time/life/beauty

Description

Fusing butoh dance theater, hip-hop mixology, new music, and multimedia, the Vermont premiere of time/life/beauty by Michael Sakamoto and Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky) is inspired by the legacy of famed composer-musician and activist Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952–2023). Inspired by the variety and mystery of Ryuichi’s music, interdisciplinary collaborations, and environmental and anti-war commitments, time/life/beauty looks at the past, present, and future of acute cultural, social, and ecological themes in our historical moment.

This project channels the artists’ shared and distinct approaches to interdisciplinary performance, intercultural dialogue, creativity, and social concerns. In their Middlebury performance, the artists perform the triptych that comprises time/life/beauty: 

Gods and Monsters combines Miller’s music, Sakamoto’s dance, and multimedia into a reflection on butoh and hip-hop as revolutionary art forms, the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb, and the high-tech age of the anthropocene. Exploring history, science, and beyond, Gods and Monsters is a kaleidescope of sound, movement, imagery, and text that highlights our relationship to ourselves, each other, and the planet.

asymm isan intimate, semi-autobiographical dance theater work written and performed by Sakamoto with music by Miller, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and others. This lively meditation crosses artistic, social, and imagined borders inspired by butoh and hip-hop’s roots in social resistance, Ryuichi’s intercultural and activist worldview, and the search for meaning in everyday life.

Beautiful Blue Sky is a collaboration between Sakamoto and hip-hop/folk/contemporary dancer Mohammed Smahneh (aka Barges), remixing Middle Eastern, Asian, and American vernaculars into a cross-cultural dialogue of movement, text and visuals.

Approximate running time: 100 minutes including a pause between each movement. There will be a post-show Q&A following each performance. Strobe-like effects may be used during the performance.