Wreck Beach Butoh by Kokoro Dance returns to spectacular summer setting
Mother Nature provides the set, lighting, and costumes for 28th annual performances
Post Sponsored by kokoro dance
Wreck Beach Butoh. Photo by Peter Eastwood
There’s no other performance experience like it in the world: Wreck Beach Butoh, by Kokoro Dance, takes place at Vancouver’s stunning and legendary clothing-optional beach, with set, costumes, and lighting all provided by Mother Nature.
The 28th annual performances take place July 23 at 11 am and July 24 at 12 pm, rain or shine.
Each year, Kokoro Dance creates a new dance that embraces the sand, water, and air at this beautiful location with its views of the Howe Sound/Átl’ka7tsem’ to the west, mountains to the north, and the city skyline to the east.
2006 Wreck Beach Butoh. Photo by Yuri Kikuchi
Wreck Beach Butoh is the culmination of a two-week intensive workshop, (https://kokoro.ca/workshops/), which consists of two-hour morning classes and three-hour afternoon rehearsals, in workout clothing, at KW Studios in the Woodward’s Heritage Building. In these classes, the artists work on butoh methods of generating movement through the use of interior poetic imagery. In the afternoon rehearsals, they begin to develop a movement score that grows as they add new movement sequences. On the last Saturday and Sunday of the workshops, public performances at Wreck Beach unfold.
Wreck Beach Butoh is one of Kokoro Dance’s favourite performances, but it is also a test of the stamina and spirit of the artists, who perform in the nude and enter the ocean. Performances are generally 60 to 70 minutes in length. Conditions on the beach are primal and challenging, whether the weather is serving up horizontal rains, whipping winds, or blazing sun.
To get to the performances, head just west of the UBC Museum of Anthropology, past the longhouses, to the top of the #4 Trail at Wreck Beach, where you will find an outhouse. (There are no outhouses at the beach.) The trail has about 360 stair steps. The performances take place to the west of the foot of the #4 Trail.
2008 Wreck Beach Butoh. Photo by Peter Eastwood
If driving, there is parking at the UBC Rose Garden Parkade (6278 NW Marine Drive V6T 1Z1). Google Maps directions are here. From the parkade, it is about a five-minute walk to the top of the #4 Trail
Performances are by donation, with a suggested donation of $5 to $10. Clothing is optional. No photography or video allowed.
For more information, see https://kokoro.ca
Post sponsored by Kokoro Dance.