Japan Society Presents Contemporary Dance Festival: Japan + East Asia

In January 2019, Japan Society's Contemporary Dance Festival: Japan + East Asia brings groundbreaking artists from the other side of the globe to New York audiences, in two performances only: Friday, January 4 and Saturday, January 5 at 7:30pm.

Presented as part of Japan Society's 2018-2019 Performing Arts Season, the Contemporary Dance Festival, in the tradition of its forerunner, the Contemporary Dance Showcase, which over the course of two decades enjoyed 17 action-packed installments, celebrates defining artists of the present moment - this year featuring three revelatory and robust works from Japan, Taiwan and Korea, in a highly selective program assembled by the Society's Artistic Director Yoko Shioya.

The 2019 Contemporary Dance Festival: Japan + East Asia features:

• Butoh legend Akira Kasai's renowned Pollen Revolution, which toured the world for several years between 2001 and 2005, returns to the U.S. in this recreation of the iconic work with choreography by Akira Kasai to be performed by his son Mitsutake Kasai [Japan].

• Choreographer Kuan-Hsiang Liu's Kids is a tribute to death and his late mother's fight against cancer, punctuated by moments of peace and serenity [Taiwan].

• Goblin Party's Silver Knife, exploring the conflicting sides of female identity, conveys complex emotions through the eloquent movements of four female dancers [Korea].

Performances are Friday, January 4 at 7:30pm* and Saturday, January 5 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $30 / $25 Japan Society members. * followed by a MetLife Meet-the-Artists Reception Tickets can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 212-715-1258 or in person at Japan Society (M-F 11:00am - 6:00pm and Sat-Sun 11:00am - 5:00pm). Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street, between First and Second Avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 at 42nd Street-Grand Central Station or the E at Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street). For more information, call 212-832-1155 or visit http://www.japansociety.org

2019 Contemporary Dance Festival Featured Works and Artist Biographies:
Pollen Revolution / Choreographed by Akira Kasai; Performed by Mitsutake Kasai Butoh master Akira Kasai's legendary Pollen Revolution returns to the U.S. in this revival, specially recreated to be performed by his son, Mitsutake Kasai. Pollen Revolution marked Akira Kasai's New York debut with its premiere at Japan Society in 2002. The show returned to the U.S. in 2004 for an eight-city tour, after which it went on to tour the world.

Now, Akira Kasai's electric work comes alive once again, this time with magnetic dancer Mitsutake Kasai taking center stage. This daring solo performance begins with Kasai performing an improvised traditional Japanese dance dressed as an onnagata, or a male kabuki actor who plays female roles. With every costume change the tone of the choreography shifts "from feminine to masculine, ceremonial to colloquial, past to the present, and tragic to comic," wrote Dance Magazine. To this day, Akira Kasai's landmark piece tests the limits of butoh as a distinctive branch of contemporary dance.

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