Butoh on the Beach

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Filed in Arts
July 19, 2006

There's going to be a whole lot of writhing in the sand and surf at Wreck Beach this weekend. Well, more than usual even. Saturday (July 22nd) at 10:30 AM and Sunday (July 23rd) at 11:30 AM, Kokoro Dance will be presenting their 11th annual "Wreck Beach Butoh". Butoh, for those of you who don't know, is a kind of modern dance that really explores all planes. It is at times sculptural and slow, almost meditative, and then quickly turns to something frenzied and messy, only to retreat into contemplation again. It is at once compelling and repulsive, boring and enthralling, sedate and chaotic. It is life. Traditionally the dancers wear loin-cloths or partially cover their bodies, which they paint white. At Wreck Beach, as tradition demands, the dancers will be naked.

I have a long history of curiosity with Kokoro Dance. I fell in love with them when I saw Esse a looooong time ago. I vowed to see everything they did, because I thought it was nothing less than pure genius, but I hated the next 2 shows I went to. I've since come back around and seen a variety of performances in Vancouver, but I have still never once seen a show at Wreck Beach, despite having spent many summers there. "Twenty-two dancers perform on one of the world's most beautiful stages with its panoramic vista of ocean, mountains and the Vancouver skyline in the background," I just read on their site, and that sounds like the perfect way to spend a weekend, so I will definitely be checking this one out.

The show happens at the foot of the #4 Trail (just west of the UBC Museum of Anthropology) July 22, 2006 at 10:30 AM and July 23 at 11:30 AM.

Photographers in the crowd note that photography or videotaping of any kind is not allowed. Clothing is optional. Sunscreen is highly recommended!!

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Oh baby, 35degrees down at Wreck this wkend, plus Butoh! I'm down on Sunday for sure!!!

Posted by: statusq at July 19, 2006 12:47 PM | Quote Comment

Kokoro's annual Wreck Beach Butoh is becoming a victim of its own success... I try to drum up attendance also, but this year that approach seems to have yielded dividends of perpetually obstructed sight lines unless you were right in there wriggling like the freak you always hoped you might be. I fear we are just topping out Tower Beach's potential for audience size. Usually you could correct this by adjusting the supply-demand ratio, but the supply cannot be increased because the beach's size is finite, nor the demand corrected by price increases because it's already by donation. I don't know what they're going to do.

Well, dance awesomely. I don't know what /we're/ going to do.

Posted by: Rowan at July 24, 2006 11:19 PM | Quote Comment