Celebrate Movement and Creativity

Attune: DC ⇄ Kyoto is a dance showcase featuring artists in the US and Japan. The work is an eclectic mix of contemporary and traditional styles. In “Waiting Room,” by Human Landscape Dance, four dancers on a bench lean, shift, jerk, and twist with restless energy, reflecting the anxiety of waiting for bad news. In “Tsuru (Crane),” by Heidi S Durning, four dancers glide across the stage with paper cranes, twisting their fingers into beaks, and spiraling down to land. In Pebbles at a River’s Edge, by SylviDances three dancers gradually disintegrate, flow together, and recombine as a group. Kyoko Fujimoto will transform the Japanese Noh dance into a contemporary one by exploring the traditional stillness (Sei) and evolving it into detailed, active movement (Do). The dances offer an array of moods and influences.

As an add on to the showcases, you are invited to take part in workshops brought to you from Japan and the United States. These include a zazen meditation practice led by the head priest of a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, an introduction to the mesmerizing traditional dance form nihon buyo, and a contact improvisation experience. Contact improvisation is a US folk dance in which movers connect in close partnership, mutually leading each other. Participants in the Contact improvisation workshop will be invited to perform an improvised score during each evening performance of Attune.