Butoh Troupe Sankai Juku Performs UMUSUNA: MEMORIES BEFORE HISTORY Tonight

Sankai Juku weaves meticulous spellbinding movement with breathtaking visual spectacle to create deeply moving theatrical experiences. The work of choreographer Ushio Amagatsu and his company are known worldwide and have won countless awards, confirming their status as Japan's finest example of contemporary butoh. For their Meany Hall performance, Sankai Juku will perform the North American premiere of their latest creation, Umusuna: Memories Before History. The work evokes the essence of duality and unity encapsulated in the Japanese characters for "birth" and "earth" that combine to form the work's title.

Program

Umusuna: Memories Before History

Choreography, Concept and Direction by Ushio Amagatsu
Music by Takashi Kako, Yas-Kas and Yoichiro Yoshikawa

Dancers:
Ushio Amagatsu, Founder
Semimaru, since 1975
Sho Takeuchi, since 1987
Akihito Ichihara, since 1997
Ichiro Hasegawa, since 2004
Dai Matsuoka, since 2005
Norihito Ishii, since 2010
Shunsuke Momoki, since 2011

Drawing on the butoh tradition, which was born in the ashes of Hiroshima, Umusuna: Memories Before History probes the ravages of history to recover our original bond with the four elements. Umusuna is a very old word, originating from ancient Japan, and has the same root as ubusuna (one's place of birth). Ubusu means birth, the beginning of life or entering the world. The word umusualso embodies the concepts of everything and nothing, existence and nothingness. Na evokes the land, the ground/soil and one's native place. Literally translated to mean "the place you were born," Umusuna primarily refers to a pin-pointed small area, but can also infer a broader, universal, planet-wide perspective.

The performance begins with a column of sand cascading from the ceiling, representing life as a vertical line. As the sand accumulates center stage, the audience acutely senses the passage of time. Sand is spread over the floor in sections, invoking the elements of fire, water, air and earth, each delineated by ascribed colors of light. Sankai Juku's signature minimalist style of butoh dance was developed by founder and choreographer Ushio Amagatsu, a vanguard of the second generation of butoh artists. While Amagatsu's work maintains the typical powder-covered bodies and rigid physicality of his predecessors, it also includes large scale scenic material and elements of ritual and modern dance, in which the fluidity of motion is infused with intent, creating a meaningful metamorphosis of bodies that relay a universal humanity.

Pre-show Lecture: The Alchemy of Butoh and Sanki Juku

Thursday-Saturday, October 1-3, 7:10pm, prior to performances
Meany Hall lobby

Diana Garcia Snyder from UW Bothell's Interdisciplinary Studies program (and co-founder of Seattle's DAIPANbutoh collective) will share her perspectives on butoh as a performing and healing practice and explain how Sankai Juku fits into this landscape. Assisted by members of the DAIPANbutoh collective, she will provide some demonstration of the art form and tips on how to experience it. Open to ticketholders only.

Sankai Juku Workshop: What Makes a Body Move?

Sunday, October 4, 1-4pm
UW Dance Program, Studio 267

Semimaru, a founding member of Sankai Juku, leads participants through the evolutionary movement of butoh, focusing on the relationship of the body to gravity, the earth and the environment. Designed for experienced dancers, the workshop is free with a ticket stub to one of the evening performances of Sankai Juku at Meany Hall. RSVP to uwwseducation@uw.edu. Space is limited.

About Sankai Juku Sankai Juku is a butoh dance company founded by Ushio Amagatsu in 1975. The company has premiered a new piece approximately once every two years at Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, a center for contemporary dance. Sankai Juku is one of the few dance companies that Théâtre de la Ville, Paris has commissioned continuously for 35 years. Ushio Amagatsu, artistic director, trained in both classical and modern dance before he became immersed in butoh. For Amagatsu, butoh expresses the language of the body. In the 1970s, Amagatsu drew mostly on his own individual experience for inspiration. During the 1980s he spent most of his time working in Europe and the inspiration for his work became more universal. In his works, Amagatsu presents an abstract vision of the infinite and explores evolutionary movement. Major themes that he examines are the relationship of the body to gravity and the relationship between gravity, the earth and the environment. In 1980, Sankai Juku was invited to perform in Europe for the first time. The company went to the Nancy International Festival in France with the firm conviction that Butoh would be accepted. This engagement marked a major turning point and made a name for both Sankai Juku and the term butoh throughout Europe. The company has toured internationally since 1980 and performed in over 700 cities in 45 countries throughout Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. They have been highly praised in different cultures for over 35 years which is a testament to the universal nature of Sankai Juku's work. While crossing over geographic borders and appealing to diverse audiences, the company has been developing the themes of their work while searching for and moving towards new realms. Sankai Juku received the Japan Foundation Award in 2013. Artist website: www.sankaijuku.com.

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