time/life/beauty

Fusing butoh dance theater, hip-hop mixology, new music, and multimedia, the Vermont premiere of time/life/beauty by Michael Sakamoto and Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky) is inspired by the legacy of famed composer-musician and activist Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952–2023). Inspired by the variety and mystery of Ryuichi’s music, interdisciplinary collaborations, and environmental and anti-war commitments, time/life/beauty looks at the past, present, and future of acute cultural, social, and ecological themes in our historical moment.

This project channels the artists’ shared and distinct approaches to interdisciplinary performance, intercultural dialogue, creativity, and social concerns. In their Middlebury performance, the artists perform the triptych that comprises time/life/beauty: 

Gods and Monsters combines Miller’s music, Sakamoto’s dance, and multimedia into a reflection on butoh and hip-hop as revolutionary art forms, the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb, and the high-tech age of the anthropocene. Exploring history, science, and beyond, Gods and Monsters is a kaleidescope of sound, movement, imagery, and text that highlights our relationship to ourselves, each other, and the planet.

asymm is an intimate, semi-autobiographical dance theater work written and performed by Sakamoto with music by Miller, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and others. This lively meditation crosses artistic, social, and imagined borders inspired by butoh and hip-hop’s roots in social resistance, Ryuichi’s intercultural and activist worldview, and the search for meaning in everyday life.

Beautiful Blue Sky is a collaboration between Sakamoto and hip-hop/folk/contemporary dancer Mohammed Smahneh (aka Barges), remixing Middle Eastern, Asian, and American vernaculars into a cross-cultural dialogue of movement, text and visuals.

About the Artists:
Michael Sakamoto is a transdisciplinary artist active in dance, theater, performance, media and photography. He is known as an innovator in butoh performance and the philosophy behind it, which inspires his works. Dedicated to nurturing intercultural dialogue and cultural sustainability, Sakamoto’s choreographic and narrative performances, media works, and photo essays have been presented in 16 countries worldwide. Internationally touring works include: Flash, a butoh/hip-hop duet with Rennie Harris; Soil, a dance theater trio with Cambodian,Vietnamese, and Thai dancers; and blind spot, an autobiographical, intermedia solo in collaboration with Christopher Jette. Sakamoto is also a scholar and educator who has taught and lectured internationally. His book monograph An Empty Room: Imagining Butoh and the Social Body in Crisis (2022, Wesleyan University Press) is a critical autoethnography of Michael’s three-decade journey through butoh history, practice, and theory . Formerly on the faculties of the University of Iowa, California Institute of the Arts, Bangkok University, and Goddard College, Sakamoto currently serves as Performing Arts Curator and Asian and Asian American Arts and Culture Program Director at the University of Massachusetts Fine Arts Center. “A commanding performer…a dramatic tour de force.”—Los Angeles Times
Learn more about Michael Sakamoto: http://michaelsakamoto.org/

Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky) is currently Artist in Residence at Yale University Center for Collaborative Arts and Media. He is a composer, multimedia artist, and writer whose work engages audiences in a blend of genres, global culture, and environmental and social issues. Miller has collaborated with an array of recording artists, including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Metallica, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Steve Reich, and Yoko Ono amongst many others. His 2018 album, DJ Spooky Presents: Phantom Dancehall, debuted at #3 on Billboard Reggae. Miller is known for his international environmentalism efforts, including: an artist residency program on Vanuatu in the South Pacific, Antarctica research and resulting Ice Symphony and tour; and participation in the annual Hiroshima Peace Boat project. Miller’s large-scale, multimedia performance pieces include Rebirth of a Nation, Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica, commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Seoul Counterpoint, written during his 2014 residency at Seoul Institute of the Arts. In 2014, Miller was named National Geographic Emerging Explorer. He produced Pioneers of African American Cinema, a collection of the earliest films made by African American directors, released in 2015. Miller’s artwork has appeared in the Whitney Biennial,Venice Biennial for Architecture, Miami/ Art Basel fair, and many other museums and galleries. Miller’s books include the award-winning Rhythm Science, published by MIT Press; Sound Unbound, an anthology about digital music and media; The Book of Ice, a visual and acoustic portrait of the Antarctic; and The Imaginary App, on how apps changed the world.  Learn more about Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky): https://djspooky.com/

Mohammed Smahneh (aka Barges) is a self-taught hip-hop and contemporary dance artist, has won various break-dance battles in Palestine and performed in many international and local projects including: Badke, a co-production between KVS, les ballets C de la B & A.M. Qattan Foundation (2013–16, Belgium); B, choreographed by Koen Augustijnen and Rosalba Torres (2017–2019, Belgium); Nomads Dance Camp directed by Dina Abu Hamdan with choreographers Jorge Crecis, Taoufiq Izzediou, and Samar Haddad King (2014, Jordan); and Naji Ali with Botega Dance Company directed by Enzo Celli (2009, Italy). He was a champion in Floor Wars Battle (2012, Denmark). Mohammed has been a member of Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre since 2013. Learn more about Mohammed Smahneh (aka Barges): https://arts.duke.edu/person/mohammad-smahnah/

Program:

Michael Sakamoto
Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky
Mohammed Smahneh aka Barges

time/life/beauty
Gods and Monsters
asymm
Beautiful Blue Sky

General Admission. Tickets: $30 general public | $20 Middlebury ID holders | $10 youth (under 21) | $5 Middlebury students. Buy tickets: http://go.middlebury.edu/tickets

Approximate running time: 100 minutes including one intermission.

Sponsored by the Performing Arts Series, the Department of Dance, and the Rothrock Family Residency Fund.

Learn more about the artists:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.sakamoto1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/munk67_/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelSakamoto
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1O8yrjjifkCO8txB4CxuOm
Watch a video:  https://youtu.be/lK2O7BPo9ko?si=d_wgqofYE8h_Px13

Performance subject to change.