Improv Maureen Freehill dAY One/April 13th

This day, I went to go meet with the Butoh dancer I have been hearing about in the Northwest for a while, for years, who I never could quite got in touch because of the circumstances.  Recently,I saw the chance! I have leaned OVER THE SNACK TABLE when I finally saw her at the Dance Art Groups'http://www.danceartgroup.org/ annual Benefit SFADI's hot diggidy DAG , (where I finished performing with Christian Swenson http://www.humanjazz.com/ the human jazz improvisation artist) and asked if she would be able to dance with me.She is Maureen Freehill ( or Momo)one of the original people who danced in the Seattle's Dappin Butoh and has her own company : Momo Butoh Dance Company.She lives in the Whidbey Island, where she daily trains as well. This day  I asked her,She had a cowboy hat on, I think, and always had a free spirit twinkle power in her eyes and steps.I had a huge food mass stuffed in my face,my eyes rattling around black and white from release from the nervousness and hunger after the performance.She SEEMED SUCH AN IMMEDIATE and LIVELY person, already dancing across the snack table.

We walked into the Discovery Park, and I felt I was slowly shifting into a world, a realm of the senses and playfulness while I followed curiously in the trails after Maureen, while she introduced many things to me, spoke and spoke of  her approach and philosophy to her way of the  Butoh, her teachings, and her love, and inspirations in the woods. She continiously picked wild plants for us to eat, it started to feel like we were in a HUGE WILDERNESS SALAD BOWL after a while, because she kept finding some edible plants, and kept sharing them with me to eat.She showed me the diffrences of the Cedar tree leaves, the pine, and the Fir tree.She pointed to a bulbous crazy trunk tree ( I love it !) I think was called siccamore.It looked like a texture of swamp mudd dried out, and is bulging out like fat bubbles. (!) We saw the smooth skinned madrona tree, and one of my favorite root vegetable GOBO (burdock root) growing wild, that she pointed out for me.I asked carelessly if we could pull them up and see the root, but  did you know, that the root is SO  LONG that you would have to dig couple of feets down? GOODNESS. I got sucked into immediately the ease of just totally BEING, with her,slipping into many diffrent inner states, like a relaxed mind of children. She seemed so air-born NATURAL (?) to this state.I sensed her joy, her love to the dance, her love to the mentor Kazuo Ohno,her philosophy, and it seemed to be manifested very much through her expression and her movement.I felt grateful that she offered me a butoh EXPERIENCE , not a butoh training that I often do daily.  She has a wonderful blog, and PICTURES!!! of this day and more details and her view at: 

http://maureenfreehill.blogspot.com/2010/04/moving-discovery-with-haruko-nishimura.html

Please enjoy!

Yumikosan's workshop/Skaters part 2 &Sonic Tales thankyou performance

I finally finished the Butoh intensive workshop in Portland Oregon.  Yumiko Yoshioka, one of my first Butoh teacher, was teaching and leading us students to choreography performance at the very end for a public.She is an amazing performer in her 50s and I have taken quite a number of intensive studies with her over the years and in the states and in Berlin in the past.She has taught me the playfulness and ability to transform into so many beings; a witch, a clown, a demon, an amoeba, a insect to reptile., a maiden who lost her mind. a flower covered in ice shards. She taught the basics of Butoh which I appreciated in revisiting The Noguchi gymnastics with images ..She was extremely grascious and kind to give me extra lessons in her free time.. she kept cooking and sharing  japanese home cooking with me which made me almost cry.We also got EXTREMELY DRUNK.I very much enjoy her own work that she is her own strong artist apart from what is considered a traditional butoh.She was a member of Ariadonne, the first Female butoh troup lead by legendary Carlotta Ikeda.Now she has her own strong troupe called Tenpenchii, and I love how her work with her partner Joachim has been about humanbeing and technology pushed to the limits.My Butoh teachers who I revisit again and again  for their tuteledge has been the people who found an unique language of their own artistry, and also vision.. ( this is important for me to see in a teacher ) and their own artistic professional path that utilizes and pays homage to the Butoh that once was... Their traditoinal training... ROCK SOLID under their belts. As they age, their work only seems to ripen and get stronger. ... Shinichi- Iova -Koga, Yuko Kaseki, Minako Seki. and ofcourse Yumiko..these are my teachers I seem to keep going back to.
.I went out for another training a couple days ago in Seattle,on the 34th and Evanston.. when the sun was shining so warm and bright, not like today, windy and violently rainy.
Last Friday I danced an offering for a small and intimate crowd of our supporters and friends.. a thankyou party for the SONIC TALES and friends. A little bit  of " RED SHOES" was with me, I felt it.the audience were our friends.. their energy so warm and loving. My next project is slowly taking is shape... the re- imagining a story of the original story of the redshoes... One of my collaborators  is Dohee Lee, an artist originally from Korea, a Kyunggi shaman musician/dancer and a percussionist.She has a heart wrenchingly soulful voice that has enormous range and versatility.She is also a dear friend who I hold close to my heart....The rest of the team is Jherek Bischoff, a former Degenerate Art Ensemble member, he has an extremely unique taste in music and  is an orchestral composer who has a quirky and beautiful singing voice, also his own strong vision. Leo Mayberry, also a Degenerate member, a video artist who also has a strong vision and unstinchingly daring perspective creatively is joining me as well as Joshua Kohl,.. his beautiful , ever evolving/exciting compositions and openness to anything new summarizes this incredible potential group and project to come. I am simply terrified...
The photos in this page is from Sunday morning..early.. morning again.. a skater photo shoot with Rex ( the photographer who has been taking the pictures in this research phase of Redshoe Butoh diary).I approached to thank Max, one of the skater in the photo, right before the shoot and he walked away while I tried to talk, in the middle of me talking.He cancelled on me before, and did not show up before that.However,I felt that this guy was trying his best to contribute, I sensed this energy. I sensed an incredible kindness from the other skater Josh, who frequently skated with me.My soul, was however  too worn out from the performance and from the trainings from the night before and all the intensive trainings previously... I think this will be my last adventure here at the Marginal Skate Park gang. I think I am getting more and more clear what I would like to do next and where and how in the adventures I want to take it to. Still,I will cherish these experiences and bring them with me :)

The Mall; Westlake Center

Today was an active day...!( Sunday) I danced in front of the Westlake mall... where Christian evangelists of  all kinds were ranting, the home less youths were hanging out, the shoppers and perhaps tourists.. just all kinds of people comming from diffrent direction, walking around. As I started, pretty much immediately, the youths came charging at me, from across the fountain park, and asked" can we dance with you, please?" and I was shocked and excited, "SURE!" I said, and all of a sudden there was more than one, two, and then three, four started dancing with me, and they even started the"wave" holding hands, and I danced weaving among the arms in and out. I was overwhelmed how positive and welcomming they were, with big smiles, and huge enthusiasm. When Rex lifted the camera towards them, they got so excited! One of the boy and I danced a sweet duet.

Rex Hohlbein, was shooting with his camera to take these photos of the youths who danced with me......

There was some cute group of shopping girls who were watching for a while got a courage to take photos and ran over next to me so I posed... and then more people taking photos, couple of old ladies staring intensely, I saw some family with little kids stopping and watching intrigued.Someone hiding in the bushes video taping  too.... all kinds, all kinds of people stopping, smiling,gawking, and looking confused, too! The youths that danced with me thanked me so sweetly I was stunned and confused myself. Something blurrted out of my mouth because I thought I must say something to respond, and I acidentally bit my tongue..( I was still dancing, feeling  all of a sudden nervous and shy ,I looked over to Rex who has stood pretty far away, trying so hard not to be in the way of the interactions, he was grinning VERY BIG.Joshua came this time too, I can see him in the corner of my eye..and has gave me moral support, it was so nice:) I saw an intense man walk  slowly by, also homeless, he even stopped to stare. The guards who wore bright yellow ( my friend Colin calls them copsycles because they are on bikes) came over, and ofcourse first I tensed up ready to be warned or to be yelled at, but they seem to be so caring and gentle, I couldnt tell what they were saying to the homeless folks, but later Joshua told me that they even knew every single person's name and they seem to all know each other and were almost councelling them... One of the guard in a dark uniform walked over to me and kindly told me that the police would not give me hell if I stayed in a certain area.While I was dancing, Rex seemed to made many friends with the community down here! He has such a warm and welcomming energy, and always give encouraging words,always seemd to give everyone an equal respect. he was telling the youths that he will bring the photos next sunday and meet them, perhaps to do a session with them also. I later went to the movement jam at the Velocity Dance Center.I got to dance with some new people there...ofcourse it felt surreal to be there after the earlier encounters....but I felt encouraged , got more courage to ask people to dance with me there.Ok, thankyou for today....everyone, everyone.

visiting the skate board park first attempt

This last saturday Rex (the photographer) and I went to the Marginal way Skateboard park.It was a sunny sunny day, and we were ? ? where did the skaters go...? confused to why they were not gathered at under the viaduct.We were hoping to talk to a bunch of them if we could take pictures and collaborate with them while I dance in the pool with them..., a dream. There was about only  two skaters looking nervous that I was approaching them.(ofcourse I am decked out in white kabuki makeup and a costume, pretty scary)and one other skater, who was cought in the middle of all of this funny  artsy- fartsey business and felt pressured by the situation who had to dissappear in a flash of seconds, I GUESS I UNDERSTOOD IT MUST HAVE BEEN A LITTLE STRANGE.None the less, we got a kind- of- a- permission from the two boys and I thought they were nice to let us crash their prescious practice space. One of them told me that since its such a nice sunny day,everyone was at all the outdoor parks, like the one up near the zoo.......
Rex set up a tripod and I just started dancing.It was cold in an icy way, this concrete realm...The two of the skaters were cautious, I can sense them.It felt even colder...I could feel it in my shoulders, arms, and down my spine...I wished there were many of them, so I could talk to some of them, one of them, to the ones who do not mind something strange, curious, and to give us a chance,I wished at least even a strong reaction , to say " hey, get out!" to start a dialogue. but ofcourse we stepped into their territory.I  definitelywould like to come back again.SLowly, once in a long wHile,.. the skaters skated a quick passing -by, which made me excited.But  it felt lonely to me, More please...!  it was too empty.A beer-bellied guy with a beer appeared yelling something at me, something about making fun of a mime, or something.Oh, goodness, great, drunkenness again... he continiously yelled something rude to me, which I couldnt understand, and to Rex too, I kept dancing, just a little more, see what happens... but the two skaters took a BIG BREAK since he started to poke fun at us.What a delicate situation..! I felt like I learned something this day.. and more inpired to continue to come talk to them, definitely when all of their community is around! Ok, to not seem to bummed, a butoh video of the day is: Atsushi Takenouchi san. I met him briefly in NY last year.A gentle and kind man, a masterful dancer.

rain slippery ground ,new improv place, a beautiful spot under the aurora bridge

wow ok, I made the photo very huge....I hope I have room for the text..hahaha!I danced at the RedSquare again yesturday.I slipped once.As I thrashed around, I slipped and my hands hit the ground..I started to dance very timidly, it scared me a little,.. a bit embarrassed too, so I pretend to myself that I can handle it...Is the rain ever going to stop? tears weld up a little bit for some reason..I see a face, an immediate search for comfort of my friend's face inside me.I was thinking of my friend who is suffering..combatting with death...right at that moment,  every day now, for some time... so as I danced, and  if  I started to feel sorry for myself, I realize this and buckle up, and immediately begin the process of trying to relax my emotions that are welling up again and again with  the thoughts.Part of this butoh journal is dedicated to this friend, who has long been my mentor, created beautiful costumes from me when I began dancing for the stage.She has always given me the prescious gift of  appreciating the beauty of  Japanese textiles, the unusual cuts and shapes of the uniforms and garments from the old times, diffrent eras, the dye, the beautiful  deft art  of  tie-dye-Shibori, the art of indigo,  diffrent  mens  garments'weavings, and espescially Kasuri.. ..she would take apart an old kimono or Monpe( farmers pants) and make something  completely modern and stylish, even for everyday wear, I would be her experiment and wear the daily clothes too!She would tell me stories of when she was a little girl and was a tomboy, tortureing a young monk-to be- boy  back in Kyoto, while feeding me hand-made ohagi ( azuki bean paste and sweet rice)  I hesitated to even mention her situation but when I dance, she is always with me, she is the big part of the motivation since december ,so I have able to dance in the outdoors.Her laughter, her lightness, her mischievious nature and humor always make me contageous of her charactor and reminds me of lightness.
So, this is what happens, I notice this daily now.In the time zone of moving and improvising for a while, the  mind gets antsy,  It wants to judge, it wants to control , question, and wander ALL THE TIME, the mind   wants to attach to everything that comes through..It is similar to  trying to meditate, and you struggle.The other day I was under the Aurora Bridge, where you can see the beautiful lake union and the Fremont Bridge, in the second hour, right after the point of boredom urge spreading and feeling nothing interesting is comming out, I repeated with full intent of some of the movements and sensations over and over and over since that was where the intent somehow wished to go. pretty soon, I was riding the gush of wave of SECOND WIND and was able to "go in to" the body again. after the third hour, your mind hits the " I want to stop now, hmm.. must be close to the point of stopping." But by this time all I need to do is remind myself i it is a passing urge. There was a guy taking a picture of me with a strange shaped big camera that he was looking through the top part of it.It must be an old camera from a different era... as soon as I looked up to walk up to him, he ran away.
At the UW red square, one of the people watching came up to me, actually stopped my dancing and asked me." so what are you doing? and why are you doing it?" I love these curious students. Its funny now, instead of gathering around to see what is up,  most of the  students walk by, stop briefly to take my pictures with a phone, and rush away.On wednesday, I went to a OmCulture yoga studio  contact improvisation jam.People are kind, I am still pretty new at this.... contact thing.. maybe its a japanese thing.. I feel still shy.I appreciated the new energies and an opportunity for me to listen.

RaiNY dAY and test shoots with Rex

THis morning I put my white kabuki makeup on, put on the Mandy Greer's costume from the charactor Shiro from the last project Sonic Tales, and met with Rex Hohlbein to do some portrait shoots, then we went to the Skate board park under the viaduct, and then to the RedSquare of University of Washington again. Ok, I messed up on the date of the last posted blog...I have just published one that is on TODAY"S DATE but it was actually for a one few days ago... it was in fact last week.I love these photos, a study of light and shadows... and also a realm of some kind.

These are the correct photos for today, Feb 10th. The skateboard park was quite beautiful.According to Rex  the photographer, his nephew and some skaters have built the site, ( it is called Marginal Way Skate Park  ) and I have never seen such a place.It was kind of ghostly without the skaters, in a beautiful eerie way..with this almost chalky white day, but next shoot, we are going to crash in (?) to the skaters when they are chalkfull of them, and ask if I could possibly dance in their realm, with them.So today is kind of a test shoot :) I am sure it is going to be a wild crazy ride when we shoot with them.I recently went to watch another skatepark in Ballard neighborhood, and became in awe of their art.
The rain started to already drizzle, and by the time we got to the REDSQUARE, pretty later in the day.. it was umbrella time. I danced with the rain and Rex's camera for a while and then realized I was a bit afriad of slipping on the wet ground.I felt a slip there, and here, ans so began to minimize my movement to extremely slow...gravitationally slow, enjoying the dropping of the weight of the limbs...  from my slug-like internal looking out..I could see the students busily hurrying somewhere gripping their umbrellas, their eyes squinting, shielding from the rain bits.I can see that they are passing by, passing by as I get reaaly slower...They seem to be the lines of rain bits rushing by, criss crossing around me.It was definitely more of being in a tokyo street intersection.They began to feel like ants or insects or herd of cows passing by...what a different feeling from the last time I was here, the lively morning. I got more internal now. I even see poor Rex squinting his eyes, straining to take a picture. I sympasize and come out of my senses,.. then I felt the water from my hair gets into my eyes and realize its all of a sudden cold and I am actually very drenched.Then I get another second wind  from my body, opposite of my feelings and of my will, it finally starts to dance. That few moments made me happy.
I decided to put BUTOH inspiring dance of the day video by one of my favorite Butoh dancer Ko Murobushi.Please enjoy!

St.Ignatius and Christian Swenson

I danced this day at St. Ignatius at the Seattle University again.Drizzle of rain and many students walking by. I started feeling that I am kind of stuck in a rutt again, and I kept going, trying to relax into the being of taking in everything, like becomming part of the scene; a bird, the buildings, the pavement, the bell of the church, the passer-bys, the weather, the air, the colors, the atmosphere, the environment, the sweating and breathing moments, relaxing into it, absorbing and being aware of them.