Tribute to the Japanese Butoh Performer Masaki Iwana

ARTos Foundation presents the internationally renowned Japanese Butoh dancer, Masaki Iwana, for 2 nights, on 7th and 8th June, who will present his work for the first time in Cyprus.

The program will include:
On the June 7th at 8:00 pm the screening of Masaki Iwana's first feature film "Vermilion Souls", in the presence of the director. (The movie is suitable for people over 18).

Set in Tokyo seven years after the end of WWII, this surreal story revolves around the dreams and realities of a young boy who strays into a strange mansion while out chasing fliers dropped by a small airplane. Confined inside are four adults suffering from an incurable disease which prevents them from having exposure to the sun.

The four, have been anxious to die, waiting for the day when the government orders their "gas release". The day after the boy's encounter with these death-wishers, the gas release order is finally issued. Their rejoicing is short-lived, however, as the order is conditional on the presence of five living persons being confirmed before gas is released. With Kakera already dead and her body dumped by Hinomaru into the tunnel leading from the mansion to nowhere, there are only four still living. The four must go look for Kakera's body in the tunnel to meet the precondition for the gassing. To be able to die, the four begin a final, life-filled stretch of their lives.

Vermilion Souls is a film about the 'skill of life that dares to live death', the underlying concept of butoh since its inception 50 years ago. Through this drama Iwana will show that life becomes true only when one is conscious of death in life.

The cast includes some renowned butoh dancers with distinctive styles from both Japan and Europe, who will add a new dramatic element more through their personal presence as butoh dancers than as actors per se.

Written and directed by: Masaki Iwana
Director of Photography: Pascale Marine
Editor: Cedric Defert (Tingo Film)
Sound editor: Julian Ngo Trong (Tingo Film)
Lighting: Patrik Tomassoni
Music: Hirokazu Hiraishi, Le Quan Ninh, Lionel Marchetti,
Production: Syukichi Koizumi, Hiroyuki Kawaida (TVE – Japan)
Masaki Iwana (La Maison du Butoh Blanc – France)
文化庁 Agency for Cultural Affairs – Japan
Cast: Mohamed Aroussi (France); Valentina Miraglia (Italy); Taku Furusawa, Ryoichi Negishi, Yuri Nagaoka, Moeno Wakamatsu, and Yuta Takihara (Japan)
Duration: 104’– (Black & White)
Production 2008

Tickets for the screening: 7 euros

On June 8th at 9:00 pm, Masaki Iwana will perform "The Lifetime of Lady Boy Ivan Ilyich". The performance deals with those who are discriminated as sexual minority and those who have arrogance and honor because of beauty. By getting older, the body is gradually rotting, declines, gets ugly and finally rusts. Its contradictory duality discrepancy in him will foster things new.

Tickets for the Performance: 15 euro

Tickets for both days: 20 euros

For more information, please contact [email protected] or at the telephone 22-445456.

Butoh: From “dance to express” to “dance to become”
Butoh first appeared in post-war Japan, in 1959, having a strong influence from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
It was born as a rebellion against Western and Japanese traditional dance and flourished through the cooperation of its founders, Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, in the Avant-garde shadow of the 1950s and 1960s. It also has roots in the German Expressionism (Die Neue Tanz).
It is a form of art that is difficult to precisely define. Known for its resistance to what is established, we could say that Butoh moves between dance and theater, although he refuses the general idea we usually find in dancing, that we just dance. His spirit may vary according to the sensitivity of the artist.

It is impossible to separate the body from the spirit when referring to Butoh. The technique is inherent in this dance, but it is always secondary compared to the purity the spirit seeks.

Masaki Iwana (performer, choreographer, teacher, film director)
One of the most acclaimed Butoh performers in Japan today and one of the rare Butoh performers in the world, who maintain the original Butoh spirit.

Masaki Iwana began his dance career outside the "Butoh genealogy" in 1975. Until 1982 he presented 150 experimental performances in which he stood straight, completely naked and perfectly still. Since then, in Europe as well as Japan, Iwana has presented his performances and workshops continuously and has created works which are built on his sharpened aesthetic in 100 cities - 40 countries. Iwana represents the institute for the research of Butoh La Maison du Butoh Blanc. Moreover, in 2008 he produced and created a theatrical film “Vermilion Souls” which got Best film award at Portobero IFF in UK in 2009, followed by the 2nd film “A Summer Family” in 2010 and "Princess Betrayal" in 2012. His fourth film "Charlotte - Susabi" is expected to be released soon at international festivals.

For more information on Masaki Iwana, his dance work and films, please visit http://www.iwanabutoh.com/

Butoh Workshop with Masaki Iwana
Masaki Iwana will offer a Butoh workshop from 10 - 15 June in the framework of the Summer Theater Academy, in Platres, which is organized by the Rectus Centrum with the support of the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture. The workshop is suitable for performers, dancers, actors, artists, architects, researchers and other professional artists, who are interested in training in contemporary Japanese Butoh and how it can be interpreted in body language by everyone personally. It lasts 4 hours per day and includes 90 minutes of physical exercises, and 2.5 hours of performance exercises. The cost for attending the workshop is 150 euro. The number of participants is limited and will be followed priority order. For more information, please contact the tel. 99157424 or to the email: [email protected]