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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Before The Dawn
Verdict: Arc of life dance
London - Jacksons Lane - 19-20 May 05 (20:00)
Before the Dawn is a dance in the Japanese Butoh style lasting about 45 minutes, by a single performer, Yumiko Yoshioka.
Butoh can seem inaccessible and daunting to a first-time viewer. Perhaps, for a UK audience, it is the Japanese-ness of it. Or the weirdness. Or the obviously total devotion of the performers to their art - and because they have advanced so far ahead into the avant garde. It is so intense. The first moments of a Butoh dance can bite at the viewer like the onset of a psychedelic drug.
Yumiko Yoshioka makes it accessible. She can convey the meaning of her dance.
The message is a little chilling. At the start, in silence, there’s a figure on stage. She is draped in swathes of cloth that look like a strait-jacket, or the hood of a condemned criminal. The figure struggles to find where she is, a point of reference. There is a feeling of complete, existential, aloneness - and with it, fear and panic. The actor struggles, falls over in surrender, lies still.
A hand emerges, like a periscope. It searches, feels the floor, the cloth, the body to which it is attached. An eerie electronic soundtrack starts and stops throughout the rest of the show. Bit by bit, the dancer’s body emerges, exploring her own existence, senses, joints, ability to move. When her face is first exposed, it is almost frightening. The dancer experiments with moving her tongue, her eyes. From this point, her facial expressions - from enjoyment to fierceness - are a crucial element.
For a time, she appears to be a fish, swimming. Later, she becomes a social being, dancing like a teenager. She discovers sexuality, cupping her breasts with her hands. The dance becomes manic. Finally, she lays down and dies, sprinkling herself in sand as she fades into nothing.
It’s not the first time a Butoh dance has told the story of the arc of life from birth to death. Yumiko Yoshioka’s version is fresh. She seems - from the programme notes and the tonight’s performance - to devote her life and formidable energy to the advancement of her art. Yumiko Yoshioka dances bare-chested, and her body seems sculpted to suit that, lean and strong. Tonight’s applause recalls her for for multiple curtain calls.
Cast Credits: Performer - Yumiko Yoshioka.
Company Credits: Daiwa International Butoh Festival: Artistic Director – Frances Barbe. Producer – Melanie Wynard for Jacksons Lane. Japan Partner – Paradix K. Festival Stage Manager – Laura Moss. Press - Janina Mundy. Thanks to: Joachim Manger, Minako Seki.
END
(c) Brad Hall 2005
reviewed 20 May 05 / Jacksons Lane
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
