SURVEY
FLOWER OF THE SEASON 2024
“Body as Evidence”
Oguri and Andrés Corchero
Fri. 3/29, and Sat. 3/30, 8:00PM, Sun. 3/31, 3:00PMM
PROGRAM
Body Weather Laboratory presents Flower of the Season 2024 “Body as Evidence” Phase II. Continuing a 21-year tradition of minimal yet encompassing use of space and theatricality, this year’s performances will feature Japanese dancer/choreographer Oguri (Venice, CA) collaborates with dancer Andrés Corchero (Catalonia, Spain) in an evening length work inspired by Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” the dystopian fable in which fireman burn books rather than put out fires and ignorant complacency robs humanity of spiritual freedom and personal dignity. Today, 70 years after Bradbury’s prescient tale, written while he lived in Venice, CA, Oguri creates in the same neighborhood, and while celebrating freedom of expression, the dance pokes at a culture of anti-intellectualism, fake news, anti-depressants and hedonistic pursuits.
The piece has been invited to be performed at the Grec Festival in Barcelona this July.
Music: Zenji
Lighting: Andres Corchero
Light operation: Keiden Oguri
Set: Oguri, Keiden Oguri and Andres Corchero
Costumes: Keiden Oguri
Photography: Denise Leitner
Video: Theo Rasmussen
House manege: Lydia Jialu Li
Production: Roxanne Steinberg
ANDRÉS CORCHERO
Dancer Andrés Corchero, resident of Catalonia, studied contemporary mime and clowning for theater and circus, and performed with Albert Vidal, Odin Teatret and Shushaku & Dormu Dance. A tireless explorer of body languages, he worked in Japan with Kazuo Ohno and Min Tanaka, dancing in company Mai- Juku (1986–1995). Corchero concurrently performed his own creations internationally,.
1991 in Barcelona, he began a long artistic relationship with poet and translator Feliu Formosa, receiving the National Dance Award of Catalonia for "El bufó sota la tempesta” 2003. With Joan Saura, Agustí Fernández and Liba Villavecchia, Corchero forms the improvisation group IBA, organizing IMPROVISA Festival. He formed the prestigious Raravis dance company (1993-2012) with Rosa Muñoz.
In 2011, Andrés Corchero reunited with Japanese dancer Oguri. Their on-going project "My neighbor Sky" was performed in Electric Lodge, Venice CA, the Creation Center l'Animal a l'esquena, the Mies Van der Rohe Pavilion (Grec Festival de Barcelona 2013), Joan Miró Foundation (Grec Festival de Barcelona 2018) and Teatro Principal, Palma.
He joined Morleigh Steinberg and Oguri’s ARCANE Collective in 2013 to create "Return to Absence", inspired by Samuel Beckett's trilogy. Presented at the Electric Lodge, it premiered at the Dublin Dance Festival, and was performed at NY Live Arts and the Grec Festival of Barcelona 2016.
2015, he danced "Sin respuestas" with musician Ivo Sans, MOCA Barcelona. 2019 he collaborated with the famous singer Silvia Pérez Cruz in “La Relativitat de la Bellesa” at the National Art Museum of Catalonia, Classics Festival. January 2020 he premiered "Absences (Padre and Camí de silenci)" for the Mercat de les Flors, Barcelona.
He has collaborated with dancers, Hisako Horikawa, Christine Quoiraud, Frank Van de Ven, Angels Margarit and Ana Eulate, María Muñoz and Pep Ramis (Malpelo); musicians Jordi Riera, Horacio Curti, Christoph Irmer, Miguel Poveda, Joan Ollé (director), visual artist Jordi Rocosa, among many others.
Other awards:
Applause Award 2002- Sebastià Gasch Award for the Performing Arts, together with Agustí Fernández, for the piece "A modo de esperanza"
Prize "Tal pas de la tarda 92" of National Radio of Spain for its multidisciplinary works together with Feliu Formosa.
OGURI
Native of Japan, Oguri’s inspiration to dance came after meeting Butoh founder Hijikata Tatsumi. He started training/performing in 1985 with famed dancer Min Tanaka's company, Mai-Juku and participated in founding Body Weather Farm. Oguri also began performing solo dance in the avant-garde scene in Tokyo. He also designed the lighting for Min Tanaka’s choreographies. He practiced traditional organic farming, experiencing the rhythms and cycles of this most human lifestyle. This connection of the human body to nature is a foundation of Oguri’s dance. Oguri moved to Los Angeles in 1991 and joined Roxanne Steinberg sharing Body Weather Laboratory. For over 30 years, Oguri has been teaching, creating and producing dance and multi-media works incorporating his own large-scale set/sculpture installations and his dramatic, often chiaroscuro lighting in formal theater settings and site-specific venues worldwide. He continues to investigate the relationship of dance to environment and the boundaries between performer and audience. He has developed collaborative projects with musicians, sculptors, painters, and poets, using literature, daily life imagery and simple materials to transform space and time with dance. He actively brings dance to the wider community. In 2011, Oguri formed ARCANE Collective with Morleigh Steinberg, touring full productions and live concepts.
Oguri has received grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, The Annenberg Foundation, the New England Foundation for the Arts, National Dance Project, the Rockefeller Foundation, The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, The Getty Center, the James Irvine Foundation/Dance USA, Japan Foundation, USA Doris Duke Fellow 2018, among others.
ZENJI
Music: Zenji Oguri graduated from Bennington College in 2015 where he studied architecture and its intersections with anthropology and music. His main interest has been architecture as experience and its non-visual qualities. His fascination with recorded audio stems from its ability to create aural soundscapes unrestricted by our physical world and its effect on our perception of space. The relationship between sound, space and movement is an integral part of his artistic consciousness and he continues to explore the ways they each develop and influence each other.
This project is funded by City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles County, Department of Arts and Culture and California Arts Council. Support from Friends of Venice Library and Electric Lodge.