Tokyo DasSHOKU Girl
Tokyo DasSHOKU Girl touches on the shadowy life of Japan which many would never encounter. DasSHOKU (to bleach) strips off the colour of the superficial to reveal the reality behind the happy face of consumerism, bleaching away the commonly held views of Japanese women as kawai, or cute, polite and submissive. In Tokyo DasSHOKU Girl Yumi pays homage to the roots of Butoh as an anarchic dangerous and at the same time beautiful dance form.
Choreography and Directed by Yumi Umiunare
Collaboration with Matt Crosby and Ben Rogan
Music Mixed by Tatsuyoshi Kawabata
Costume by Hoshika Oshimi and Yumi Umiumare
Lighting Design/ Operation by Dori Dragon Bicchierai
PERFORMANCE HISTORY
March 2004 – National Multicultural Festival, Canberra
July-August 2003 – Kultour, Fremantle, Adelaide, Tasmania, Lismore (funded by the Australia Council)
May 2001 – Adelaide Cabaret Festival
February 2000 – Gasworks (return Season)
October 1999 – Czech House, Melbourne Fringe Festival
1995 – Melbourne
REVIEW
“….Umiumare’s inventiveness and physical discipline were in evidence in the way she could almost redesign her physique to embody her different characters.”.
THE AGE 1999 (Hilary Crampton)
“….Tokyo DasSHOKU Girl is a tequila slammer – it is a shocking, sprawling, comedic assult of a cabaret. Umiumare and off-siders Ben Rogan and Matt Crosby unearth some of Japan’s most extreme culture, from cults and the vending of school-girls’ panties to karaoke. ….(it) is daring and exceedingly entertaining.”.
THE AGE 2000 (Fiona Scott-Norman)
