While dancing daily in 2009 inspired by Momo and her idea of a daily dance practice honoring her sensei, Kazuo Ohno, I realized and experienced deeply that there is the potential for no separation between dance and daily life, and daily life and dance... Whatever was being experienced internally or externally in the inner / outer environments could be sources of inspiration to dance. And often the practice became therapeutic, as an outcome, not as an intention.
The following three dances were water ceremonies. After the earthquake in Japan, Momo, several women and I took part in a water healing ceremony - sending prayers into water that was being distributed to rivers and ocean's around the world.
The first two offerings here were local - Skagit River and Oyster Creek. The third was Capilano River in Vancouver, B.C. - a dance offering with my sister.
After the earthquake in Japan, I read the following quote from Atsushi Takenoushi regarding the role of butoh dance from his perspective -
"What is dance for us? " It concerns a lot with prayer. A prayer is releasing and purifying our inner soul. A prayer is beyond the life and the death. I feel it as a dance itself truly.
This time I will perform in Tokyo "Hane no Ki" and "Vers l'Autre Monde" in Kyoto . These pieces were made with theme of "releasing and purifying soul beyond the life and the death."And in Shizuoka, we perform imprivising piece "to the memory of the sea" and "from the memory of the sea," which is reminding the memory of life carrying music and dance from ancient time. Music and dance should have been a prayer since old time.
I hope to dance to resonate a prayer with audience, to send this resonance to the earthquake stricken area, nuclear accident area in Japan and the place of any kind of nature disaster, human disaster, battlefield in the world. And I hope to dance to dedicate the life of now.
Here from my heart, I am sending deep prayer for the people suffering from this big disaster, the people who lost life. As spring comes after winter, I hope the time will come that one can love a tiny flower even in the pain.
Wishing dance and music to be able to become this flower....
2011 Mar 24Osaka Japan
Atsushi's quote resonates so viscerally with me in regards to how I feel about the practice of butoh as taught by Momo - that it is a practice that connects one so deeply with your innermost soul that feels ancient, ancestral and on a certain level seems to alter, if not purify the soul...
Are the films below dances? Ceremonies? Rituals? Prayers?
The experience of these dances was one of soul connection with other, the element water, and are offerings for the healing of the waters in general and in particular around Japan.
Thank you, Momo... for your inspirations... and all! Grateful for this connection of dance and life :~)
Music: Mountain Man
Music: Jennifer Berezan
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