Butoh dance by Paul Ibey Nov. 10
Dancer and choreographer Paul Ibey, who is of French, British and Irish descent, will perform the Japanese dance form of butoh at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10 in Appalachian State University’s Valborg Theatre.
International guest artist Paul Ibey presents his original
butoh choreography “Korrat” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, in Valborg Theatre on the Appalachian
State University campus.
Butoh, or “Dance of Darkness,” is an avant-garde dance theater form
that originated in Japan in the 1960s and is one of the major developments in contemporary
dance.
Tickets are $8 for students and children and $15 for adults. Tickets are
available in person at the Valborg Theatre box office from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through
Friday, by phone at (828) 262-3063, toll free at (800) 841-ARTS (2787) and at
http://theatre.appstate.edu.
The performance culminates Ibey’s weeklong residency with
students in the ASU Department of Theatre and Dance teaching classes in ballet and butoh. His
performance is hosted by the Department of Theatre and Dance and made possible with support from
Appalachian’s College of Fine and Applied Arts and Office of Arts and Cultural
Programs.
Ibey’s training includes ballet, mime and movement, but his prime focus in recent
years has been butoh. Ibey is one of the few non-Japanese butoh artists whose work is recognized
and approved of by masters in the dance form.
“Korrat” is a duet performed by Ibey and
Blowing Rock-based dancer G. Alex Smith. It is accompanied by the voices of Bulgarian women singing
ancient songs of renewal and regrowth as passed down by generations.
These
primal sounds inject a strong female energy into the dance, which explores themes of fertility, and
the life cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth as evidenced, not only in the natural world, but
also within each individual human experience, a spokesperson for the the department
said.
“Korrat” speaks as an affirmation of people’s efforts to respect and honor the natural
world amid so much reliance on technology, the spokesperson said. Ibey draws on the ancient culture
of his Irish heritage that holds belief in the goddess, as opposed to god being a man, and respect
for the planet.
Butoh has revolutionized how people define dance by creating new forms of
movement and expression, the spokesperson said. Its powerful imagery takes its strength from
interior movement: the body twists, contracts, extends. Softness, violence, slowness,
sensuality and immobility are all part of butoh.
The Valborg Theatre is located on the
north side of Chapell Wilson Hall on Howard Street. The door faces the back of the Turchin Center
for the Visual Arts on King Street. Parking is available after 5 p.m. on campus in faculty lots and
in the College Street parking deck near Belk Library and Information Commons.
