Howl! Happening is excited to welcome Vangeline Theater and the New York premiere of Très Mort-Tremor. Live butoh performance with Vangeline Theater will run from April 29th through May 2nd at 7pm.
April 29th is opening night- the event is free and open to the public.
Très Mort-Tremor is a project conceived by Butoh Artist Vangeline in collaboration with photographer Celeste Sloman. Part photo exhibition, video portraits and live Butoh installation,”Très Mort” explores the world of facial tremors induced by Butoh. Our face is a mask underneath which lies a world of contradiction and mystery made manifest by involuntary muscle contractions.
This immersive installation features photographs of Vangeline Theater Butoh dancers, as well as a one-hour video portrait of the dancers going in and out of Butoh State. Between 7pm and 8pm, the exhibit will be accompanied by a live Butoh performance with dancers mixing in with the crowd, in civilian clothing, transitioning from a neutral state into Butoh, then back to neutral.
Butoh dancers have to enter a “trance-like” state to successfully transport their audience. However, while Butoh is renowned for its impact on both dancer and viewer, rarely do audience get to experience it so closely and witness the techniques which make Butoh so compelling.
The creation of Très Mort-Tremor brings Butoh and Fine Arts in a truly hybrid collaboration; the exhibit explores transitory states of being, and the passage from the mundane to the extraordinary. Celeste Sloman’s intimate portraits are depictions of Butoh dancing full of emotions and mystery. Unlike most portraits of women which favor beauty and elegance, the photographs in question capture moments of crisis. The exhibit challenges beauty ideals and demonstrates that women are beautiful in all of their complexity.
Vangeline Theater dancers featured: Azumi Oe, Maiko Ikegaki,Juri NishioMaki Shinagawa, Margherita Tisato, Sindy Butz, Stacy Lynn Smith, Beatrice VS
