Event
Illegal Echo and To Mifune: New Works by CounterPULSE Artist in Residence Christy Funsch & Isak Immanuel
CounterPULSE Presents:
To Mifune and Illegal Echo
New Works by Summer Artists in Residence
Christy Funsch & Isak Immanuel
September 6-8, 2007
This September, Akira Kurosowas samurai movies collide with hip-hop culture and the experience of homeless youth as Artists in Residence Christy Funsch and Isak Immanuel take the stage to create two world premieres with non-traditional performers.
To Mifune
By Christy Funsch with Deeandroid and Skorpio
Inspired by the charismatic Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune (1920-1997), To Mifune tells the story of a cowgirls [MA1] journey to meet her samurai idol. The characters for this work are drawn from Mifunes roles, as well as from roles in acclaimed Japanese film-maker Akira Kurosawas Yojimbo, Stray Dog, and The Seven Samurai. Funschs work examines how ones individuality shifts through interactions with others: movement is borrowed, shared, exchanged, and exaggerated among all of the characters. The protagonists idea of who she is changes as her context changes, and by the time she meets the person she thought was her idol, she has come to appreciate the perhaps less grand---though certainly not less admirable---heroics of those she has met on her journey.
Hip-hop DJ Deeandroid mixes live original beats with samples from both Kurosawas film Yojimbo and [MA2] Patsy Montana[TP3] into a living sound score for the work. The result combines multiple voices with a hip-hop sensibility, which Funsch defines as an assertion of individuality. Funschs idiosyncratic collection of performers for To Mifune exemplifies her fascination with style as a way of linking the personal with the collective. According to Funsch, When we create a little truth for ourselves, a way we want to be seen, we are usually seeking empathy. The commonality of this impulse connects us, regardless of the diversity of our movement choices.
simple yet gutsy experimentation Rachel Howard, SF Examiner
thoughtful, intriguingly structured choreography Rita Felciano, Dance View Times
a clearly structured and cleanly executed investigation of space and form -- Mary Ellen Hunt, Contra Costa Times
Illegal Echo (outsider dance repictured)
Co-Directed by Isak Immanuel in collaboration with local homeless youth, Robert L. Terrell, Kanoko Nishi, and Odessa Chen
Integrating dance-theater with photojournalism, Illegal Echo navigates the multiple stories of the margins: the hustle, destitution and silent memory of San Francisco's peripheral city life. As a formerly homeless artist, Isak Immanuel has experienced firsthand what he describes as the profound imprint sleeping outdoors behind buildings has had on my own sense of body and on my conception of dance theater. For this new work, Immanuel combines his experience as a photographer and as a photography mentor for homeless youth with his extensive training i
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LocationCounterPULSE
1310 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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