Senegal, Japan fused into dance
By Merilyn Jackson
For The Inquirer
Japanese-born Kota Yamazaki started his dance company, Fluid hug-hug, not long after moving to New York in 2002. Last year, he won a Bessie Award with Germaine Acogny for choreographing FAGAALA on Compagnie Jant-Bi, which Acogny directs in Senegal.Interested in researching Butoh, a post-World War II performance art, Acogny visited Japan in 2000, met Butoh-master Yamazaki, and invited him to work with her. He visited three times, teaching her dancers Butoh techniques and immersing himself in Senegalese dance traditions.
Rise:Rose, which also resulted from that research, received its Philadelphia premiere Friday and Saturday at the Painted Bride. Yamazaki danced with Michou Szabo and Mina Nishimura to make a short but engrossing evening of fusion dance fathered by the often grotesque and mysterious Butoh, but mothered by traditional and ancient African steps. Read more…
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