Flower of the Season at The Electric Lodge has been running since 1999, a performance project of partners Oguri and Roxanne Steinberg. It has taken different forms over the years, but this summer it is a solo show by Oguri, called dance comes out of time. Composer Paul Chavez provides the sound score live, the latest in 30 years of collaborations between the two artists.
Any opportunity to see Oguri’s work is not to be missed — he is a master of his craft. At 60 years old, he explains that he has completed one circle in the Chinese zodiac calendar, which Japan uses as well. This is a year of rebirth, and time has been heavy on his mind lately. He shares this at the curtain call, but he has already communicated it profoundly through movement.
Oguri in “dance comes out of time” – Photo by Denise Leitner
As he dances, I feel the work’s title constantly returning to me in different meanings. It seems that he is both marking and questioning the passage of time in his research, moving contrary to time and also inside of it. Sometimes he moves so slowly I’m not sure he’s moving at all. Sometimes, he suspends so long that I miss a quick movement that follows, and it feels like an outline of him is still existing where he once was.
As a person trained in Western dance, it is difficult to explain the way Oguri transcends time. Though I see and feel deep wisdom and curiosity within his dancing, he is constantly shattering my ideas of structure and aesthetic. From what he explains at the end of the performance, perhaps he is challenging his own ideas as well. He lives in movements so outside of my own vocabulary, but they are undeniably beautiful, or painful, or strange, or sweet. The focus and attention he brings to every minute detail prove just how valuable each moment is. It is liberating to watch, like permission to break out of trend and form. And his focus, unbroken, is wildly activating. You can watch him dance for over an hour and forget to blink.
Oguri in “dance comes out of time” – Photo by Denise Leitner
As he moves through shadows and light, onto and off of a graded platform that he and his son Keiden Oguri built together, a sense of cycle comes naturally. The depth of intention in each cyclical exploration brings the title back to me over and over again. Oguri accesses a unique sensory state during performance and improvisation. I would not say he is in another world — in fact, he is very tuned into Chavez’s live sound score, and to other external stimuli. But what he achieves is like some sort of extreme understanding.
Oguri in “dance comes out of time” – Photo by Denise Leitner
Chavez feels and complements him well, discovering circles in the sound alongside Oguri, yet never resting too long. The score is poignant, evocative of something deeper, but allows us to find our own meaning in the space between. The texture of each sound adds layers to Oguri’s discoveries, building but returning just the same.
Lighting, also by Oguri and Keiden Oguri, makes every moment hold still, a frame in my brain. I have said it before and I will say it again — there is something innately magic in the Electric Lodge and the way it holds light. It almost feels like existing inside of the camera lens: the space is so small that you can witness the framing of each moment, focusing you just right to experience the dance as intended.
Oguri in “dance comes out of time” – Photo by Denise Leitner
With a dried flower bouquet in his hand, Oguri hinges on the very corner of the platform, once from his sitz bones and once standing on one leg. He mourns the recent loss of a few friends he held dear, negotiating the edge with solemn discernment. He takes extra time and care in the hard parts, a powerful choice.
The more I see Oguri perform (which is every chance I get), the more I believe that I may never be able to describe his movement accurately or completely. His dance undoes boundaries and definitions, teaches patience and appreciation for the uncomfortable. He says he is “always out of time,” but I am convinced that time is shifting to meet him. If you do not believe me, you will have to catch his next work to see for yourself. And if you do believe me, treat yourself to the next Flower of the Season anyway.
To learn more about Oguri, please visit his website.
For more information about The Electric Lodge, please visit their website.
Written by Celine Kiner for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Oguri in dance comes out of time – Photo by Denise Leitner
