May 24 – 26, 2018 at 8pm
Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, 280 Broadway (Entrance at 53A Chambers Street).
Vangeline Theater, with renowned Japanese composer and musician Yuka C. Honda (Japan) and butoh dancer Vangeline, perform the World Premiere of Elsewhere from May 24 – 26, 2018 at 8 pm at Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, 280 Broadway (Entrance at 53A Chambers Street). Tickets are $15 in advance ($20 at the door) and can be purchased at https://gibneydance.org/performance/pop/vangeline-and-yuka-c-honda-elsewhere/ or by calling (646) 837-6809.
Japanese Musician Yuka C. Honda (who is best known for her work with Cibbo Matto, Sean Lennon, and Yoko Ono) will perform improvised live music each night, and critically acclaimed Butoh dancer Vangeline will perform a choreographed dance adapted to each evening’s music.
Elsewhere is a story of migration and cultural encounters celebrating the life of Japanese pioneer Omoto Tannaker (1842-1916). In 1860, the Japanese woman joined the Great Dragon Circus on its tour around the world, but in December 1873, Omoto-san’s infant Godie died in Sunderland, England. The tomb of Little Godie was the first Japanese monument erected in England in the 19th century.
A woman of courage, the Japanese performer Omoto Tannaker joins the rank of often-forgotten women athletes and pioneers, who left their countries of origin to defy cultural norms and expectations. She was one of the first Japanese women to obtain a passport; her life coincides with the onset of Japan’s modernization during the Edo Period. She married a foreigner (a Dutchman), and her children were of mixed race.
Omoto-San, a very skilled acrobat, “showed a remarkable technique to slide down an 45 inclined rope” (Yoshioda). These impressive physical skills undoubtedly mirror her talents of adaptation, as well as shadow the numerous challenges she faced when integrating into the social fabric of her recipient community at the turn of the 19th Century.
This piece explores the themes of immigration and cultural hybridity from a female perspective, articulated through butoh language and improvised music. Women are often the unsung heroes of history; behind all significant cultural movements and changes in history, the lives of countless women can be found, as well as countless voices that have been silenced. As we challenge our collective memory by telling the stories of women pioneers, we can reconstruct our present and carve out a much-needed space to redefine the importance of women’s participation in society.
“I met Vangeline in 2016. It was striking to see her deeply moving butoh performance, and it also inspired me a lot that she is a French woman working on a school of dance that originated in my country, Japan. I felt the connection immediately, not only because she was pursuing Japanese art, but also that she embodies integration,” said Yuka C. Honda. “Coexisting with the ones with whom we don’t share values is one of the most difficult things to do. It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the difference. But these times are showing us the way to integrate, not separate. I think, to start, what we need to do is to make more connections with others. With this performance, we will coexist in one space, channeling a ghost of a woman, and creating a unified world without losing our duality.”
With this piece, musician/composer Yuka C. Honda and Butoh dancer Vangeline will explore their roots while investigating the idea of shared space in performance.
This work began as an artistic commission awarded by Surface Area Dance Theatre with support from The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and the Heritage Lottery Fund UK.