Jiuta Mai

a tenbei fan often used in jiuta mai

Last Sunday I performed at the "In the House Festival." They did a themed event called "The Joys of Japan" and had a dinner made by the fabulous Kikuchi Shozo.  It was delicious!!! and he (and his wife) worked miracles in a small kitchen. Other performers included Alcvin Ramos and Uzume Taiko.  It was a pretty interesting evening.

I decided to dance two pieces that were created to be danced in a small concert situation.  One of them was a jiuta-mai called Kurokami. Jiuta is a kind of music from the Kansai region of Japan (Kyoto and Osaka area) and mai indicates that the dance is slow and circular rather than the lively odori of the kabuki theatre. More info on these styles of nihon buyoh are at an earlier post: http://tomoearts.blogspot.com/2010/03/odori-vs-mai-and-how-it-can-all-be.html

I am not sure whether everyone in the audience appreciated the slooooowwwwneeeessss of the piece, but I know a few did.  It was great to get a chance to perform one of these pieces - and I may need to create some more opportunities to dance jiuta-mai pieces!

Noh in Bloomsburg Pennsylvania

I am rehearsing an English language noh play in Bloomsburg PA at the moment.  The play is called "Crazy Jane" - a gorgeous piece written by David Crandall about a madwoman.  I am playing Jane. No typecasting there!

I have never posted about noh (Medieval Japanese theatre) - only kabuki and nihon buyoh - but noh is something I studied before I started my training in nihon buyoh.  Very different, but there are connections in some of the stories and texts.  I study in the Kita School, with noh expert Richrd Emmert and master noh performer OMURA Sadamu.

I am part of Theatre Nohgaku, a group dedicated to bringing noh to North America. Every year the group meets in Bloomsburg to rehearse, train etc, and I am lucky to be able to be here this year.

For more on noh in general see www.theatrenohgaku.org

Crazy Jane performances are on Friday August 13 and Saturday August 14 - if you happen to be in Bloomsburg ... or in Philidelphia or New York City if you don't mind a 3 hour drive!
Details on the show on the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble's website:

http://www.bte.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=92&cntnt01origid=140&cntnt01returnid=234

Rehearsals for EN (circle/fate)

We have been rehearsing like crazy all week - post Olympic exhaustion and all - to put together a really cool five-minute piece for The Procession of Performing Circles which is part of the Bright-Light public art event happening in the DTES.  Some very very interesting stuff happening until late March all over the neighbourhood.

I have been working with two fabulous dancers - Tami Mukai and Maki Komori - and I'm sure they are pretty tired.  Three sections to this dance - none of them too horribly difficult, but still, getting it all learned in a few rehearsals has been tiring.  Eien Ishikawa-Hunter has created some wonderful rhythms on a bunch of recycling containers he will have hanging off his shoulders.  Yulia Shtern has created some very cute (and water-resistant!) costumes and IF THE CRAZY PROJECTORS WORK we will have projected images on white umbrellas - images courtesy of Hope in Shadows.

(above are Maki and Tami rehearsing at the Dance Centre)

So we have a very odd version of a Bon Odori - contemporary choreo and music -all hopefully illustrating a series of human relationships...meetings and re-meetings... circles & fate: the meanings of the Japanese word "EN" - when written with different Chinese characters.

SUNDAY NIGHT - MARCH 7 - starting at 7pm from the SunYat Sen Garden and walking down Carrall-Powell-Columbia-Pender.  And FREEFREEFREE - Should be fun! Bright-Light Website

Odori: The World of Kabuki Dance April 10-11, 2010

Odori: The World of Kabuki Dance showcases odori the dance of the kabuki theatre performed by 3 master dancer-actors from Japan: Fujima Shôgo, Izumi Tokuho and Fujima Monyo. These master dancers will join TomoeArts artistic director Colleen Lanki (Fujima Sayû) to bring Vancouver audiences two evenings of the art of odori - kabuki dance.

Do not miss this rare chance to see dances from the kabuki theatre performed in full costume wig and make-up!

There is a free lecture-demo on kabuki dance on April 9 at 7:30pm.

There will also be workshops, a display of kabuki ukiyoe (woodblock prints) and a series of talks and lectures. Please check the TomoeArts website soon for a complete list of events or contact info@tomoearts.org.


Tickets prices are $25/$20 seniors/$15 students.

To purchase call the Theatre at UBC box office: 604.822.2678.
Theatre at UBC website: www.theatre.ubc.ca