La MaMa Moves Festival
presents
Vangeline
in
MAN WOMAN
Costumes by Machine Dazzle
Music by Ray Barragan Sweeten
April 16-19, 2026
At La MaMa E.T.C
66 E 4th St, New York, NY 10003
MAN WOMAN
A Butoh Fairy Tale by Vangeline
60 minutes without intermission
MAN WOMAN is a choreographic work by Vangeline that revisits the iconic photographic series Man and Woman by Eikoh Hosoe—featuring Tatsumi Hijikata and Motofuji—through a contemporary feminist lens.
MAN WOMAN uses these black-and-white photographs—saturated with ink and emotion—as both structure and departure point. With fantastical costumes by Machine Dazzle, a visionary queer artist whose work pushes the boundaries between performance, sculpture, and fashion, and a richly textured electro-acoustic score by Ray Barragan-Sweeten, this 21st-century reimagining of Man and Woman centers the female body as sole author and performer.
Women have historically been positioned as mirror or muse in relation to a male counterpart. In the absence of that counterpart, the work asks a fundamental question: what happens when the female body is no longer framed in relation to a male presence, but instead becomes the primary site of authorship, memory, and transformation?
MAN WOMAN playfully examines how a female body navigates, adapts to, and ultimately exits this male-dominated system—not through opposition or violence, but by changing the conditions through which power is encountered. It remains in dialogue with its original conceptual framework while asserting a decisive shift: the female body is no longer responding to history — it is writing it.
MAN WOMAN will premiere in New York in Spring 2026 at La MaMa E.T.C.
Machine Dazzle and Vangeline became friends as performers in the ‘90s at nightclubs in New York City. Having immense trust in Machine’s talent, skills, and vision, Vangeline gave Machine carte blanche to create a costume, with only the directive that it must be ornate and flamboyant, with elements removed layer by layer until only Butoh white remained.
Vangeline and Ray Sweeten build on a 20-year history of creative collaboration; Ray has composed Vangeline’s most important works, including The Slowest Wave. Ray Sweeten’s composition for MAN WOMAN spans from classical to electronic music and has been scored to have the flexibility to be performed by a string ensemble or performed to recorded music. Ray’s work builds on the legacy of American pioneers Pauline Oliveros and Elaine Summers.
BIOGRAPHIES
Vangeline
Vangeline is a New York–based teacher, choreographer, and dancer specializing in Japanese Butoh. As the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute, she is widely recognized for her rigorous, research-driven approach to Butoh and for expanding the form’s relevance in the 21st century. Her work actively champions diversity and inclusion within the field, creating space for historically underrepresented voices. She carries forward the legacy of Butoh while infusing it with contemporary relevance—through activism, research, and performance.
Through her all-female dance company, Vangeline creates socially engaged, innovative choreographic works that unite Butoh with activism. She is the founder of both the New York Butoh Institute Festival, which uplifts the work of women in Butoh, and Queer Butoh, a festival centering LGBTQ+ voices within the form. She is also the visionary behind The Dream a Dream Project, an award-winning program now in its 18th year that brings Butoh to incarcerated individuals in correctional facilities across New York State.
At the heart of Vangeline’s philosophy is the belief that Butoh can be a tool for both personal and collective transformation. Her work reflects a deep commitment to integrating the many dimensions of the human experience—beauty and darkness alike—and reintegrating society’s marginalized voices.
Vangeline’s choreography has been presented internationally in Chile, Germany, Italy, France, Finland, Denmark, the UK, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. She is the recipient of a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award for her groundbreaking project The Slowest Wave, which explores the intersection of Butoh and neuroscience. She was also a 2022–2023 Gibney Dance in Process resident artist, a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Fellow in Choreography for Elsewhere, and 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 supported by institutions including the National Endowment for the Arts, Japan Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and the Asian American Arts Alliance.
Her work has been widely acclaimed, both nationally and internationally, with critics praising its power, precision, and emotional resonance. Reviews have appeared in publications including the New York Times (“captivating”) and the Los Angeles Times (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”), to name just a few.
Widely regarded as an authority in her field, Vangeline has taught at Princeton University (Princeton Atelier), Cornell, NYU, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Sarah Lawrence, and Duke University.
Her work extends to film as well, including a starring role opposite James Franco and Winona Ryder in Jay Anania’s feature film The Letter (Lionsgate, 2012). She has also been commissioned by Grammy Award–winning artists Esperanza Spalding, Skrillex, and David J. (Bauhaus).
Vangeline is the author of the critically acclaimed book Butoh: Cradling Empty Space, which delves into the connection between Butoh and neuroscience. She led the first-ever scientific study measuring the effects of Butoh on the brain (The Slowest Wave). Her work has been profiled in CNN’s Great Big Story (“Learning to Dance with Your Demons”), featured on the BBC’s Deeply Human podcast (with host Dessa), and explored in her own podcast Butoh Musing with Vangeline. www.vangeline.com
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. In April 2024, Machine received the TDF/Irene Sharaff Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award in recognition for his success in the field of costume design. He was also awarded a 2024 EMMY for “Outstanding Costume Design for Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Programming” for his work in the HBO documentary “Taylor Mac’s 24 Decade History of Popular Music.”
https://www.pomegranatearts.com/projects-and-artists/machine-dazzle
Ray Barragan Sweeten
Ray 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 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, and 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. www.raysweeten.com
Photos by Michael Blase and graphic design by Teresa Barajas Rodriguez.
Note: Man Woman was developed over two years and initially explored as a duet with Akihito Ichihara, whose participation supported the early development of the work.
This program was supported in parts by the Japan Foundation New York, the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, Chelsea Factory, Mercury Store, the Monira Foundation, New York Council on the Arts, and the New England Foundation for the Arts.
ALT TEXT
Promotional Poster. Performer Vangeline, painted entirely in white and wearing a sculptural costume by Machine Dazzle. From the 2024 performance MAN WOMAN, photographed by Michael Blase.
In a serene moment from MAN WOMAN (2024), Vangeline lies with her back to the audience on a black stage, painted entirely in white. Vangeline wears a pale, sculptural costume by Machine Dazzle. The image evokes stillness, surrender, and is reminiscent of a fifties pin-up girl. Photo by Michael Blase.