Red. Improvisational performance fore the camera. Photo: Alex Colby

BUTOH:MOVEMENT

IN HONOR OF BUTOH

My extensive study of butoh has had a profound impact on the work that I create. Butoh is a deep and hypnotizing form of post- modern dance originated in post-WWII Japan. It’s also influenced by European expressive dance, think Pina Bausch meets Artaud. I consider the majority of my dance work post-butoh, gleaning its more theatrical elements channeled through narrative-driven character creations. I have trained with second generation masters such as Akira Kasai and Ko Murabushi and most extensively with master instructor Diego Piñon, whom I consider the "Stanislavsky of Butoh" because of his deep emotional memory work.

I have included additional site-specific performance installations both public and private. Not quite butoh and not quite dance, these works live in the stylized world of physical theatre, the liminal no-man’s-land between dance and theatre in which I inhabit.

Tres Chic: The Beauty Borg examines and questions the forms and norms of (often oppressive/sometimes self-repressive) ritualized feminine beauty worldwide. It shines the light on the more contemporary and technologically invasive obsessions with beauty in cultures and countries where women are no longer shackled with this fear. The result? Think of the beguiling gynoid of "Metropolis meets the hypergamy of "Real Housewives" meets the perverse roboticism of “Real Doll.” Ordinary woman is transformed into a multi-culti cyborgian goddess. Spanning over a thousand years of beauty practices, the artist is literally “bound” in beauty through costume. Photo: Stephen Delas-Heras.

Water Cure. An excerpt from my multi-media solo work-in-progress For Her Own Good; Chronicles of Women and Madness. This piece is based on the early 20th century psychiatric water cure for "madwomen" and those suffering nervous dispositions. Site sp… — Water Cure. An excerpt from my multi-media solo work-in-progress *For Her Own Good; Chronicles of Women and Madness.* This piece is based on the early 20th century psychiatric water cure for "madwomen" and those suffering nervous dispositions. Site specific at a loft basement. Photo Steven Eseltee.

The Suitcase with Bob Lyness. First of the Sad Man series. At Standard Toykraft. Photo: Vane Terán.

Tomato Hand, Knife Feet. Deeptank Studios. Photo: Flo Poulin.

Loss. part of the Zero Plan performance evening..

Cutting Edge. A movement installation with artist Jef Campion. Blue Door Gallery.

NEUVO BUTOH HARPA COLLABORATION

Neuvo Butoh Arpa, was created with electric harpist and composer Mia Theodoratus. Infusing a true multicultural flavor, we combined the sounds of North Indian Classical, experimental, and pop music with Japanese butoh dance and European physical theatre. We specialized in interactive and site-specific performance installations. Works include Sickness, Madam May, and the Elements performed in parks, rooftops, back yards, galleries, and most notably at the Gershwin Hotel, NYC.

SYLVIA NAGY MOVEMENT COLLABORATIONS

Internationally recognized sculptor and artist Sylvia Nagy and I collaborated to create site-specific live "action sculpture" where Nagy created replicas of her work directly on by body in a dance between artist and mover. Works include Moving Point of View, Global Warming, I Dream of Colored Ink, performed primarily at BWAC, Brooklyn, NY.