New Kota Yamazaki work coming to Japan Society

from Kota Yamazaki's (glowing)
(Photo: Ryutaro Mishima)

Japan Society will present (glowing), a new work from Bessie Award-winner Kota Yamazaki (of Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug), co-commissioned with The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center/EMPAC.

Friday, April 27 and Saturday, April 28 at 7:30pm

In (glowing), Bessie Award-winner Kota Yamazaki explores his butoh roots through collaboration with an international company of dancers, and notably, through African dance.

Inspired by the renowned essay In’ei Raisan (In Praise of Shadows) by the great modern Japanese novelist Jun’ichiro Tanizaki (1886–1965), which describes Japan’s appreciation of the exquisite beauty found only in darkness and shadows, this new work by Kota Yamazaki re-examines the fundamentals of butoh, the form in which he received his training.  

Six dancers hailing from Senegal, Ethiopia, Japan, and the US, perform within a set that evokes the soft lighting and dim interior of a traditional Japanese house, where shadows contribute to a visual atmosphere.  Set Design is by Robert Kocik.  Lighting Design is by Kathy Kaufmann.  The original score/soundscape is by Tokyo-based composer Kohji Setoh.  (glowing) is performed by: Marie Agnes Gomis (Senegal), Shiferaw Tariku (Ethiopia), Ryoji Sasamoto (NY-based/Japan), Mina Nishimura (NY-based/Japan), Eva Schmidt (US) and Maggie Bennett (US).

For more information and ticketing, click here.

Japan Society
333 East 47th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues), Manhattan
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