MANCC Welcomes Yasuko Yokoshi for Film Screening and Showing

Yasuko Yokoshi; photo by Miana June

MANCC is pleased to welcome Returning Choreographic Fellow Yasuko Yokoshi into residence, September 2-19. MANCC will offer two public events, a film screening and an informal showing, in support of Yokoshi’s research. Marking the first time a MANCC artist has screened a film at All Saints Cinema, Yokoshi’s “Hangman Takuzo,” will run on Thursday, September 17th at 7pm. The work-in-progress showing for her stage work ZERO ONE will be held the following day on Friday, September 18th at 6pm in Montgomery Hall’s Blackbox Theatre. The back to back sharing of material will allow a more thorough introduction of Yokashi to Tallahassee audiences, valuable due to the complex and challenging material within these works.

ZERO ONE features Yokoshi‘s blend of Western contemporary and traditional Japanese choreography performed by identical twin sisters: Manami and Sawami Fukuoka. Manami has lived a life rooted in Japan and its traditional dance culture, while Sawami has lived her life mostly abroad in Europe studying contemporary Western dance forms. The twins embody “self” and “other,” a classic manifestation of duality. ZERO ONE investigates layers of duality and synchronicity, presenting the ephemerality of “performance” as metaphor for the transient nature of existence.

The film, “Hangman Takuzo,” is part fiction, part real. Filmed in a cinéma vérité style, the artists’ daily art practice takes place alongside candid conversations between Hangman Takuzo and his partner Mika Kurosawa. Japanese performance artist Takuzo has been practicing the art of suspension for more than 40 years and hangs himself everyday from a tree in his garden. Kurosawa is widely known as “the godmother of contemporary dance” and Namiko Kawamura, a lifelong practitioner of meditative walking, also makes appearances.

The film, which will also be projected as part of ZERO ONE, contains nudity and is for mature audiences.

Upcoming Events:

MANCC Artist Yasuko Yokoshi Film Screening “Hangman Takuzo” on Thursday, September 17th at 7pm