Double bill: Tonight or Never… and The Goo Remembers

This is an eternal marriage.
Like Chagall’s blooming dream of love.
Just as the living breathe life into the dead, the dead cherish the living.
Just as everyone thinks of their beloved.
Dancing with you, an eternal six minutes.
I am always with you. Never.​​
​
​​Butoh duo MUTSUMINEIRO’s signature piece, performed in the UK for the very first time. It was inspired by what the duo refer to as “Chagall’s blooming eternal marriage”. Since its premiere in 2014, this piece has been performed in Japan, Israel, Germany, Poland, Brazil, and Ecuador. It is being performed in the UK for the first time.

About MutsumiNeiro
Japanese butoh duo Neiro and Mutsumi Yamamoto have been dancing together since 2012, after meeting at the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio where they studied with one of butoh’s founders, Yoshito Ohno. They have both also studied for many years with butoh master Mitsuyo Uesugi, who was butoh legend Kazuo Ohno’s student since 1970. MutsumiNeiro’s first duo performance Tonight or Never… has toured Japan, Poland, Israel and Germany. In 2016 they opened their studio Galerie Ame in Tokyo. This is their first time performing in the UK.

ASIA TRI Butoh Festival, Akita Japan 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY-lAApTIE8

In silence breaking, a shape shifts, dissolves—

A body unfurls, folds, and forgets itself.

A caterpillar dream, held in the pulse of wings,

Time dissolves and the past lingers in fragments.

Caught between being and not,

In the dark, the Goo remembers…

British-Japanese butoh dancer Mai Burns first encountered butoh during her masters degree, after which she moved to Japan in 2016 and studied with celebrated butoh master Yoshito Ohno at the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio. In 2018 she found her inspiration in Mitsuyo Uesugi, with whom she continues her butoh practice today. While in Japan she also worked for NPO Dance Archive Network, managers of the Kazuo Ohno/Yoshito Ohno archives. In 2022 she moved back to the UK, and produced the first Rebellious Bodies butoh festival in 2023. She continues to juggle her performance work and produce events that aim to connect UK audiences with the best Japanese butoh performers. This is her first butoh performance in the UK.