The World of Ryuji Sawa
Featuring the Best of Japanese Popular Theater

A Japanese show that incorporates various elements of Japanese popular theater, including Kabuki dance, Taiko drumming, sword fighting and instant costume changes.

The cast of twelve is lead by the show's creator and director, Ryuji Sawa, a prominent Japanese actor in theater, television and film, who was born in a dressing room during a tour and debuted at the age of four. At the age of only sixteen, Mr. Sawa became the head of his own 40-member touring company, “Ryuji Sawa's Theatrical Group”. At the height of the rockabilly frenzy in the early 1960s, he combined rockabilly with Japanese sword fighting to create Rockabilly Sword Fight, an instant hit. In 1974 the musical Yume No Wataridori, a huge success, was written specifically for Mr. Sawa by Japanese writer and director Yoshiyuki Fukuda.

There is no dialogue in this show, making it ideal for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Also, there will be workshops by Mr. Sawa on Thursday, July 6 from 2:00 -3:30 pm (Kabuki dance) and 4:00 - 5:30pm (sword fighting) at Nola Studio (250 West 54th St., 11th Floor) in NYC.

courtesy of TKO Entertainment

Date
July 8 (Sat) 2:00 PM
July 9 (Sun) 2:00 PM

Theater
Kraine Theater
85 East 4th Street
(between Bowery & 2nd Avenue)
(212) 777-6088
http://www.httheater.org/kraine.html

Tikets
$20
212-352-3101 or Theater Mania

For more information:
TKO Entertainment, Inc.
212-206-1878
http://www.tkonyc.com/pages_English/Eng_sawa.html

WORLD OF THE GEISHA
A slide lecture about Geisha and Kabuki performance

The romantic ideal of the geisha remains an elusive one for most of us.  To help remedy this, the Hunter College Graduate Theater Club, assisted by IchiFuji-kai Dance Association, presents spring 2006 special program about geisha, including a performance of the Kabuki dance Ayame Yukata, done in geisha style.

The program is about the Flower and Willow world of the Geisha. In addition to a slide lecture showing differences between apprentice and full-fledged geisha, and between geisha and buyoka (dancers), geisha-style makeup and costume will be put on in front of you to show how it is done. Although these dancers are not geisha themselves, performing these roles for Japanese classical dance requires them to study the geisha style intensively. Bring your questions and your cameras!

Date
April 6 (Thur) 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Doors open at 12:30 PM

Theater
Ida K. Lang Recital Hall
(Hunter College, North Bldg. 4th Floor)
Lexington Avenue and 68th Street

Free Admission
(First come, first served.)

For more information:
Kaori Ibuki: 917-318-5055 / kibuk@hunter.cuny.edu

Japanese Butoh Workshop with Master Daisuke Yoshimoto

The Vangeline Theater hosts Butoh master Daisuke Yoshimoto for a 3 - day workshop on June 16, 17 and 18, 2006. Daisuke Yoshimoto (Japan), integrates formal studies in theatre with extensive butoh training and multiple collaborations and co-creations with Kazuo Ohno, Hisayo Iwaki, Yukihiko Sakai among others. During the 1990's he performed and led workshops throughout Europe, as well as curated a butoh dance festival at the Grotowski Center in Poland.

Butoh is a form of contemporary dance born in Japan in 1950's. It strains against the influence of restrictive social tradition and gives an unprecedented freedom through artistic expression. Like Surrealism, the early butoh used the distortion of nature. Like Dada, butoh has used chance as a means for composition. Butoh is one of the boldest attempts to transmit the mysterious, often suppressed life of the unconscious through the interpersonal, public medium of theatre.

The Vangeline Theater is a Post Modern Butoh Dance troupe fostering a general appreciation of French, Japanese and European culture through performances and workshops. The company also offers Butoh classes to performers, members of the incarcerated population as well as the general public.

Date
June 16 (Fri) 5:30 - 10:30 PM
June 17 (Sat) 5:30 - 10:30 PM
June 18 (Sun) 5:30 - 10:30 PM

Place
Puffin Room
435 Broome Street between Crosby St and Broadway

Cost
$90/ day, 3 days $270

To Register
Yukari Koyama / The Vangeline Theater
vangelinetheater@yahoo.com

For more information:
www.vangeline.com

GEISHA

A new production by TheatreWorks Singapore will explore the secret world of the enigmatic geisha. Director Ong Keng Sen weaves together a tapestry of tea house stories from geishas, maikos (apprentice geishas), clients, their wives, and the ever-looming okamisans (mama-sans). It is a panoramic journey-from the geisha's innocent childhood, to the stressful years of learning to excel at everything from flower arranging to proper kimono styling, to intricate wig and make-up techniques, to the subtle art of engaged conversation.

Performers include the Obie-winning narrator Karen Kandel; female impersonator and kabuki dancer Gojo Masanosuke, who
incorporates nihon buyoh (classical Japanese dance) into his traditional onnagata kabuki role; Kineya Katsumatsu, who plays the traditional Japanese three-stringed shamisen; and a soundscape composed and performed by electronics wizard DJ Toru Yamanaka.

Date
July 27 (Thu) 8:30 PM
July 28 (Fri) 8:30 PM (Followed by a symposium)
July 29 (Sat) 8:30 PM
July 30 (Sun) 8:30 PM

Theater
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College
10th Ave. between 58th and 59th Street

Tickets
$50
212-721-6500 / www.lincolncenter.org

For more information:
www.lincolncenter.org