This September Vancouver’s Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre will play host to one of the most thought-provoking performances of the season: Kokoro Dance Theatre Society’s Embryotrophic Cavatina.
Embryotrophic Cavatina is a contemporary butoh dance performance first conceived by co-directors Barbara Bourget and Jay Hirabayashi in 1998, inspired by Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner’s composition Requiem for my friend. After experiencing the passionate emotion of Preisner’s music, Bourget and Hirabayashi set about choreographing the entire 69-minute score. Only now, almost 20 years later, will it be unveiled in full performance.
Butoh is a contemporary form of dance developed in post-World War II Japan. It is instantly recognizable by its dancers’ surreal and erratic yet controlled movements as well as shaved heads and iconic white paint covering their entire bodies — often the only covering that the dancers have while performing. Butoh arose out of a time of confusion and a rearranging of worlds; its goal is to awaken the dark and incomprehensible, to explore humanity as a concept without the restrictions of persona.
Molly McDermott and Billy Marchenski, graduates of Simon Fraser University in Dance and Theatre respectively, will join Hirabayashi and Bourget on stage to take the audience through an exploration of raw human emotion embodied by the dancer’s almost inhuman precision and control. Enhancing this surreal spectacle will be lighting design by Gerald King, along with costumes and backdrops by Tsuneko Kokubo to complete the dreamlike atmosphere.
Embryotrophic Cavatina promises an unparalleled experience that will awaken your curiosity and leave you enthralled. The show runs September 20th-23rd and 26th-29th at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre with performances starting at 8:00 pm. Get your tickets soon for a spectacle unlike any other.
LISTING INFORMATION
Dates: September 20 – 23 and 26 – 29, 2017 at 8pm
Tickets : $25 – $30
Address: Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre
181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2W3
Box Office: kokoro.ca or 604.662.4966
Website: kokoro.ca
Social Media: facebook.com/KokoroDance
#kokoroembryo
Photo credit: Kokoro Dance, Peter Eastwood