Body Weather Laboratory is based in Venice, California and led by Butoh performer and choreographer Oguri, and dancer/choreographer Roxanne Steinberg. As part of its Flower of the Season 20-21, on Saturday and Sunday, September 26 & 27, 2020, Oguri will join pianist, composer, arranger, conceptualist, Tigran Hamasyan to present the live-stream dance and music performance of FALL LEAVES from the Electric Lodge.
A native of Japan, Oguri was inspired to dance after he met Hijikata Tatsumi, the founder of Butoh, an art form which first appeared in Japan following World War II that Tatsumi created in reaction against the Japanese dance scene of that time. Oguri began training and performing in 1985 with famed dancer Min Tanaka’s company, Mai-Juku and participated in founding Body Weather Farm, located west of Tokyo. Tanaka taught summer sessions lasting four to five weeks in Japanese and English.
Oguri – Photo courtesy of Body Weather Laboratory
Oguri also practiced traditional organic farming, experiencing the rhythms and cycles of this most human lifestyle, and he created the basis of his dance form connecting the human body with nature. He moved to Los Angeles in 1991 and formed Body Weather Laboratory LA with Roxanne Steinberg. Oguri continues to teach, conceive and produce dance and multi-media works world-wide that often incorporate large-scale sets and sculpture installations that he also creates.
At the young age of 33, Tigran Hamasyan is considered one of the best jazz-meets-rock pianists of his generation. He fuses his jazz improvisations with his native Armenian folk music. “When I improvise I use the musical vocabulary that comes from Armenia,” he says, “but I learned the art of improvisation through bebop. I think the ability to improvise comes from whether the part of your brain has been activated to this state where you require a huge amount of knowledge and can carry this information in your brain to be executed when needed. It is the balance among knowledge, control and the mysterious creation.”
Tigran Hamasyan – Photo courtesy of Body Weather Laboratory
Hamasyan’s honors include top piano award at the 2003 Montreux Jazz Festival and the grand prize at the prestigious 2006 Thelonious Monk Jazz Piano Competition. His album New Era, was championed by one scribe who wrote that “with more seasoning and a calming maturity not driven by merely showing off, Hamasyan is certain to elevate his art to a top tier of jazz and world music expressionism” Hamasyan’s latest album, The Call Within was just released on August 28, 2020.
Oguri (Top), Tigran Hamasyan (Below) – Photo courtesy of Body Weather Laboratory
WHAT: FALL LEAVES – A dance and music performance.
WHO: Tigran Hamasyan (piano) and Oguri (dance).
WHEN: Saturday, September 26, 11:00AM and Sunday, September 27, 11:00AM
WHERE: Live-stream from: Electric Lodge, 1416 Electric Avenue, Venice, CA 90291.
COST: Free
To purchase tickets for Saturday, September 26, 2020 at 11:00AM, click HERE.
To purchase tickets for Sunday, September 27, 11:00AM, click HERE.
To visit the FALL LEAVES home page, click HERE.
Related activity: Body Weather Laboratory Workshop Zoom with Oguri and Roxanne Steinberg. A demanding attitude toward a thorough reexamination of the body and movement is a main theme in all the aspects of the training. Body Weather Laboratory is a research forum open to anyone interested in investigating expression through the body within different environments.
WHEN: Sunday, 9:00am-11:00am; Wednesday, 8:00am- 9:00am
To register for the Body Weather Laboratory Workshop: bodyweather@gmail.com.
For more information, click HERE.
Written and compiled by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Tigran Hamasyan (Left) and Oguri (Right) – Photo courtesy of Body Weather Laboratory
