We are very pleased to announce that one000plateaus has an event in this year’s PortsFest – A Place Between: Everything you need to know about Japanese Butoh on Saturday 1st July. Dance artist and movement educator Yumino Seki will be running a taster workshop in the morning and then giving her own performance with live sound by Portsmouth-based sonic artist Rusty Sheriff, followed by a Q&A in the afternoon.
Butoh is a form of avant-garde dance which emerged from the post-war chaos in Japan in the late 50s when the country was grappled with the clash between new Western technology and traditional Japanese values. Butoh was called ‘the dance of darkness’. Influenced by German Expressionism, self-identity was radically explored with culturally diverse concepts through bodily expression. For this year’s PortsFest we have the opportunity to collaborate with Yumino Seki a Japanese dance artist, Butoh practitioner and qualified somatic movement educator living in Hastings. Yumino is going to work with us to introduce Butoh to the city and we hope you will come and join us for either the workshop, the performance or both.
You can get involved by signing up to the two events below both of which are happening at The Lens Studio Theatre, Guildhall, on Saturday 1st July. Ticketing is all through the PortsFest website.
10:00-12:00 (free) Butoh taster workshop – free entry but booking required (2 hours)
Join Yumino SEKI, Japanese dance artist as she explores the ways in which to connect to the inner landscape through a unique Butoh perspective with imagery. This taster workshop is perfect for beginners who wish to learn a little about Butoh – no previous experience is required.
13:00-14:30 (£5/£3concs.) Butoh performance & Q&A – booking required (90 mins)
A performance by a Butoh artist Yumino SEKI, an improvisation that journeys through the transient moment of being neither awake nor asleep where a point of transformation occurs. After the performance, Yumino will be talking about her practice as an artist and taking questions from the audience.
Yumino SEKI is a Japanese dance artist, Butoh practitioner and qualified somatic movement educator who performs, teaches and collaborates to make performances. She has been interested in the authenticity of the temporal body for many years resulting in many dance pieces, which are site responsive and improvised in nature. Collaborating with artists from diverse disciplines has given her a broad approach to her movement practice. Since 2013 developing her Butoh and somatic work SEKI has been directing group choreography with cross-discipline performances. Between 1999-2009 she performed in Butoh predominately with Tadashi Endo (Mamu Dance Theatre), Yumiko Yoshioka (Ten-Pen-Chii) both in Germany and Carlotta Ikeda (Ariadone) in France. In 2012 she became qualified in VMI Somatic Practice with Patricia Bardi in Amsterdam. Expanding her work in theatre, music, film and visual art she collaborates with a broad range of artists including Zadie Xa for her projects including performances at the 58th Venice Biennale, Art Night, Dance International Glasgow, Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada & The National Gallery, London. SEKI’s work is informed by the cultural depth and diversity of both the UK and Japan. Her development in her movement has been a gradual exploration of both her collective and self-identity.
Yumino will be collaborating for her performance with Portsmouth-based sonic artist and sound designer Rusty Sheriff who will be creating a new piece of audio for Yumino’s performance.
A big thank you to everyone who made this event possible, not least the Guildhall who have provided the studio space and production support, and PortsFest for making a space in the programme available for this event.