This summer my butoh practice gained some unexpected recognition. In May I realized I had been attending periodic trainings in this intense and spiritual avant-garde Japanese dance form which arose after WW2 for about 10 years (but neglected to even put this on my resume, hmmm!) I have trained mostly with the lovely Leslie Castellano at Synapsis, but also Diego Piñon, Yumiko Yoshioka (noted in an earlier post), and Jordan Rosin.
So, this summer butoh took me by the hand in it's dark way and led me to dance in a parking lot for 40 minutes in my father's strange rural-suburban town of Vista in North San Diego County in front of the amazing community arts club Backfence Society, who have vowed to "Make Vista Weird" ( yes that's the kind of twist this place inspires). Weird dancing? Indeed.
This summer I had the pleasure of attending Inkboat Theatre Company's Dance on Land workshop - a long delayed pleasure bomb of a week of intuitive outdoor ensemble dance.
And this summer I had my dance debut, a surprise mostly just to me, when Leslie Castellano invited my to a last minute duet with her for the opening event of the first annual Eureka Street Art Festival at the Black Faun Gallery, accompanied by Humboldt's, weirdest band, Medicine Baul, and live drawing by the intensely beautiful Laura Corsiglia. Thank you, all things butoh, secret, secret butoh.
https://www.facebook.com/backfencesociety/
http://www.inkboat.com/dance-on-land/
https://blackfaunart.com/blog/
photo: Dan Pambianco
