Rick Bartow
Woman Confounded, 2006
drypoint on handmade Japanese Kozo paper (black ink)
image 8 1/2 x 3 3/4 in
paper 15 1/2 x 11 1/2 in
paper 15 1/2 x 11 1/2 in
Edition of 18
BAR1604
$ 700.00
On September 10, 1985, the Sankai Juku dance company from Japan performed in Seattle's Pioneer Square, with the dancers hanging upside down from a building as a metaphor for life...
On September 10, 1985, the Sankai Juku dance company from Japan performed in Seattle's Pioneer Square, with the dancers hanging upside down from a building as a metaphor for life and death. Soon after the dance begins, the rope holding dancer Yoshiyuku Takada (1954-1985) breaks, sending him five stories to his death.
Art of the Dance
Sankai Juku debuted in Tokyo in 1978, born out of Butoh, a dance theater movement that took root in Japan following World War II, post nuclear bomb era, and blossomed in the 1960s. Butoh -- which came from the Japanese term "Anokoku-Buyuo" (Dance of Darkness) -- was conceived as underground art, and as a revolt against both Western culture and traditional Japanese art forms. Early Butoh performances were oftentimes violent, grotesque, and sexually graphic.
Ushio Amagetsu (b. 1949) founded Sankai Juku in 1978 with the goal of redefining the dance movement into a new form that showcased its more gentle and poetic aspects. Amagetsu started a series of workshops in 1975 to form his new dance company, but of the 25 workshop participants, only three became members of the troupe. One of those was Yoshiyuku Takada.
Jomon Sho
The five-man company toured the world, and made their American debut at the Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles in 1984. Many times when they performed in a new city, the dancers opened their residency with a performance entitled "Jomon Sho" (Homage to Prehistory). In this piece, the performers -- whose bodies were shaved of hair and covered head to toe in white rice flour -- were suspended upside down by ropes attached to their ankles. They would begin the dance in the fetal position, and slowly writhe and undulate while being lowered to earth. The performance lasted for 30 minutes, and was described by promoters as a "dance of life and death."
In 1985, Sankai Juku chose Seattle as the starting point for its second tour of the United States. Working with On the Boards -- a Seattle production company -- the dancers secured permission from the owners of the Mutual Life Building in Pioneer Square to perform "Jomon Sho" from the building's rooftop. The dance company spent days building a scaffold atop the Yesler Way side of the structure and handing out yellow photocopies advertising the event.
Art of the Dance
Sankai Juku debuted in Tokyo in 1978, born out of Butoh, a dance theater movement that took root in Japan following World War II, post nuclear bomb era, and blossomed in the 1960s. Butoh -- which came from the Japanese term "Anokoku-Buyuo" (Dance of Darkness) -- was conceived as underground art, and as a revolt against both Western culture and traditional Japanese art forms. Early Butoh performances were oftentimes violent, grotesque, and sexually graphic.
Ushio Amagetsu (b. 1949) founded Sankai Juku in 1978 with the goal of redefining the dance movement into a new form that showcased its more gentle and poetic aspects. Amagetsu started a series of workshops in 1975 to form his new dance company, but of the 25 workshop participants, only three became members of the troupe. One of those was Yoshiyuku Takada.
Jomon Sho
The five-man company toured the world, and made their American debut at the Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles in 1984. Many times when they performed in a new city, the dancers opened their residency with a performance entitled "Jomon Sho" (Homage to Prehistory). In this piece, the performers -- whose bodies were shaved of hair and covered head to toe in white rice flour -- were suspended upside down by ropes attached to their ankles. They would begin the dance in the fetal position, and slowly writhe and undulate while being lowered to earth. The performance lasted for 30 minutes, and was described by promoters as a "dance of life and death."
In 1985, Sankai Juku chose Seattle as the starting point for its second tour of the United States. Working with On the Boards -- a Seattle production company -- the dancers secured permission from the owners of the Mutual Life Building in Pioneer Square to perform "Jomon Sho" from the building's rooftop. The dance company spent days building a scaffold atop the Yesler Way side of the structure and handing out yellow photocopies advertising the event.