FORMAT

Film, 30 mins

ARTIST

Vanessa Skantze

A quartet of dancers encased in carapaces: the binds of the past, the anguish of ancestors and histories– they tear at these shuddering with relentless grief. Irrevocably stripped bare to fragments of dreams, memories and dances; they reveal these shadows of unborn works their bodies contain. Dances unravel from them for a moment before once again dissolving… a requiem. In their shared grief they become a troupe, a pod.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Vanessa Skantze is a Butoh artist who has performed and taught in the US and Europe for over 20 years. She became a student of Jinen Butoh founder Atsushi Takenouchi in 2003; having already co-created the sound/movement improvisation ensemble Death Posture in New Orleans.

Currently based in Seattle, Vanessa is a co-founder of Teatro de la Psychomachia, a DIY space which has hosted national and international performing artists and musicians for more than a decade. Her work Writhing Treasure Feast which premiered in Seattle in late February 2020 features a recorded score created by ten musicians and is accompanied by a 72 page book of photography/text with 2 CDs. Vanessa was a featured artist in the NY Butoh Fest 2020 with her performance Red Flag on the Red Planet.