JEFFREY RUBINOFF SCULPTURE PARK Kokoro Dance

PARK OPENING 7pm – 9:30pm

KOKORO DANCE PERFORMANCE
Jay Hirabayashi and Barbara Bourget

8pm Performance begins

Golden hour performance will be outdoors amongst Series 3 sculptures near the barn

Limited chairs available on a first come basis.
Bring your own seating or blanket.

About Butoh
A primary distinguishing feature of butoh practice is the use of imagery to motivate and inform
movement choices. While butoh is a highly individual expression of dance, the commonality in butoh
practice is the intense concentration and focus on the body as a receptacle of memories embedded in
our skin and bones. We are all unique individuals, but our individuality has been buried through years of
servitude to conformity. We need to rediscover who we are and the use of imagery allows individual
responses that are keys to reintegrating our identities. Butoh training concentrates on the integration of
mind, body, and spirit. Also, in butoh, there is more attention paid to the space between events instead
of just to the events themselves. The Japanese call this concept ma and it is allows time to contemplate
dance during the dance itself rather than having to digest ceaseless movement afterwards. Butoh
stretches time and space through changing one’s own sense of time and space.
The workshop begins with an investigation of one’s butoh body where each part of the body is viewed
poetically rather than anatomically. From there, we will discover how a butoh dancer walks, a journey
that begins the stretching of time and space. Building on this foundation of butoh practice, the
workshop then explores how imagery is translated into choreography.

– – –

About the JRSP: Jeffrey saw the purpose of his work and the park as: “extending the ancient narrative of art and consequently rekindle the historical spirit of modernism. In addition to viewing the work, which includes the Sculpture Park itself, the goal is to revive the interdisciplinary creative impetus of early modernism and to attain the understanding of art as a serious and credible source of special insight for the evolution of ideas.”

His vision for the park was of a place for the appreciation of art beyond socio-political instrumentalization or financial commodification. As such Rubinoff’s sculptures permanently exist within a fixed landscape. There is no charge for admittance, nor for any tours, concerts, or other events. They are not for sale and can never be shown in another museum or any other context.