Kokoro Dance's Wabi-Sabi explores transience with a live, eight-piece band, March 4 and 5 at the Vancouver International Dance Festival
Jay Hirabayashi and Barbara Bourget’s improvisational elements ensure each performance will be unique
Post Sponsored by VIDF
Barbara Bourget and Jay Hirabayashi. Photo by Chris Randle
Kokoro Dance contemplates transience and imperfection in Wabi-Sabi, a duet at the Vancouver Playhouse March 4 and 5, as part of the Vancouver International Dance Festival.
Choreographed and performed by Kokoro Dance directors Barbara Bourget and Jay Hirabayashi, it’s set to live music performed by an eight-piece ensemble directed by their son, composer Joseph Hirabayashi.
Kokoro Dance’s butoh expression gives recurring attention to the seven aesthetic principles of Zen philosophy: kanso — simplicity; fukinsei — asymmetry or irregularity; shibumi — beauty in the understated; shizen — naturalness without pretense; yugen — subtle grace; datsuzoku — freeness; and seijaku — tranquility. These terms are encompassed in a world view contained in the words wabi and sabi — the acceptance of transience and imperfection.
The choreography in these Wabi-Sabi performances consists of a structured score within which Bourget and Hirabayashi have the freedom to improvise.
Each performance will be unique. The music, by Joseph Hirabayashi, lighting by Hina Nishioka and Gerald King, costumes by Tsuneko Kokubo, and projected photography by Jay Hirabayashi, were conceived independently from the choreography. Each collaborator intuitively understands Kokoro Dance’s aesthetic choices through decades of working together on Kokoro’s creative projects.
Adding to the impact of these Vancouver Playhouse performances is the addition of musicians Joseph Hirabayashi (guitar, keyboards), Meredith Bates and Joshua Zubot (violins), Martin Reisle (cello), Elliot Langford and Jay Hirabayashi (guitar), Justin Devries (synth and drums), and Jeff Gammon (upright and electric bass).
You can find tickets and information here. The Vancouver International Dance Festival runs until March 26.
Post sponsored by the Vancouver International Dance Festival.