1998-1999 Season

Sade - Part III: Juliette

May 19-20, 1999, 8 PM

Kokoro Dance gave workshop performances of the final installment of their trilogy investigating the life and writings of the Marquis de Sade featuring Elizabeth Dancoes (actor/writer) , Alex Ferguson (actor), Cathy Lewis (singer), Barbara Bourget (choreographer/dancer), and Jay Hirabayashi (choreographer/dancer) with an original score by Robert J. Rosen.

Performances took place at Performance Works on Granville Island

Sade spent over a third of his life in prison. Whether this imprisonment was deserved is debatable but what is certain is that the reasons were personal and familial -- not the result of due process: this is Sade's tragedy. As many great writers who've suffered imprisonment (Genet, Wilde) have attested, the isolation of prison forces the mind to collapse onto itself and the visions this alienation inspires reflect our psychic night. From western culture's heritage of fairy and folk tales to the global atrocities which have marked this century we are forced into a confrontation with the darkest side of our nature - an area in which Sade specialized. Sade, with an often terrifying honesty, recorded his visions and to encounter him is to walk the path of total annihilation - of the body, the spirit and ultimately humanity.

Kokoro Dance Performed at Mainly Dance

April 7, 1999, 8 PM

Kokoro Dance performed Moan at Mainly Dance, Main Dance's fund raising performances that took place on April 7, 1999 at 8 PM at Main Dance's studios (828 East Hastings Street).

Kokoro Dance's Annual Fund Raising Auction / Performance /Party

March 25, 1999 at 6:30 PM

Kokoro Dance performed Moan at our annual Fund Raising Auction/Performance/Party at Performance Works on Granville Island starting at 6:30 P.M. on March 25, 1999. The evening also featured Symone, one of Vancouver's best entertainers, as well as a hot jazz funk band with John Korsrud (trumpet), Graham Ord (saxophone), Daniel Kane (saxophone), Dave Robbin (drums), Chris Tarry (bass). Over one hundred people attended dining on delicious food from Subeez Cafe and SushiBoy with beverages supplied by Featherstone & Company and Bowen Island Brewing Company. Over $5,000 was raised through an auction of goods and services donated by: The Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Hard Rubber Orchestra, Uzume Taiko, Deserving Thyme, Suki's, Patina Salons, Jack Quon, Steve Inaba, Vancouver Children's Festival, Laurence M. Svirchev, Mido Framers, Little Sisters Book & Art Emporium, Urban Empire, Banyan Books, Rose Marcus, Envision Optical, William Tell Restaurant, Vancouver Opera, Ballet British Columbia, Cafe Il Nido, Vogue Theatre, Stephos's Grek Taverno, Firehall Arts Centre, Blue Note Jazz Bistro, Middleton's Canoes, Kayaks or Dinghies, Out To Lunch Caterers, Ten Fifteen West Sixteenth Avenue Bed & Breakfast, The Chan Centre, Creekhouse Gallery, The Dish, Beetnix Bar & Grill, Tsawwassen Inn, Geist Magazine, Videomatica, Caprice Cinemas, The Juice Zone, The Stanley Theatre, Naam Restaurant, Renouf House Bed and Breakfast, Bakers' Dozen Antiques, Marnie Tamaki, Earthrise Garden Store, Sickelmore's Florists, Botanically Hip Garden Store, Raincoast Books, du Maurier International Jazz Festival Vancouver, Sikora's, Granville Book Company, Vancouver Film Festival, Pacific Cinematheque, Caprice Cinemas, Kiss Project, Vancouver East Cultural Centre, Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company, Lola MacLaughlin Dance Company, Karen Jamieson Dance Company, Main Dance, Harbour Dance Centre, Glass Onion Studio, Eric Montgomery, Smoking Lily, Quasi Moda Clothing, Alan Jones, Alvin Erasga Tolentino, Melo Edindjiklian, Magpie Magazine Galler, Dutch Girl Chocolates, Diva Clothing & Collectables, Cafe Deux Soleils, Cosmopolis, Mecca Clothing, East End Book Company, and Alayne Keough.

We thank all the patrons and sponsors who made this year's event the most successful to date.

School/Community Performances in Sooke/Kootenays

February 5, 8-11, 1999

We performed The Believer in Sooke, BC on February 5th and in the Kootenays from February 8th through the 11th before a total audience of 3, 861 people.

Seattle Butoh Festival

November 12-14, 1998

Kokoro Dance performed Embryotrophic Cavatina and Moan at the first Seattle Butoh Festival.

Embryotrophic Cavatina

October 28th-31st, November 4th-7th, 1998 at 8:00 PM
Kokoro Dance performed at the Firehall Arts Centre with dancers Barbara Bourget, Jay Hirabayashi, Ziyian Kwan and Michael Whitfield. Embryotrophic Cavatina is a new butoh jazz dance choreographed by Barbara Bourget and Jay Hirabayashi. Also featured were jazz musicians David Carlisle (percussion), John Korsrud (trumpet), Adrienne Park (keyboards), Ron Samworth (guitar), and Tony Wilson (guitar). A musical score with lots of room for improvisation was written by Robert J. Rosen.

The Firehall Arts Centre is located at 208 E. Cordova, Vancouver.

Jazz Jam Nights at the Firehall Arts Centre

October 30th-31st, November 6th-7th, 1998 at 10:00 PM

Kokoro Dance continued its on-going series of encounters between improvising dancers and jazz musicians with these late night shows.
Performance tickets ($5.00) are available at the door.

Butoh Workshops with Yumiko Yoshioka

Forming the second part of this year's Vancouver Butoh Festival, acclaimed butoh artist Yumiko Yoshioka taught a ten-day intensive workshop [November 17-20, 23-28], and a one-day weekend workshop [November 21]. As a performer and instructor highly influenced by Noguchi gymnastics and Tai-chi-chuan, Yumiko Yoshioka has a unique connection to butoh dance. Much of her fame was derived from her involvement as a dancer in Carlotta Ikeda's Ariadone (the first all female butoh company), and Tatoeba - Theatre Danse Grotesque. Her workshops focus on activating Ki - the vital energy centred in the belly. Working on this concept, participants will move and be moved. Yoshioka works to evoke the chaos present in all of us, and to enjoy this chaos as the mother of creativity.

Green College, UBC

October 19, 1998

Barbara and Jay performed at Green College, UBC.

Benefit for Tibet

October 10, 1998

Kokoro Dance performed for a benefit for Tibet at the Aboriginal Centre in Vancouver.

Aids Walk in Stanley Park

September 27, 1998

Kokoro Dance performed for three hours during the AIDS Walk around the Sea Wall at Stanley Park.

Circus of Dreams

September 5, 1998

Barbara and Jay performed at Strathcona Park for the Public Dreams sponsored, Circus of Dreams event.

Hyatt Regency Nissan Car Show

September 2, 1998

Barbara and Jay performed for two hours for a car show opening for startled car dealers.

Kits Point Butoh

August 23, 1998

Barbara and Jay performed for a private audience at Kits Point.

1998 Vancouver Butoh Festival

In coordination with the San Francisco Butoh Festival, Kokoro Dance hosted Vancouver's first annual butoh festival. Featuring performances and workshops by Masahide Ohmori of Japan, and Gustavo Collini-Sartor of Butoh Danza Argentina, the festival was well-received by local patrons and media.

1998 San Francisco Butoh Festival

Kokoro took part in San Francisco's 4th Annual Butoh Festival; teaching workshops as well as performing.

• Saturday, August 15th
  Kokoro Dance performed on Ocean Beach at Lincoln Street, San Francisco


• Sunday, August 16th
  Kokoro Dance performed at the Asian Art Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco



• Saturday, August 22nd
  Performance in the garden at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St, San Francisco

Powell Street Festival

August 2, 1998

Kokoro Dance performed for the festival in Oppenheimer Park, Vancouver.

1998 Vancouver Folk Festival

July 17th, 18th, and 19th, 1998

Kokoro Dance performed 2-3 times a day for all three days of the festival, throughout Jericho Park.

Wreck Beach Butoh

July 11 & 12, 1998

Kokoro returned to the Tower Beach end of Wreck Beach for this year's hour-long performance of Wreck Beach Butoh on Vancouver's clothing-optional beach. Despite cloudy weather, both performances were well attended.