Creativity is driven by inspiration, those neurochemical brainstorms of puzzle, pleasure and innovation that spring from intuition. The meme, though simplistic, "the right side of the brain", captures it.
Portland movement artists have taken to local as inspiration in a year long creative improvisational collaboration. They performed guerrilla-style on city streets, in parks and in a garden in St Johns. The project culminated in a series of sustainable dinners with performances in that garden. It is the Local Culture Project.
The project included visiting artists Koichi and Hiroko Tamano. They are noted butoh dance performers, performing together in the US and Japan, for almost 50 years. They also operated sushi restaurants in San Francisco, including the infamous Country Station, hidden on an alley in the Mission before the Mission was cool. Country Station was home to many an after party involving movement by the staff who were butoh dancers. Sharing food after a performance is a long practiced tradition in Japan, it is the same with the Tamano's restaurants and the Local Culture Project dinners.
Butoh itself was originally inspired by the landscape of rural Japan. Outdoor performances are common. One performer, Min Tanaka, has a farm in Kitakoma, Yamanashi, Japan, in the foothills of the mountains. He annually invited performers who rise early, farm, then perform late. The combination of shear physical exhaustion, an international mixture of new friends, and the rural environment, created an electric environment for the dancers. The Rite of Spring is his signature piece, and there have been spectacular realizations of the piece on the farm. Tanaka San ended his farm festival in 2010, at age 65. Throughout his career he maintained strong relationships with New York literary, art and music innovators. These included Richard Serra, John Cage, Cecil Taylor, Karel Appel, Meredith Monk, Susan Sontag, Yoko Ono, Julie Taymor and Anna Halprin; with performances at MoMA.
The Local Culture Project carries on these traditions with the performers in the garden growing the food for the dinners. It is also a multigenerational project. Several of the dancers have small children, who, of course, love to dance as if no one is watching. They are an inspiration.
A documentary film of the Local Culture Project will be shown exploring the experiences of participants and guest artists Diego Piñón from Mexico, Hiroko & Koichi Tamano, Delisa Myles from Arizona, Haruko Nishimura and Sheri Brown from Seattle, Andrew Millison a permaculture instructor and Laurence Kominz, noted Japanese translator and scholar-performer of Japanese theater from PSU, along with well known local movers including Emily Stone, Tracy Broyles and Kestrel Gates. Also included was a large cast of participants including Meghann Rose, Yulia Arakelyan, Erik Ferguson, Kat MacMillan, Scott Belleri, Rosalie Roberts, John marc Schaelling, Athena, Eleanor, Xan, Quetzal, Amy Wolfberg, Joshua Talbert, Channing, Hollis, Rio, Eliana, Rebecca Harrison, Maya, John & Ruth Waddell, Luku, Sara Fay Goldman, Emma Banks, Eric Hull, Harrison Holtzman-Knott, Jenny Ampersand, Narayani Matson, Beth Bounds, Toshimi Kominz, Adam Josephs, Richard Decker, L’aura Oriol, Lillian Rossetti, David Krom, Mary Rose, Ed Alletto, Beth Giansiracusa, Viola Rose, Kathy Coleman, Yukio Waguri, Vangeline, Bob Webb, Yukio Suzuki, Nathan Montgomery, Azumi Oe, Keyon Gaskin, Nathan H.G., Christopher Mankowski, Amelia Burns, Trina Michelle, Sara Hart, Ronnie Baker, Kevin Cochran, Johanna Wearsch, Keeth Monta Apgar, Montana, Breanna Rogers and Jenn Brenner. The film weaves the thoughts of the performers, gardening, dinners, performances and playful experimentation.
Tonight, after the film is a performance choreographed by the very same Hiroko Tamano, who performs with Koichi Tamano, Mizu Desierto, KajAnne Pepper, Maria Moon and Meghann Rose.
Local, direct, playful and sustainable, it should be a treat.
At the Headwaters Theater, by www.witdpresents.com 55 NE Farragut St. #9. The theater is in the back of the building by the active railroad tracks facing Winchell Street. Map 8PM $12-15
