Wreck Beach Butoh returns to Vancouver's iconic clothing-optional beach
Kokoro Dance presents its annual performance for 10 artists rain or shine
Photo by Chris Randle
Kokoro Dance presents Wreck Beach Butoh at Wreck Beach on July 24 at 12 noon and July 25 at 12:45 pm PDT.
IN THE 27 YEARS that Kokoro Dance has been presenting Wreck Beach Butoh, company co-founder Barbara Bourget has danced with seagulls, seen curious seals pop their heads up amid the performers, and been so cold from being in the water in the pouring rain that she was practically blue by the end. No matter what the day brings to the annual performance at the legendary clothing-optional beach, for Bourget it is always magical.
“It’s so much fun,” Bourget tells Stir via Zoom. “It’s so beautiful there. Because it’s not in a theatre, there’s not a lot of pressure. It’s so freeing.”
Bourget and her husband, Kokoro Dance co-founder Jay Hirabayashi, first held the event on the beach at the base of Trail 4 in 1995. (It’s about 360 stairs down.) Showtimes always depend on the tide table; the performance begins at low tide. The conditions can be challenging. Some years, the performance has had to start around 9 am or has been accompanied by chill or torrential rain. At times, it’s difficult for the dancers to stay standing because of the motion of the ocean. This year, the event takes place mid-day, and the weather is supposed to be hot and sunny.
The 10 dancers begin the performance in the water. Wearing nothing more than the white chalk that covers their bodies (which happens to contain zinc oxide, a natural sunscreen), they slowly make their way to the beach, where they become covered in sand, taking on otherworldly forms. For audiences, with the ocean and mountains as backdrop and the waves and birds forming the score, it’s a performing-arts experience unlike any other.
Since the inaugural Wreck Beach Butoh, the company has garnered a devoted following. Some people visit annually from as far away as Ottawa and California; some bring their kids and spend the rest of the day at the beach. Kokoro Dance has presented the work elsewhere besides Wreck Beach. One year in San Francisco, the riptide was so strong the dancers couldn’t actually go in the water, lest they be swept away; they’ve met new communities in performing for eastern and western naturalists’ gatherings.
Photo by Clancy Dennehy
The show itself is the culmination of a nine-day performance-intensive workshop. (The evening before the official performances is the “un-dress” rehearsal.) The cast consists of 10 people, including Bourget and Hirabayashi; not all are professional dancers. The workshop consists of two-hour morning classes and three-hour afternoon rehearsals at KW Studios, where the group works on butoh-based methods of generating movement through interior poetic imagery. It’s a chance for dance enthusiasts to learn how to learn and retain choreography and how to improvise.
One of this year’s performers attended last year’s pandemic version, a duet for the company co-founders. “He was so struck by the vista and the whole thing he decided he needed to learn to dance,” Bourget says. “Even though he had never danced, he’s thrown himself in and developed a passion.”
That kind of response to their work is perhaps the highest form of praise there is. “You want to leave a legacy,” says Bourget, a former member of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and Paula Ross Dance Company, among others, who’s 70 and recovering from a knee replacement. “You want to be able to inspire people. Dance is so good for the soul and for the mind. It keeps you young.”
More information is at Kokoro Dance.
Photo via Kokoro Dance.
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