Portland-Based Choreographer Takahiro Yamamoto and Sidony O'Neal Headed to DiverseWorks

DiverseWorks will welcome Portland, OR-based choreographer Takahiro Yamamoto and his collaborator, performance artist sidony o'neal, to Houston, February 13 - 17, 2017.

While in residence, Yamamoto and o'neal will meet with a number of area artists, academics, and community activists, present a public workshop at Asia Society Texas Center, and rehearse and present a work-in-progress showing of Direct Path to Detour, a new collaborative dance performance co-commissioned by DiverseWorks.

The final iteration of Direct Path to Detour will be presented by DiverseWorks at MATCH (Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston) in October 2017.

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WORKSHOP DETAILS
Tuesday, February 14, 1 - 2:30 pm
Asia Society Texas Center, Edward Rudge Allen III Education Center
1370 Southmore Blvd, Houston, TX 77004
No movement experience is necessary. Free, but advance RSVP is required by emailing Taylor Hoblitzell, taylor@diverseworks.org.

This workshop introduces breathing exercises andlight improvisational movement practice, techniques that Yamamoto has been investigating for Direct Path to Detour. At the end, group discussion will be held to explore participants' physical experiences in relationship to their personal backgrounds. According to Yamamoto, the idea of 'post memory' will be discussed - delving into the interconnectivity of things that we don't know, things that we physically experience, and things that we don't articulate.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS SHOWING: DIRECT PATH TO DETOUR
Thursday, February 16, 6 - 8 pm
DiverseWorks - MATCH Rehearsal Room
3400 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002
Free, but seating is very limited and advance RSVP is required by emailing Taylor Hoblitzell, taylor@diverseworks.org.

Direct Path to Detour is a new collaborative dance performance by Portland-based choreographer Takahiro Yamamoto. In today's culturally diverse, globalized society, one is inevitably exposed to multiple aesthetics, ethics, and ideologies. Through this project and from his perspective as a queer, Japanese immigrant, Yamamoto investigates the physical and emotional effects that result when multiple sets of cultural values and expectations crash, negotiate, reconcile and/or float around each other in contemporary society.

While in Houston developing this project, Yamamoto and one of his collaborators, sidony o'neal, will engage the community by presenting a brief showing of Direct Path to Detour, followed by a conversation about their artistic processes. Over the next few months, Yamamoto is participating in residencies in Cincinnati, Houston, and Japan as a research method in order to introduce himself and his collaborators to communities prior to the presentation of the full performance. This preliminary research residency and interaction with the Houston community will be integral to the final presentation at DiverseWorks in October 2017.

This residency and Yamamoto's presentation in Houston is organized by DiverseWorks Curator Rachel Cook.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

sidony o'neal is a writer and artist based in Portland, OR. They have performed as a member of performance projects DEAD THOROUGHBRED, DELICTO, and FUTUREDEATHAGENCY. Their writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Passages North, BATHHOUSE, SPOOK magazine, FUTURE CONCRETE, Women & Performance, and VARVVARV. They are the translator of Prognosis: Descarga Poetica Decolonial (Quilomboarte 2014) and author of f a c e b o w l (THE MINI CHAPBOOK PRESS 2013). sidony has held a Literary In(ter)ventions residency at the Banff Centre (Canada), a Creative Exchange Lab Residency with the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (US), and a residency at Arteles Center (Finland). They are a long-term artist-in-residence in the Synth Library at S1 gallery (Portland).

Originally from Shizuoka Japan, Takahiro Yamamoto works in performance, sculpture, and photography in Portland, Oregon. He has shown his original works nationally and internationally at Links Hall (Chicago), GoDown Arts Centre (Nairobi), Bedlam Lowertown (St.Paul), Fresh Festival (San Francisco), Center on Contemporary Arts (Seattle), Rowan Gallery (Los Angeles), and Disjecta (Portland). He has performed with Morgan Thorson, Xavier Le Roy, Opiyo Okach, Mårten Spångberg, Keith Hennessy, Jmy James Kidd, Perseverance Theatre Company, and many others. He holds an MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland. He was selected for PICA's 2015 Creative Exchange Lab and 2012 danceWEB scholarship in Vienna, Austria. Additionally, he co-directs the performance company madhause with Ben Evans, and is part of the Portland-based group Physical Education with Allie Hankins, keyon gaskin, and Lucy Lee Yim.

DiverseWorks commissions, produces, and presents new and daring art in all its forms through innovative collaborations that honor each artist's vision without constraint.

DiverseWorks is committed to equitable compensation for artists and is W.A.G.E. (Working Artists in the Greater Economy) Certified. More information at www.wageforwork.com.