Thursday, April 22nd, 2021
Nihon Buyo Performance and Panel Discussion
7-8:00pm PST
A free online event featuring past performances by master Nichibu dancer Satsuki Onoe, live panel discussion with Onoe and local artists, and Q&A session. This event is for Japanese arts experts and newcomers alike. Discover one of Japan's most traditional performance arts, Nichibu. Learn how to appreciate Nichibu like a professional artist. Engage in a live conversation with Onoe herself and the local arts community.
MEET THE GUEST OF HONOR
Satsuki Onoe
Satsuki Onoe is the founder and head teacher of Satsuki Nichibu School in Tokyo and a member of the Japan Nichibu Association. In 2007, the Association recognized Onoe as one of the best new dancers in Japan. She has enjoyed success internationally with her participation in the 2004 Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC, in a special production created by master Kyogen actor Nomura. She was also invited by the Greece Fashion Association as a special performer for the 2007 Japan Festival in Athens.
MEET THE PANELISTS
Georgia Ragsdale
Georgia Ragsdale began her career as a dancer/choreographer and has since gone on to a career in stand-up comedy, television/film and live theater. She completed original full length works in Dance and Stand-Up Comedy and is the recipient of several grants and awards. Her stand-up comedy career of fourteen years culminated in the DVD releases, Sporty Girls and Honey Pass That Around, and a CD currently in rotation on satellite radio. Georgia recently opened Follow You Everywhere, Growing Up and Coming Out in Texas in Seattle, Washington.
Joan Laage
After studying with Butoh masters Kazuo Ohno and Yoko Ashikawa in Tokyo in the late 80s and performing with Ashikawa’s group Gnome, Joan Laage settled in Seattle and founded Dappin’ Butoh in 1990, which she directed until 2001. She is a co-founder of DAIPANbutoh Collective, which produces an annual Butoh festival. Joan performed at the Santiago, New York, Chicago, Portland, Boulder, Seattle and Paris Butoh festivals, and a Butoh symposium at the University of California (LA). A Ph.D. in Dance & Related Arts from Texas Woman’s University, who wrote on the significance of the body in Butoh, and Certified Movement Analyst, she is featured in Sondra Fraleigh’s books – Dancing into Darkness: Butoh, Zen, and Japan and Butoh: Metamorphic Dance and Global Alchemy. She creates site-specific work for Seattle Japanese gardens annually and tours every winter/spring in Europe. She is an avid Tai Chi practitioner with a background in traditional Asian dance/theater and a professional gardener. Since living in Krakow 2004–2006, she has been known as Kogut (rooster). Visit her website at seattlebutoh-laage.com. (Photo credit: Sara Meliti)
This program is supported, in part, by grants from the Washington State Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts and The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles.
