KAE ISHIMOTO
JP
Kae is a dancer, director and a choreographer, she was born into a family of traditional Japanese dancers. She began to study jazz dance at age four, and is trained in modern and contemporary dance. Since 2002 she has been working with the famed butoh dancer Yukio Waguri. In 2011, she performed “Transformation Girl” choreographed using the Hijikata method of butoh, in 7 countries in Asia and Europe. Through these diverse performing opportunities she is attempting to construct an original, genre-less expression that synthesizes various elements and traditions of dance. In 2004 she co-created a performance company with 8 musicians called Wangnin Bunmei (“Fool’s Civilization”). She and her company were invited to 13 countries in Asia, Europe and US. Kae is establishing a dance style that blends an Eastern sense of the body with a borderless sensitivity that can express both specific and universal themes.
MASTER WORKSHOP: BUTOH FOR CHOREOGRAPHY AND THEATRE
DATE: 19 & 20 March 09:30 – 17:00
VENUE: HKAPA
FEE: 1500HKD
MASTER WORKSHOP | BUTOH FOR CHOREOGRAPHY AND THEATRE
This workshop welcomes people from all backgrounds and levels of experience. Kae Ishimoto attempts to construct an original, genreless expression that synthesizes various elements and traditions of dance through her diverse performing opportunities. Thus the workshop will not be teaching a specific method, she will focus on more somatic and organic approaches from butoh to contemporary dance and from martial arts to physical theater.
In the beginning of the class she will provide warm up exercises that combine several methods from floor techniques to breath control and you may experience a new level of relaxation. Kae will then introduce students to Hijikata Tatsumi’s method of butoh and lead them through a number of Hijikata’s choreographic sequences (butoh-fu), such as ‘pollen’ and ‘nerves’. We will start to “understand” simply from “walking” and “standing”. She will seek to ask questions like: What is the world of the imagination, and how do we build that world? What are the qualities of the body? What does it mean ’to be’? What is the space-time of our body? The workshop will open up new ways of thinking through the body and movement, and provide participants with new choreographic tools and perspectives about body beyond any nationalities, also encourage people to blend & integrate their rich cultures and identities.