the Road in Heaven, the Road in Earth
Dance legend and Butoh pioneer Kazuo Ohno died at 103.
I was lucky enough to see him perform "Water Lilies" at the Walker in Minneapolis. At the time, he was well into his eighties and still very powerful on stage. I remember walking around with a strange feeling for several days after the performance. Since then I've seen his influence in dance groups like Sennichimae Blue Sky and Sankai Juku (who are coming to Chicago this year).
Ohno, a devout Baptist from Hokkaido, moved to Tokyo to teach dance at a Christian girls school. He was drafted and sent to China and New Guinea for nine years, the last of which he spent as a POW. Back in Tokyo, he composed one of his first pieces, "Jellyfish Dance", after the jellyfish he saw in the sea where the bodies of the dead were buried during the return voyage from New Guinea. He gave his first solo performance in Tokyo at age 43.
Like Louise Bourgeois, Ohno brought personal experience together with the cosmic. Dancer Iwana Masaki describes Butoh as a "tendency" which "extricates the pure life which is dormant in our bodies". The dance is informed by experience, but this "pure life" is universal. It is the same energy that Makoto Kawabata taps with his guitar. The grotesque and theatrical elements of Butoh are simple parameters.
Also like LB, Ohno had a late-blossoming career and was active past the age when most people are long dead. Fitting, since Butoh is intimately concerned with death and decay. After he lost the ability to walk, he continued to dance--with assistants carrying him, from his wheelchair, crawling on stage.
Gabutto Burger review
Today Menda went to Mitsuwa supermarket and brought back burgers from the Japanese fast chain. It was my first time to eat. Here is the menu. Note that the "Gotta Try!" burst is reserved for more expensive delicacies such as the bbq pork rice burger, but not bestowed on the Gabutto Tofu Burger, which weighs in at a kingly $4.45.
Gabutto Burger - a dense blend of beef and other meats covered in a "demi-glace" that imparts a special flavor. It also has something I thought was mayo but tasted more like a lightly whipped mild sour cream. Adorned with a bit of lettuce, tomato & onion on a fluffy bun.
Grade: A minus. No problems with this sandwich. Recommended to enthusiasts.
Wasabi fries I was excited to try one of their four flavored fry varieties. Wasabi fries came wrapped carefully in paper with the wasabi seasoning in a baggie to add as you like. The fries were soft (not crispy but also not greasy) and had a pleasant flavor on their own, but the baggie was a complete disaster. It made the fries taste extremely salty yet added no discernible wasabi taste.
Grade: D minus.
Men's Pocky for dessert.
Click to viewI was lucky enough to see him perform "Water Lilies" at the Walker in Minneapolis. At the time, he was well into his eighties and still very powerful on stage. I remember walking around with a strange feeling for several days after the performance. Since then I've seen his influence in dance groups like Sennichimae Blue Sky and Sankai Juku (who are coming to Chicago this year).
Ohno, a devout Baptist from Hokkaido, moved to Tokyo to teach dance at a Christian girls school. He was drafted and sent to China and New Guinea for nine years, the last of which he spent as a POW. Back in Tokyo, he composed one of his first pieces, "Jellyfish Dance", after the jellyfish he saw in the sea where the bodies of the dead were buried during the return voyage from New Guinea. He gave his first solo performance in Tokyo at age 43.
Like Louise Bourgeois, Ohno brought personal experience together with the cosmic. Dancer Iwana Masaki describes Butoh as a "tendency" which "extricates the pure life which is dormant in our bodies". The dance is informed by experience, but this "pure life" is universal. It is the same energy that Makoto Kawabata taps with his guitar. The grotesque and theatrical elements of Butoh are simple parameters.
Also like LB, Ohno had a late-blossoming career and was active past the age when most people are long dead. Fitting, since Butoh is intimately concerned with death and decay. After he lost the ability to walk, he continued to dance--with assistants carrying him, from his wheelchair, crawling on stage.
Gabutto Burger review
Today Menda went to Mitsuwa supermarket and brought back burgers from the Japanese fast chain. It was my first time to eat. Here is the menu. Note that the "Gotta Try!" burst is reserved for more expensive delicacies such as the bbq pork rice burger, but not bestowed on the Gabutto Tofu Burger, which weighs in at a kingly $4.45.
Gabutto Burger - a dense blend of beef and other meats covered in a "demi-glace" that imparts a special flavor. It also has something I thought was mayo but tasted more like a lightly whipped mild sour cream. Adorned with a bit of lettuce, tomato & onion on a fluffy bun.
Grade: A minus. No problems with this sandwich. Recommended to enthusiasts.
Wasabi fries I was excited to try one of their four flavored fry varieties. Wasabi fries came wrapped carefully in paper with the wasabi seasoning in a baggie to add as you like. The fries were soft (not crispy but also not greasy) and had a pleasant flavor on their own, but the baggie was a complete disaster. It made the fries taste extremely salty yet added no discernible wasabi taste.
Grade: D minus.
Men's Pocky for dessert.