TAKER

gigamal

taker is a new full-length butoh piece created and performed by Molly McDermott, Billy Marchenski (CAN), and Daiichiro Yuyama (JPN). Alison Denham (CAN) is the rehearsal director and Tomoya Tsujisaki (JPN) is the dramaturg.

Butoh is a dance of memory. It seeks to re-imagine and embody early human physicality. Perhaps there are things that have been lost or thrown away that may again have value. With taker, we are interested in the transition of humans as foragers of wild plants and vegetation to humans as forager/scavengers who fed off the carcasses of other animals. What effects did this have on our evolution? How did this transition affect the environment and our perception of ourselves within it? Do we not make ourselves from the detritus of others?

Premiering at BoomBox in Vancouver, February 14 and 15, 2020. Touring to Kyoto, Japan in the Fall/Winter 2020. Future development of the companion piece to taker is scheduled for Fall of 2020, with a premiere in 2021.

gigamal
Molly McDermott and Billy Marchenski met while performing for Kokoro Dance in Vancouver. In 2016, they traveled to Hakuba village, in the Nagano area of Japan, to participate in a workshop led by Japan’s oldest butoh company, Dairakudakan. Daiichiro Yuyama was part of the company at the time. Following the workshop, Marchenski, McDermott, and Yuyama decided to collaborate on a new work together, forming gigamal.

In 2018, the collaborators came together for a development period in Canada at the Caravan Farm Theatre near Armstrong, BC. Butoh is heavily inspired by the landscape of Northern Japan, a relatively harsh environment covered by cold and rugged farmland. The Caravan Farm provided the opportunity to see if the creators could come up with a body of movements inspired by British Columbia’s native agrarian landscape.

taker is made possible through funding from  Arts Support Kansai, Japan, and the BC Arts Council.

Photos by Tomoya Tsujisaki

FEBRUARY 7
Russian Hall
VANCOUVER
SHOWCASE