Ximena Garnica and company perform "Furnace" at Butoh festival (photo by Jonathan Slaff)
Dixon Place
161A Christie St.
November 5-8, $20 ($35 for Nov. 7 benefit performance, including after-party with the artists)
212-219-0736
www.nybf09.caveartspace.org
The centerpiece of the fourth Cave New York Butoh Festival, this specially commissioned evening-length piece is a collaboration between director / choreographer / performer / producer Ximena Garnica, installation and video artist Shige Moriya, and master Butoh dancer and consultant Ko Murobushi, who trained under Butoh creator Tatsumi Hijikata. Performed by six members of Garnica’s Brooklyn-based company, Leimay, along with Garnica herself, FURNACE is a work-in-progress consisting of a series of short vignettes inspired by the Butoh tradition. “The ball of movement was born amid the fire of the furnace blast,” the three creators explain about the piece. “It is a great hybrid, a miscellaneous of species. Today we are at the center of the furnace again, new transformation upland.”
Cast and creators participate in artist talk following Nov. 6 performance of FURNACE (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
On a stage covered with silver Mylar that extends into the audience and shimmers on the performers (and occasionally becomes a sort-of funhouse mirror), the dancers work solo and in tandem, beginning with Garnica moving slowly and carefully, soon joined by Kage, as the Beatles’ “Golden Slumbers” confusingly repeats. In another segment, three of the dancers are sitting down, moving only their heads as they improvise fast-paced conversation, including one of the women talking about a fly buzzing by her head. In another section, the company moves throughout the stage, weaving in and around each other, running to help each dancer as they suddenly start convulsing and falling; it is an intriguing concept that unfortunately goes on too long. For “Fragments,” the company enters in darkness to the minimalist sounds of John Cage’s “Empty Words with Music for Piano,” all seven of the dancers as minimalist as they can be – fully naked. Following “Furnace,” which incorporates a metallic mannequin missing some limbs set to the music of Glenn Branca, the show concludes with the dazzling “Egg,” in which each member of the company, once more sans clothing, is curled up in a fetal position, then slowly opens like the birth of a flower before closing up again. The piece is enhanced by Moriya’s glowing projections over their bodies, which also become covered in reflective silver lines that evoke the circulatory system. The Cave New York Butoh Festival: The Butoh-kan Phase continues through November 25 with performances, workshops, a benefit exhibition, and more.