BUTOH San Francisco
This new organization’s purpose is to promote the Butoh art form to San Francisco, bring international artists to our community, and produce performances and workshops to foster the growth of the next generation of artists and audiences. BUTOH SanFrancisco is a fiscally sponsored project of Dancers Group.
Tax deductable donations are gratefully accepted.
BUTOH San Francisco Production Team
Jeff Brown, Christina Braun, Claire Duplantier and Bob Webb. Graphic and web design by Anastasia Lattanand.
Koichi and Hiroko Tamano/Harupin-ha Butoh Dance Company
Koichi Tamano: Born in Shimada, Shizuoka, Japan 1946. Debut in "Bara-Iro Dance" (Rose Color Dance) by Tatsumi Hijikata 1965 in Tokyo. The first Harupin-Ha performance "Nagasu-Kujira" (Finback Whale) by Tatsumi Hijikata,1972 in Tokyo. US debut in "Japan Now" exhibition at SFMOMA in 1976.
Hiroko Tamano: Born in Fukuoka, Japan 1952. Debut in "Gibasan" by Tatsumi Hijikata 1972 in Kyoto. Joined Harupin-Ha 1973 in Tokyo. US debut "Isamu Noguchi" exhibition at SFMOMA, 1979. artist website
Shinichi Iova-Koga/inkBoat
Shinichi (born 1968) entered the life of Butoh dance in 1991 initially through Akeno Ashikawa and then consistently through Hiroko Tamano and Yumiko Yoshioka. In 1998, he founded the performance company inkBoat. Shinichi has also collaborated intensively with Cokaseki (Germany: 2004-present), Yumiko Yoshioka and TEN PEN CHii (Germany: 1996-2001), Do Theatre (Russia: 1997-present), Minako Seki (Germany: 2001-2005), Shadowlight Theatre (SF: 1993-1997), Degenerate Art Ensemble (Seattle: 2001-present), and often creates improvisation evenings with longtime production collaborators Yuko Kaseki, Sten Rudstrom and Cassie Terman. Named one of the “25 to watch” in 2008 by Dance Magazine and awarded a “Goldie’ award by the SF Bay Guardian in 2007. Shinichi and Yuko Kaseki won “Outstanding Performance” from the Isadora Duncan Awards for the production of Ame to Ame in 2004. artist website
Ledoh/SALT FARM
LEDOH (Artistic Director) was born into the Ka-Ren culture indigenous to Burma and Northern Thailand and emigrated to the U.S. in 1972. As a soloist and member of Katsura Kan's Kyoto-based dance company, Saltimbanques, in the early 1990s he traveled and performed throughout Brazil, Europe, Thailand and Japan. In 1998 he founded SALT FARM, a performance collective based in San Francisco. Ledoh and SALT FARM generate series of site-specific performances that integrate choreography with original electronic scores, mobile set designs, and video projection. Past SALT FARM projects have focused on themes of collapse (Abacus Series, 2000-2002) and displacement (River of Sand, 2002-2004). Current project COLORMEAMERICA is the culmination of a two-year exploration titled Signature Required: Life during wartime (a project of Creative Capital). Ledoh continues to research and record the stories, dances, and rituals of his native Ka-Ren culture as raw materials for performance projects, and as a result is a featured artist in a current Berlin-based film production titled Burma Diaspora. artist website
Christina Braun/SF Butoh LAB
SF Butoh LAB is Christina Braun's performance project, whose mission is to promote peace through art exchange. SF Butoh LAB is a fiscally sponsored project of Dancers's Goup.
Christina Braun/SF Butoh LAB choreographer
Christina’s collaborations with composers have been presented regularly since 2002, including the West Wave Dance Festival 2007 and the Thailand International Butoh Festival 2006. As a dancer, Christina Braun has been a member of Mary Sano and her Duncan Dancers since 1997, the Tamano’s Harupin-ha since 1998, and Katsura Kan’s Saltimbanques since 2004. Christina has a BA in Dance from CSU, Long Beach. artist website
Jeffrey Alphonsus Mooney/SF Butoh LAB Composer
Composer Jeffrey Alphonsus Mooney has been performing and teaching in the Bay Area, US and Canada for 20 years. He was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for his music in Sean Dorsey's Bullied. Jeff recently recorded with Shawna Virago and is preparing a show with Kirk Read.
Neil Marcus/SF Butoh LAB Dancer
Dancer Neil Marcus. TV and film actor.poet.writer.butoh dancer.contact improvisational lover. Performed his play Storm Reading over 300 times across the US and beyond. New poetry book: Cripple Poetics. A Love Story. A collaboration with Petra Kuppers (poetry) and Lisa Steichmann (photography), Homofactus Press, July 2008.
Molly Barrons/Metropolitan Butoh
Molly Barrons is from Detroit. She received her B.A. in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College. Metropolitan Butoh is a vehicle for training, performance and community resources. Molly also works for a non-profit affordable housing developer.
Martha Matsuda/Jomon Butoh
Since Martha Matsuda “discovered” Butoh in 1994, she has performed with Harupin-ha, Metropolitan Butoh, SF Butoh LAB and at the Bare Bones Butoh performance series. In October 2007, she joined Harupin-ha in New York City to celebrate Kazuo Ohno’s 101st birthday. Her performance project, Jomon Butoh, regularly collaborates with vibrational master Mark Deutsch.
Bob Webb/Bare Bones Butoh
Bob Webb likes to divide his time more or less equally between theatre and dance, with the odd opera, rave, and/or street performance thrown in for good measure. He makes most of his living as a stage manager, but he is also an Equity actor and a butoh dancer who has performed literally all over the U.S. (including Hawaii), France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Japan, and Thailand. When not on or behind a stage, he reads a lot, models for artists, and spends as much time as possible outside with a pack on his back.
Christina Braun & Neil Marcus
