Dr. Contreras-Vidal has received many awards and honors, including being named a Senior Research Scholar by the City of Paris, France, a Fellow of the Human Frontiers Science Program, and named a member of the National Advisory Board for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NABMRR) at the National Institute of Health. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, DARPA, Industry and Philanthropy. His research has appeared in The Economist, Nature, Science, Der Spiegel, and Wall Street Journal, among others. 

 

Ray Sweeten aka Barragan-Sweeten (b. 1975) is a visual artist & sound maker based in New York and Rhode Island. He has performed and screened works at Moma/PS1, San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, New York Film Festival, Anthology Film Archive, Issue Project Room, Participant Gallery, Microscope Gallery, The Kitchen, Roulette, and toured throughout Europe as a member of Fabrica Musica. He has released music as f13 on Beige Records, and as The Mitgang Audio on Suction Records. In 2010 he co-founded DataSpaceTime with visual artist Lisa Gwilliam and has exhibited, performed and screened works at Centre Pompidou, Parish Museum, City Center NY, Microscope Gallery, AS220, Next Festival at BAM, Florida Atlantic University, Cica Museum. He has taught at Guggenheim Museum and was guest artist faculty at Sarah Lawrence with L. Gwilliam. DataSpaceTime is represented by Microscope Gallery in NYC.

Photo Credits:

Dr. Contreras-Vidal by Claire Mc Adams.

Vangeline–photo by Michael Blase

Photo descriptions:

Top photo: Two dancers wearing long black dresses and a MUSE 2 brain recording headband. One dancer is profile, and the other facing front. Both have long hair in a very clean bun.

2. Vangeline in Fireflies, balancing on her sit bone with blue lighting, profile with arms above her head, making a G letter shape with her body. She is wearing a yellow see-through camisole. Her hair is long and flowing down her back.

3, 4, 5. Headshot portraits of Sadye Paez, Constantina Theofanopoulou , Jose ‘Pepe’ Contreras-Vidal, PhD., and Ray Sweeten.


 

The Slowest Wave is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the NSF IUCRC BRAIN Center at the University of Houston, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why We Dance: Vangeline on BBC's Deeply Human with Dessa Darling–launches Feb 26

Choreographer Vangeline

will be featured on

the BBC Podcast Deeply Human

with Host Dessa Darling

February 26 & 27, 2022

 

Vangeline will be featured on the second season of the BBC podcast Deeply Human, hosted by Dessa Darling, which will be broadcast live on February 26 & 27, 2022, at the top of the 2 o’clock hour, local time. The episode is entitled “Why We Dance,” and will be available to stream shortly after broadcast on the BBC website.

 

On the episode, Vangeline and Dessa discuss why our bodies react to rhythm: from rain dances to raves, dance has been a social tool for sexual selection and community cohesion. The pair explores the neuroscience of music and movement and learns how dance therapy is used to treat motor disorders. Vangeline also gives Dessa a lesson in butoh - the Japanese form sometimes called “the Dance of Darkness” - at her Gowanus studio.

 

Season Two of Deeply Human covers monogamy, sleep deprivation, high fashion, and avant-garde Japanese dance. Dessa speaks to psychologists, animal behaviorists, mathematicians, historians, and one legendary DJ to ask the evergreen question: why do you do what you do? Why does music animate our bodies? Why are we so keen to form social hierarchies? Why do humans use intoxicants? We're talking about everyone's favorite topic—you.

 

About Vangeline

Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in Japanese butoh. She is

the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute (New York), a

dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese butoh while carrying it into the

twenty-first century.

 

With her all-female dance company, Vangeline’s socially conscious performances tie

together butoh and activism. Vangeline is the founder of the New York Butoh Institute

Festival, which elevates the visibility of women in butoh, and the festival Queer Butoh.

She pioneered the award-winning, 15-year running program The Dream a Dream

Project, which brings butoh dance to incarcerated men and women at correctional

facilities across New York State. Her choreographed work has been performed in Chile,

Hong Kong, Germany, Denmark, France, the UK, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

 

Vangeline is the winner of a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award. She

is also a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellow in Choreography for Elsewhere (a work that

began as an artistic commission from Surface Area Dance Theatre with support from the

Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and the Heritage Lottery Fund UK); the winner of

the 2015 Gibney Dance Social Action Award as well as the 2019 Janet Arnold Award

from the Society of Antiquaries of London. Her work as an educator, choreographer and

curator has been supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, Japan Foundation,

New York Department of Cultural Affairs, New York Foundation for the Arts, New

York Council on the Arts, Robert Friedman Foundation, and Asian American Arts

Alliance.

 

Vangeline’s work has been heralded in publications such as the New York Times

(“captivating”) and Los Angeles Times (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a

practiced Japanese Butoh artist”) to name a few.

 

Widely regarded as an expert in her field, Vangeline has taught at Cornell University,

New York University, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Sarah Lawrence, and Princeton

University (Princeton Atelier). Film projects include a starring role alongside actors

James Franco and Winona Ryder in the feature film by director Jay Anania, The

Letter (2012-Lionsgate).

 

In recent years, she has been commissioned by triple Grammy Award-winning artists

Esperanza Spalding, Skrillex, and David J. (Bauhaus). She is the author of the critically-acclaimed book Butoh: Cradling Empty Space, which explores the intersection of butoh

and neuroscience. Her work is the subject of CNN’s “Great Big Story” "Learning to

Dance with your Demons.”

 

About Deeply Human

Why do you do the things you do? Hosted by American musician and writer, Dessa, Deeply Human investigates the human experience with rigor, humor, intimate stories, and the occasional spit take. Assembling brilliant minds from around the world--from philosophers to anthropologists, neuroscientists to historians--you will be left with a fuller understanding of your own behavior, and a more charitable explanation of other people's too.

 

@bbcworld @iheartradio @deeplyhuman @dessadarling @bbcworldservice

 Check it out!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct3hgv

Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute resumes in-person butoh classes February 5th–plus online, and on-demand classes offered

Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute resumes in-person butoh classes February 5th–plus online and on-demand butoh classes

Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh is happy to resume in-person butoh classes and workshops in New York, starting February 5, 2022. Online classes will continue to be offered via Zoom; we are also excited to expand our on-demand roster of butoh classes and workshops on Vimeo.

Join us, in-person, online via Zoom, or practice butoh on your own time with our popular on-demand classes and workshops. Classes are taught by butoh dancer and expert Vangeline.

For a calendar of in-person and online butoh classes, visit www.vangeline.com/calendar.

To take our butoh classes on-demand, visit www.vangeline.com/on-demand-classes.


Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute is dedicated to the advancement of butoh in the 21st century, With 20 years of experience in the field, we pride ourselves on making butoh dance accessible to complete beginners, actors, dancers, and students from all walks of life.

The Vangeline Theater does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identification. Our classes are open to everyone interested in studying butoh. We welcome students with disabilities. Our classes are trauma-informed, open level, and beginners are welcome.

Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in Japanese butoh. She is the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute (New York), a dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese butoh while carrying it into the twenty-first century. 

Vangeline is the founder of the New York Butoh Institute Festival, which elevates the visibility of women in butoh, and the festival Queer Butoh. She pioneered the award-winning, 15-year running program The Dream a Dream Project, bringing butoh dance to incarcerated men and women at correctional facilities across New York State. Her choreographed works have been performed in Chile, Hong Kong, Germany, Denmark, France, the UK, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. 

She won a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award. She is also a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellow in Choreography for Elsewhere ; the winner of the 2015 Gibney Dance Social Action Award as well as the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London. Her work as an educator, choreographer, and curator has been supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, Japan Foundation, New York Department of Cultural Affairs, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York Council on the Arts, Robert Friedman Foundation, and Asian American Arts Alliance.

Vangeline’s work has been heralded in publications such as the New York Times (“captivating”) and Los Angeles Times (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”) to name a few

Widely regarded as an expert in her field, Vangeline has taught at Cornell University, New York University, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Sarah Lawrence, and Princeton University (Princeton Atelier). Film projects include a starring role alongside actors James Franco and Winona Ryder in the feature film by director Jay Anania, ‘The Letter” (2012-Lionsgate).                     

In recent years, she has been commissioned by triple Grammy Award-winning artists Esperanza Spalding, Skrillex, and David J. (Bauhaus). She is the author of the critically-acclaimed book: Butoh: Cradling Empty Space, which explores the intersection of butoh and neuroscience. Her work is the subject of CNN’s “Great Big Story” “Learning to Dance with your Demons.” She is soon to be featured on the BBC in Dessa Darling’s show Deeply Human.

www.vangeline.com

 

Photos by Marco Poolamets.

Vangeline Theater Receives $10,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

Vangeline Theater Receives $10,000 Grant

from the National Endowment for the Arts

 

New YorkVangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute has been approved for a $10,000 Grants for Arts Projects award to support The Slowest Wave. This project combines butoh and neuroscience, culminating in a full-length choreographed piece for four dancers. Vangeline Theater’s project is among 1,248 projects across America totaling $28,840,000 that were selected to receive this first round of fiscal year 2022 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects category.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects like this one from Vangeline Theater that help support the community’s creative economy,” said NEA Acting Chair Ann Eilers. Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute in New York is among the arts organizations nationwide that are using the arts as a source of strength, a path to well-being, and providing access and opportunity for people to connect and find joy through the arts.”

“We are so grateful to receive this award from The National Endowment for the Arts,” says Artistic Director and choreographer Vangeline. “One important precept in butoh is to "make the invisible visible." I cannot think of a better way to honor our beautiful yet mysterious art form.”

The Slowest Wave will be informed by the brain-wave activity of butoh dancers. In combination with live performances, a series of lectures and demonstrations will be offered to educate the public about brain-wave activity and butoh. The Slowest Wave investigates the relationship between human consciousness and dance through the use of EEG and will create connections between dancers, scientists, and audiences in the US.

The Slowest Wave will premiere in the Fall of 2022 in New York City.

Vangeline Theater receives a $10,000 award from National Endownment for the Arts

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Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute has been approved for a $10,000 Art Works grant to support The New York Butoh Institute Festival 2020. This award will support performances for our Butoh Festival in New York, taking place at Theater for the New City between October 22 and 25, 2020.

Overall, the National Endowment for the Arts has approved 1,187 grants totaling $27.3 million in the first round of fiscal year 2020 funding to support arts projects in every state in the nation, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The Art Works funding category supports projects that focus on public engagement with, and access to, various forms of excellent art across the nation; the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence; learning in the arts at all stages of life; and the integration of the arts into the fabric of community life.

“The arts are at the heart of our communities, connecting people through shared experiences and artistic expression,” said Arts Endowment Chairman Mary Anne Carter. “The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support projects like The New York Butoh Institute Festival 2020”.

"The Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute is thrilled to have received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts to support its Butoh Festival in 2020”, says Vangeline Theater's Artistic Director, Vangeline. "The New York Butoh Institute Festival 2020 will be our third female-focused festival and will continue to celebrate the female expression in Butoh. In 2020, we are featuring the work of ten female/non-binary/LGBT/Q dancers from Asia, Latin America, and the United States. The Festival will showcase performances by established artists, such as Yuko Kaseki, and Natalia Cuéllar, as well as the works of established and emerging local butoh dancers.

NEA’s Art Works grant aids our ability to promote diversity, excellence, and innovation in the field of dance.
— Vangeline

For more information on projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news

The Recreation of Tatsumi Hijikata's 1968 costume

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Tatsumi Hijikata’s 1968 costume of “Revolt of the Body” - Photo Matthew Placek

Tatsumi Hijikata’s 1968 costume of “Revolt of the Body” - Photo Matthew Placek

The Recreation of Tatsumi Hijikata's 1968 costume

In 1968 came a turning point in Butoh’s history with a dance solo called Nikutai no hanran (Tatsumi Hijikata and The Japanese - Revolt of the Flesh), performed by the founder of Butoh Tatsumi Hijikata in Tokyo. For the legendary performance, Tatsumi Hijikata wore a spectacular red costume, which was presumably made by hand by his wife, Akiko Motofuji. The long, ruffled costume was inspired by flamenco dance. Since 1968, it has captured the imagination of hundreds of Butoh enthusiasts worldwide. Until now, only black and white photographs were available of this magnificent costume.

Tatsumi Hijikata in Revolt of the Body, 1968, Tokyo. Photo by Tadao Nakatani. All rights reserved.

Tatsumi Hijikata in Revolt of the Body, 1968, Tokyo. Photo by Tadao Nakatani. All rights reserved.

In 2019, thanks to a Janet Arnold Award of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a loan from the Tatsumi Hijikata Archives, Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute researched how the costume was designed by recreating it. The costume was professionally photographed by Matthew Placeck and recreated by Todd Thomas.

Photos by Matthew Placek of Tatsumi Hijikata’s 1968 costume. All rights reserved.

Hijikata’s legendary costume is a totem of sorts; it holds secrets of the avant-garde art form. Much like Butoh itself, it was born at the confluence of East and West. This costume chronicles the evolution of postmodern art in Japan, and as such, deserved to be carefully studied, and thrown into the limelight once again.

Vangeline wearing the replica of Hijikata’s costume by Todd Thomas. Photos by Matthew Placek. All rights reserved.

In 2019, Butoh artist Vangeline created Hijikata Mon Amour, a solo piece featuring the replica of Tatsumi Hijikata’s costume (recreated by Todd Thomas).  The piece premiered October 24 through October 26, 2019, at the New York Butoh Institute Festival at Theater for the New City and received critical acclaim from the New York Press.

LINK TO DANCE VIEW TIMES REVIEW

LINK TO BROADWAY WORLD REVIEW

If you’ve seen one Butoh show you’ve seen them all— but you’ve never seen anything like Vangeline. Her bid to plant Butoh in the West, in female form, is ballsy and beautiful, unexpected and right.
— Dance View Times -- Tom Philips --October 26, 2019
Vangeline in Hijikata Mon Amour - Photo by Michael Blase - October 24, 2019

Vangeline in Hijikata Mon Amour - Photo by Michael Blase - October 24, 2019

A challenging yet triumphant experience for both performer and viewer. Hijikata would have been proud.
— Broadway World-- Cindy Siblinsky--November 11, 2019

On October 27, 2019, the New York Butoh Institute Festival closed with the viewing of a short film by Hiroshi Nakamura of Hijikata in Nikutai no hanran, and an artist talk with Todd Thomas. The recreated costume was on display.

Costumes are an essential part of the magic of performances. This costume has become part of the legacy of Butoh and is a historical treasure. As such, Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute gave it its rightful place in history by documenting it for future generations.

We are grateful to Takashi Morishita and The Tatsumi Hijikata Archives, who made a generous loan of this historical costume for the duration of the project. This recreation of this historic costume was made possible by a 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Tatsumi Hijikata Archives.

 

COLLABORATORS

 

The Hijikata Tatsumi Archive at Keio University is dedicated to the preservation of butoh and Tatsumi Hijikata's heritage. http://www.art-c.keio.ac.jp/en/archives/list-of-archives/hijikata-tatsumi/. We particularly wish to thank Mr. Takashi Morishita, who has supported this project.

Takashi Morishita at the Tatsumi Hijikata Archives in July 2017 (with Vangeline and Shoshana Green. Photo by Azumi Oe)

Takashi Morishita at the Tatsumi Hijikata Archives in July 2017 (with Vangeline and Shoshana Green. Photo by Azumi Oe)

Todd Thomas. Originally from Murphysboro, Illinois, with roots in Saint Louis Missouri, Todd Thomas is a cross-disciplinary art director, designer and educator who has been based in New York for thirty years. Drawing on over twenty-five years of experience working across the disciplines of art, fashion, and entertainment, Thomas envisions the long- term needs of these diverse creative fields from concept through execution, to branding and disbursement. Working with leading cultural figures, trailblazers and celebrity clientele, Thomas possesses a holistic understanding of how art and design not only delights aesthetically but acts as an economic engine and socio-cultural force that improves lives. Past clients have included Cindy Sherman, Justin Vivian Bond, CR Fashion, Katy Perry, Debbie Harry, Nicki Minaj, Gwen Stephanie, Jennifer Lopez, Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Helmut Lang, Vangeline Theater, Versace, Vera Wang, and Kanye West.  In addition to his freelance work, Thomas has worked as adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design, a career mentor at the Ali Forney Center, and served as the Senior Director of Barrett Barrera Projects’ New York Office,  focusing on developmental and curatorial projects such as Charliewood New York and CHRISTEENE + PJ Raval artist residency featuring Justin Vivian Bond.

Born in Ohio, Matthew Placek relocated to New York City in 1997 to pursue his interests in photography, video, and installation. His commitment to capturing presence, whether as a sense of place, the passage of time, or the relationships between people, has led to his multimedia output. His practice is durational and also engaged with the archive. Of primary concern to Placek is negotiating uninterrupted concentration from both his viewers and subjects, which he does through expanding the formal and conceptual notions of portraiture. As attention spans diminish due to the spatio-temporal dislocations of the era, the frenzied use of cell phones and social media, Placek is interested in cultivating a moment with the sitter that lasts longer than a glance and can generate immersive and resonant experiences.

Matthew Placek has collaborated with notable contemporary artists such as Marina Abramović, Julian Schnabel, David Salle, Vanessa Beecroft, Richard Prince, Brice Marden, Cindy Sherman, James Ivory, and Yoko Ono. His individual and collaborative work has been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Kitchen, Deitch Projects, Mary Boone Gallery, Galleria Lia Rumma, the Sundance Film Festival’s “New Frontier,” The Toronto International Film Festival, The Stockholm International Film Festival, The National Young Arts Foundation and the National Monument Fort Jay at Governors Island. Placek has been awarded grants from The National Young Arts Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. He has been in residence at The Pocantico Center at the Rockefeller estate and Marfa, Texas. http://www.matthewplacek.com/



About The Society Of Antiquaries London

The Society’s mission is the “encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries." The Society of Antiquaries of London Royal Charter (1751). The Society was founded in 1707 and today our 3,000 Fellows include many distinguished archaeologists and art and architectural historians holding positions of responsibility across the cultural heritage. The Fellowship is international in its reach and its interests are inclusive of all aspects of the material past. As a registered charity (207237), the Society’s principal objectives are to foster public understanding of that heritage, to support research and communicate the results and to engage in the formulation of public policy on the care of our historic environment and cultural property. https://www.sal.org.uk/about-us/

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THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY

 (TNC) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning community cultural center that is known for its high artistic standards and widespread community service. One of New York’s most prolific theatrical organizations, TNC produces 30-40 premieres of new American plays per year, at least 10 of which are by emerging and young playwrights. Many influential theater artists of the last quarter century have found TNC’s Resident Theater Program instrumental to their careers, among them Sam Shepard, Moises Kaufman, Richard Foreman, Charles Busch, Maria Irene Fornes, Miguel Piñero, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Vin Diesel, Oscar Nuñez, Laurence Holder, Romulus Linney and Academy Award Winners Tim Robbins and Adrien Brody. TNC also presents plays by multi-ethnic/multi-disciplinary theater companies who have no permanent home. Among the well-known companies that have been presented by TNC are Mabou Mines, the Living Theater, Bread and Puppet Theater, the San Francisco Mime Troupe and COBU, the Japanese women’s drumming, and dance group. TNC seeks to develop theater audiences and inspire future theater artists from the often-overlooked low-income minority communities of New York City by producing minority writers from around the world and by bringing the community into theater and theater into the community through its many free Festivals. TNC productions have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and over 42 OBIE Awards for excellence in every theatrical discipline. TNC is also the only Theatrical Organization to have won the Mayor’s Stop The Violence award. www.theaterforthenewcity.net

 

VANGELINE THEATER/ NEW YORK BUTOH INSTITUTE aims to preserve the legacy and integrity of Japanese Butoh while carrying the art form into the future. The Vangeline Theater is home to the New York Butoh Institute, dedicated to the advancement of Butoh in the 21st century. www.vangeline.com



Vangeline

Vangeline

Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in the Japanese postwar avant-garde movement form Butoh. She is the Artistic Director of the Vangeline Theater (New York), a dance firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese Butoh while carrying it into the 21st century, and the founder of the New York Butoh Institute.

She is a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellow in Choreography. Vangeline's work has been heralded in publications such as the New York Times (“captivating”), Los Angeles Times, (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”) and LA Weekly to name a few. Widely regarded as an expert in her field, Vangeline has lectured about butoh at Cornell University, New York University, Brooklyn College, CUNY and Princeton University (Princeton Atelier). She has taught and performed in Japan, Chile, Hong Kong, the UK, Denmark, Germany, France, the U.S, and Taiwan.

Vangeline is the winner of the 2015 Gibney Dance's Beth Silverman-Yam Social Action Award and the winner of the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London. Film projects include a starring role alongside actors James Franco and Winona Ryder in the feature film by director Jay Anania, 'The letter' (2012-Lionsgate). She has performed with/for Grammy Award Winning artists SKRILLEX and Esperanza Spalding, and she is the founder of the New York Butoh Institute Festival. She is the author of a forthcoming book about Butoh.

The recreation of this costume was made possible by a Janet Arnold ward from the Society from the Antiquaries of London.

The recreation of this costume was made possible by a Janet Arnold ward from the Society from the Antiquaries of London.

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This program was supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

 

This program was also made possible by funding from the Robert Friedman Foundation; Society from the Antiquaries of London; The Tatsumi Hijikata Archives and in-kind support from Triskelion Arts.

New Glowing Review of Hijikata Mon Amour in Broadway World

Vangeline in Hijikata Mon Amour at the New York Butoh Institute Festival 2019- Photo by Michael Blase

Vangeline in Hijikata Mon Amour at the New York Butoh Institute Festival 2019- Photo by Michael Blase

Hijikata Mon Amour continues to receive critical acclaim: Read this new, in-depth glowing review by Cindy Sibilsky for Broadway World.

Nov 11, 2019

Broadway World Review

"Hijikata Mon Amour"

Vangeline

NY Butoh Institute Festival 2019

Theater for the New City, New York

For anyone who has the pleasure of watching Vangeline perform, that pretty much sums it up — it may be a difficult journey yet it is brilliant, and a challenging yet triumphant experience for both performer and viewer. Hijikata would have been proud.
— Cindy Sibilsky -- Broadway World

BWW Review: HIJIKATA MON AMOUR Honors A Trailblazer While Exploring the Future of Butoh.



Repost: for the 2019 Annual New York Butoh Institute Festival held at Theater for the New City dancer, teacher choreographer & curator (Vangeline) performed wearing a replica of the iconic ensemble butoh founder Tatsumi Hijikata wore in his 1968 performance “Revolt of the Body”. The garment was recreated by Todd Thomas with lighting by Daniel kersh and sound design by Diwas Gurung.

Highlights: "On a personal level, to me, the piece represented the lineage: a student hears a teachers' voice and is forever changed by it," Vangeline described. "A butoh student must be lost to be found, walk in the dark, dive deeply inside themselves, and, as Tatsumi Hijikata said, 'pluck the darkness from their own flesh.' Butoh is a journey of self-discovery, of diving into our unconscious body memories," she extolled, "When we emerge, we still honor the teacher or lineage, but at some point, we must let the teacher go." ***

When reflecting upon the release of the teacher in order to come into one's own, Vangeline mused, "At the same time, the teacher is never really gone: as we let them go, they live on in our memory, which, in dance, means that they live in our body memory forever. To me, that is the journey of transmission of knowledge in butoh. The dead are never really dead in dance; by teaching the next generation, teachers can live forever in the bodies of the living. It is some kind of beautiful haunting.”

*** Please check out the full review (with a lot of fascinating historical context and insights from Vangeline on butoh for both the uninitiated as well as fans and practitioners alike) here: https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwdance/article/BWW-Review-HIJIKATA-MON-AMOUR-Honors-A-Trailblazer-While-Exploring-the-Future-of-Butoh-20191111?fbclid=IwAR0ypgkWC5r25MZItyYgc2neFBS_YW2gKFqKYfqX-kf0syWZop7HCJCVoYw