Coney Island USA to Present International Culture Lab's 2nd Annual CONEY ISLAND BUTOH AND BEYOND

Coney Island is famous for its historical exhibitions of living forms - human, non-human "and beyond." Displaying everything from "freaks, geeks and human curiosities" - both individual and collective; from the Lilliputian Village ("Midget City"), to the Filipino Igorot tribe that was transplanted from the Philippines to perform their rituals, to the ten-in-one circus sideshows. And always present was a bewildering assortment of captured and caged exotic animals. This "menagerie of the other" was central to the often exploitative thrills of the historical Coney Island.

For 3 evenings only - March 31-April 2 - 18 Butoh dancers, under the guidance of Mexican master teacher Diego Piñón, will explore this historical Menagerie of the Other through body rituals on Coney Island USA's Sideshows by the Seashore stage, 1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn. All tickets are $15, in advance or at the door.

March 31 at 8pm - click here for tickets
April 1 at 8pm - click here for tickets
April 2 at 4pm - click here for tickets

The ensemble Butoh performance will be followed by vivid performances that go beyond to pay homage not just to the "surrealism of the flesh" that is Butoh, but also to Coney Island's darkling seaside legacy. These include underground performance and burlesque artist Miss Mary Cyn, who will provide an alt-burlesque tribute; contemporary performance explorer and former Naropa University Guest Artist Jen Hix, who will give us a unique and original work, and Brooklyn artist, teacher, and actor Erin Mansur to excerpt Prospero from Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

Butoh was born when Japanese dancer Tatsumi Hijikata created the radical art form in the post Hiroshima/Nagasaki environment and was greeted with ridicule and indignation. Though Butoh in its contemporary worldwide incarnations is notoriously difficult to define, the uncovering of humanity's shared core, the ritualistic quest for transformation, playful and grotesque imagery, eroticism, breaking taboos and redefining beauty are common themes.

Nick Fracaro, ICL's co-artistic director: "Upon closer study, Butoh at Coney Island becomes an unlikely yet tantalizing juxtaposition. With its history of sensationalized performances and exhibitions, Coney Island is an excellent backdrop for exploring 'otherness' - in both its celebratory and exploitative qualities. Coney's storied burlesque history presents yet another example of crossover. In the late 60's, Hijikata's dancers worked in nightclubs and experimented with performances that straddled the line between burlesque and Butoh. We're excited to team up with our old friends at Coney Island USA, who themselves push the envelope of conventional art."

Coney Island Butoh & Beyond is a production of International Culture Lab Jonathan Kopp, Producer, and features an international collective of dancers and other performers. The concept of The Other has been a recurring theme in the theater's thirty-five year history, beginning with its origin as Thieves Theatre, named in honor of Jean Genet (also Hijikata's muse). Their urban dramaturgy was most famously enacted when from 1990 to 1993 the company's directors built and lived in a tipi at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge in Manhattan's then oldest homeless encampment known as The Hill [see Spring 2015 issue of PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art ].

International Culture Lab -- Nick Fracaro and Gabriele Schafer Co-Artistic Directors -- is a performing arts organization dedicated to providing opportunities for artists from across the world to explore contemporary issues through jointly created projects. ICL believes that art has a responsibility to contextualize and promote the diversity of cultures and to encourage, celebrate and learn from their differences. Collaborating countries include Canada, Argentina, Germany, Turkey, New Zealand and the Republic of Georgia. ICL, in its early history as Thieves Theatre, interrogated the role of The Other in contemporary society with a series of controversial landmark productions, from its 1982 collaboration with a group of ex-mental patients called On Our Own in a production of Marat/Sade, to its world premiere in 1987 of Fassbinder's "unproducible" Trash, the City, and Death, and culminating in its 1990-1993 project on "The Hill" where the company's directors erected the 25-foot-high Lakota inspired tipi, handmade from 78 US#3 mailbags, in the then oldest Manhattan shantytown at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge.

Diego Piñón's Body Ritual Movement is the distillation of his extensive research in body-based energy methodologies since 1975. BRM is primarily derived from Piñón's Mexican heritage with traditional energetic practices and Japanese Butoh under the guidance of Kazuo Ohno, Yoshito Ohno, Min Tanaka, Natsu Nakajima, among others. "It's interesting to draw a parallel between the work of Piñón and the original intentions of Hijikata...(who) symptomatically asserted Butoh as a sacrificial resistance to the sweeping forces of military led US imperialism ... Now, in the age of rampant US economic imperialism, we can see Butoh emerging again as a less violent but equally radical way to counter and contend with the ideology of globalization. Ten years after NAFTA opened borders for trade while keeping them closed to bodies, with the economic violence moving from the symbolic to the real, Butoh Mexicano might also be seen as a symptom of a larger ideological crisis." -- Shakina Nayfack, Dancing Across Borders: Danzas Y Bailes Mexicanos

Coney Island USA exists to defend the honor of American popular culture through innovative exhibitions and performances. Presenting and producing exciting new works, the organization's approach is rooted in mass culture and the traditions of P.T. Barnum, dime museums, burlesque, circus sideshows, vaudeville, and Coney Island itself. Serving both New York City and an international community that includes visitors to Coney Island and enthusiasts of various cultural forms, Coney Island USA's signature activities include the Mermaid Parade, the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, the Coney Island Museum, and new theatrical work.

Video credit: Christopher Miller

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