Not just my stories
Not Just My Story is a special opportunity for audiences to encounter the human face of compelling asylum seeker stories. Weaving together the moments, memories and voices of the performers, the work challenges the popular narrative of seeking asylum in Australia. Not Just My Story will open your heart to the potential of our shared humanity.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre presents Not Just My Story as part of the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival.
When do you tell your story and why? What happens to your sense of self when you’re under suspicion? Stories of persecution, family, resilience and love are explored by 30 asylum seekers through physical theatre, story telling, movement and music.
Directed by Catherine Simmonds
Choreography by Yumi Umiumare
Dramaturg by Arnold Zable
Sound design by Myles Mumford
Not Just My Story is a special opportunity for audiences to encounter the human face of compelling asylum seeker stories. Weaving together the moments, memories and voices of the performers, we challenge the popular narrative of seeking asylum in Australia. Not Just My Story will open your heart to the potential of our shared humanity.
When:Saturday May 14 2011 5:00 AM – Sunday May 15 2011 11:00 AMWhere:St. Martins Youth Arts Centre, 44 St. Martins Lane, South Yarra, VIC, 3141Contact:Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
This event is not organized by Amnesty International Australia but by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and all inquiries should be directed to them.
Quote from Pozible campaign
“Not just my story” evolved in consultation with the 22 (protagonists) of JOAW. “We feel so lucky to have been touched by the creative work but we need to give that opportunity to other people and we could help to open the door for new asylum seekers.” The events that lead a person to be named as an “Asylum Seeker” are inevitably infused with tragedy.
“Not just my story” will actively research the symbols, dreams and intimate details within the tragedy, with the aim to extract and portray the experiences that create universal resonance. Our participant asylum seekers have largely been represented and judged within legal frameworks where they’ve had to prove their ‘truth’ time and time again.
“Not just my story” aims to explore the vulnerabilities and contradictions that occur when telling a story, – what happens to ones sense of ‘truth’ when under suspicion? In this project we will also emphasize the positive experiences and memories of our participants, for example the love stories, celebrations, and creative imagination of our participants, thus exploring the expression of the multidimensional person who hashumour, is a musician, actor, poet and dancer. Our aim is to transmit a different image of asylum seekers neither just as ‘poor things’ or the nastier stereotype and to deconstruct the common media representation. The ‘protagonists’ who were in JOAW also wish to investigate issues of cultural integration and settlement post “Permanent Residency” – “You get the visa and then you’re all alone. I didn’t have work experience I needed to get a job. But I came from a country where there’s no technology, no cars, no basic stuff.” “In Dandenong there is the perception that because Sudanese young men congregate together, that they are therefore a gang. It’s important to combat those perceptions in the public, also in the police force where there’s a lot of racism”
Return to Sender
Curated by Paul Gazzola & Jeff Khan Wed 23 – Sat 26 Nov, 8pm Preview Wed 23 Nov Opening Thu 24 Nov
[BAY 20, CARRIAGEWORKS] $30 Full / $20 Members and Concessions $15 Student Rush Fri 25 Nov (from box office on the night only)
Return to Sender is a collection of eight short dance works exploring the influence of international creative relationships on the practice of Australian dance artists.
For Return to Sender, curators Paul Gazzola and Jeff Khan have invited eight Australian dance-makers to devise new works that recreate the choreography, score, or essence of an international peer’s work. The resulting works range from reconstructed solos, to collaborative texts, to performed instructions. Together, they provide an insight into the creative collaborations that influence Australian artists’ work, but which take place overseas and are often out-of-sight to their audiences due to distance, geography and expense.
Artists: Alison Currie, Nadia Cusimano, Matthew Day, Atlanta Eke, Jane McKernan, Latai Taumoepeau, Tony Yap and Yumi Umiumare.
Ngapartji Ngapartji
Ngapartji Ngapartji was a community development and Indigenous language maintenance/revitalisation project produced by the Australian arts and social change company Big hART conducted in various locations across the Anangu, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in Central Australia and in Alice Springs.
“It’s a magical piece of theatre” – Sybil Nolan, Herald Sun
“The most important event for local audiences to see this Festival” – Andi Moore, Artszine
“It does honour to the festival that has presented it” – John Slavin, The Age
“A pure gift” – Alison Croggon, Theatre Notes
“An inclusive plea for understanding and justice” – Miriam Cosic, The Australian
Ngapartji Ngapartji was a community development and Indigenous language maintenance/revitalisation project produced by the Australian arts and social change company Big hARTconducted in various locations across the Anangu, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in Central Australia and in Alice Springs. The project ran from 2005 to 2010 with spin-off projects and related performances creating a strong legacy beyond this timeline. The project was structured around an experimental and reflexive arts-based community development program which included the creation of an online interactive language and culture learning website by Pitjantjatjara-speaking young people, elders and linguists; a bilingual touring theatre work and a media campaign promoting the development of an Australian national Indigenous language policy.
Butoh Residential Workshop 2012
BUTOH RESIDENTIAL WORKSHOP 7(Fri)-10(Mon) Dec 2012 on the Wimmera River, 15kms West of Horsham Lead By Yumi Umiumarewith a special guest voice artist from Tokyo, Kyoko Hirobe and locally based visual artist Anthony Pelchen
[vc_row type="in_container" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" width="1/1"][vc_column_text]BUTOH RESIDENTIAL WORKSHOP7(Fri)-10(Mon) Dec 2012 on the Wimmera River, 15kms West of Horsham Lead By Yumi Umiumare with a special guest voice artist from Tokyo, Kyoko Hirobe and locally based visual artist Anthony Pelchen
The aim of this workshop is to expand body awareness, deepen consciousness and unleash internal expression though a response to landscape. This 130 acre site near Mt Arapiles allows participants to move between bush-land, sand dunes, open fields, river and elevated rock, opening up the senses to color, texture, sound and form. Over the weekend, Yumi will introduce various methods of Butoh, Chi/Gravity exercises, breathing methods and encourage a fuller expression and consciousness of well-being. The body practices, voice work and drawing will act as powerful counterpoints and as opportunities to filter one into the other, strengthening the links between the external environment and the internal landscape.
Kyoko (known as Earth Voice Kyoko) will share simple techniques for grounding body energy and connecting with the inner voice. Anthony will run a session of charcoal drawing that tap into this and the overall energetic build-up over the weekend.
No dance, singing or drawing experience required[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" width="1/1"][cq_vc_gallery images="2397,2395,2394,2392"][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Trans-mute Butoh-Cabaret 9 to 29 May 2010
Melbourne’s legendary Yumi Umiumare, leads student performers in the creation of a playful, transgressive and hyper-energized hybrid. Combining the physical extremes of butoh and the intimate inventiveness of cabaret, Trans-Mute will reframe everyday stories as strange outlandish songs and dances.
Butoh Intensive Workshop 11 April 2010 - 09 May 2010
In this workshop, Yumi Umiumare introduces the basic philosophy and physical exercises in Butoh dance discipline. At the end of the workshops, participants have the option to create a short piece as a conclusion to the process. No dance experience required.
Dance House Dance House » Dates: 11/4, 18/4, 25/4, 2/5, 9/5 Times: 10am - 1pm Cost: $120/$150 for 5 sessions
Contact Yumi for more information
In the Arts Island Performance 2010
23 June 2010 - 1 July 2010
Tony Yap (Australia) Yumi Umiumare (Japan/Australia) Michael Hornblow (New Zealand) Brendan O'Connor (Ireland) Memet Chairul Slamet (Indonesia) Agung Gunawan (Indonesia)
Finucane & Smith’s Carnival of Mysteries Melbourne Festival 2010
Run away to the Carnival, where circus stars and sideshow queens, poets and daredevils, painters, playwrights, aerialists and food artistes concoct a heady mix of unforgettable entertainment under a handmade starry sky
さかさま SAKASAMA
オーストラリアと日本で全く「さかさま」な季節を行き来するアーティスト自身の経験や、 あの世とこの世は左右・上下などが「さかさま」の反世界であるというアイヌの人たちの考え方からインスピレーションを得て、此岸（生きている世界）と彼岸（死んだ後の世界）を抽象的に捉えた作品。
オーストラリアと日本で全く「さかさま」な季節を行き来するアーティスト自身の経験や、 あの世とこの世は左右・上下などが「さかさま」の反世界であるというアイヌの人たちの考え方からインスピレーションを得て、此岸（生きている世界）と彼岸（死んだ後の世界）を抽象的に捉えた作品。
「DEATH-死」 をテーマに数人のアーティストたちが集まって作品を制作、展覧するOzAsiaFestival(オズアジア・フェスティバル)で展覧されたビデオ映像作品。それをもとにしてダンス作品にも創作された。
オーストラリアのいわゆる原始的な川を流れ、行き来するうみうまれの姿と、「さかさま」に編集されたサウンドスケープが効果的に使われている。
批評
力強く、不思議に入っていきやすい作品に出来ている。描かれているカリカチュア（女性が川に浮いている姿）が、絶望や寂しさ、ソーシャルな世界や夜の世界のもつ霊的な深みへといざなってくれるかのようだ。—はっきりしないことこそが、日常的で些細な美しさに満ちているということを、何度も思い出させられる。
オンライン批評 シェイラ・リベイロ２０１０
パフォーマンス,映像公演歴
TimePlace
2009年Sakasama—さかさま(マルチメディア・パフォーマンス) パルスPulse, @ Rooftop ルーフトップ・メルボルン
2009年Sakasama-さかさま I-DANCE フェスティバル、香港
2007年フェスティバルセンター）でプレミア
Sakasama - reverse world
Improvisation Land 21.5
Yumi Umiumare + HK Dance - Daniel Yeung Music - Edmund Leung As part of th I-Dance(Hong Kong) 2009 festival in Hong Kong, Yumi is performed a solo work Sakasama: the reverse world. The two worlds of Life and Death are described as two shores; one is ethe near shoref (the world of the living), and the other is 'ethe far shore' (the world of after-death). A river flows between them. 'The far shore' is a reversed world: it is the reverse of the world of the living and everything is upside down. Umiumare explores the juxtaposition of her presence in Australia, experimenting with the neutrality of emotion and color, and to manipulate rhythms. 5th Dec 2009 : Programme 5 03.12 (Thu) Black Box Theatre, Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre, Honk Kong I-Dance (Hong Kong) 2009
Burning Daylight with Marrugeku
Broome 29 -31 October : Goolarri Outdoor Venue Perth 4-7 November : Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts Sydney 12-15 November : Performance Space Melbourne 19-22 November : Arts House Hobart 26-28 November : Salamanca Arts Centre
Creative Team: Director: Rachael Swain, Choreographers: Serge Aime Coulibaly & Dalisa Pigram, Designer: Joey Ruigrok van der Werven, Cinematographer: Warwick Thornton, Dramaturg: David Pledger, Costume Designer: Stephen Curtis, Lighting Designer: Geoff Cobham, Musical Director: Matthew Fargher, songs by : Amanda Brown Performers: Trevor Jamieson, Dalisa Pigram, Kathy Cogill, Owen Maher, Sermsah Bin Saad, Antonia Djiagween & Yumi Umiumare Musicians: Dazastah, Lorrae Coffin & Justin Gray
エントランス ENTRANCE
うみうまれのソロダンス代表作。２００９年にメルボルン、モルトハウス劇場でプレミア公演、以後アデレード、キャンベラ、シドニー、クイーンズランドで公演ツアーをした。舞踏、キャバレエ、トランスダンスにコンテンポラリーダンスという４つの影響されたアートフォームをもとに集大成されたマルチメディアとダンスの融合した作品。
うみうまれのソロダンス代表作。２００９年にメルボルン、モルトハウス劇場でプレミア公演、以後アデレード、キャンベラ、シドニー、クイーンズランドで公演ツアーをした。舞踏、キャバレエ、トランスダンスにコンテンポラリーダンスという４つの影響されたアートフォームをもとに集大成されたマルチメディアとダンスの融合した作品となっている。メルボルン在住日本人ヴィジュアルアーティスト、太田奈穂美の繊細な舞台美術に、シドニー在住インドネシアンアーティスト、バンバン・ヌチャヤディのハイテク映像が加わり 視覚的にも色彩豊かな作品で、新聞批評、雑誌などで好評を得た。
批評抜粋
“舞踏と演劇が摩訶不思議に出くわしたような作品だ。（中略）エントランスは非常に魅力的な夢の物語が、音楽、セリフ、視覚的イメージや動きの素晴らしい融合によって、素晴らしく解きほぐされて行くようだ。” The Age 新聞
“エントランスは私たちのハート,ボディと心を開いてくれ、人間の本質的なスピリットを変容してくれるかのようだ。” Canberra Times
公演記録
TimePlace
2012年Performance Space シドニー
2011年The Street Theatre キャンベラ
2010年NORPA (Lismore) リズモア クイーンズランド
2009年OzAsia フェスティバル アデレード
プレミア公演、Malthouse Theatre メルボルン
En Trance World Premier Presented by Malthouse Theatre August 28 – September 13
CREATED AND PERFORMED BY YUMI UMIUMARE From her many performances of The Burlesque Hour around the globe, to Acclaimed Butoh Cabaret DasShoku Hora!!, Yumi Umiumare’s electrifying performance style is in demand the world over. In this bold work, premiered and had a sell out season at Malthouse theatre, Umiumare is set to detonate her extraordinary vision from the international to the other-worldy as she thrusts us into the twisted corridors of the un-living. At times brutally visceral, the performance is counterbalanced with the purity of digital painting produced live with her collaborating artists, Bambang Nurcahyadi and Naomi Ota.
EnTrance extends even further Umiumare’s diverse dance vocabulary, plummeting into the cracks where the spirit and the body are propelled into another existence. Umiumare takes us from unsettling moments of physical extremity to magical images of reflective serenity
「バーレスク・アワー」を始め数々の舞台作品で世界中を駆け巡り、活躍を続けているメルボルン在住のパフォーミング・アーティスト、ゆみ・うみうまれによ るソロ作品「ＥｎＴｒａｎｃｅ」。２００９年８月のメルボルン初演ではチケット完売の大盛況を博す。メルボルン在住ヴィジュアル・アーティストの太田奈緒 美によるインスタレーションと、シドニー在住インドネシア人メディア・アーティストBAMBANG NURCAHYADIによるデジタル映像を背景に、うみうまれの舞踏、語り、コメディ、またその独特で不思議な踊りが織り込まれてゆく。
The Burlesque Hour LEGENDS! Presented by Finucane and Smith June 25th – August 2nd MelbourneThe Burlesque Hour LEGENDS! Presented by Finucane and Smith June 25th – August 2nd Melbourne
Every fortnight a new LEGEND. Don’t you miss out.
From London cult cabaret legend Ursula Martinez, star of the Olivier Award winning La Clique, purveyor of the infamous hanky strip; to three time Helpmann and Green Room winner, Australia’s darkest singing angel, Paul Capsis, “in possession of a voice that sounds like an act of God” (Scotsman); to Miss Toni Lamond The Legend of Australian Variety, Order of Australia, Keys to the City of Melbourne, and declared by the Sydney Morning Herald as “The Ultimate Showgirl”, The Burlesque Hour mixes it up with the very very best stars of the stratosphere. Add to that internationally acclaimed Mistress of Grand Guignol Moira Finucane, Japanese electric shock butoh dancer Yumi Umiumare; the elegant iconoclast Maude Davey; smouldering circus siren Azaria Universe; the growing kitten-exploitation legend of wild dancers Kitten K.O and you have BURLESQUE HOUR … LEGENDS
Butoh residential workshop 2008
With Yumi UmiumareButoh Workshop The aim of this workshop on the Dee River, Yarra Valley was to develop body awareness and expression through a response to landscape. The lush landscape in Yarra Valley allows participants to move between bush land, hills, open fields and river, opening up the senses to color, texture, sound and form. Over the weekend, Yumi will introduce various methods of Butoh, Body Awareness and Consciousness of Well-being with various Japanese techniques. Butoh - Originating in Japan out of the turbulent protest culture of the early 1960's, Butoh has a literal translation of BU - dance TOH - stomping. Earlier named Ankoku Butoh (the Dance of Darkness), it is one of the major developments in contemporary dance in the latter half of the twentieth century.
"Butoh belongs to life and death. It is a realization of the distance between a human being and the unknown. It also represents man’s struggle to overcome the distance between himself and the material world. Butoh dancers’ bodies are like a cup filled to overflowing, one which cannot take one more drop of liquid – the body enters a state of perfect balance." USHIO AMAGATSU, Sankaijuku
ディス・オリエンタル DIS-ORIENTAL
ダンス・ソロ小作品。オリエンタル（Oriental)でありながら、方向がわからなくなって混乱する(ディスオリエントーDisorient)ことをタイトルでもじり、自らの移民生活をメタファーに創った作品。 日常品を使って非日常である現実を表現した動きは、コミカルで抽象的
ダンス・ソロ小作品。オリエンタル（Oriental)でありながら、方向がわからなくなって混乱する(ディスオリエントーDisorient)ことをタイトルでもじり、自らの移民生活をメタファーに創った作品。
日常品を使って非日常である現実を表現した動きは、コミカルで抽象的。舞台作品はシドニー、メルボルン、アデレードで公演され、ダンスフィルムとしてはイギリスのチャンネル４との提携で制作された。（２００４−２００７年）
批評抜粋
“舞踏と日本的な伝統を背景に持つうみうまれの信じられないぐらい強烈なソロでは、個人的で家庭的な細かい動きにでも、のすご い意味を持っているかのように客の集中力を引き込んでゆく。（中略）目の前に映るものは、心理的かつ感情的なことを熟考して積み重ねた動きやオブジェクト であり、その確たるものに裏付けられた中での変容ぶりに、私たちは釘付けにされるのである。”
シドニーモーニングヘラルド２００４年
パフォーマンス,映像公演歴
TimePlace
2007年OzAsia フェスティバル （アデレードフェスティバルセンター）
2006 年春のダンスプログラム、 メルボルンダンスハウスにてシーズン公演
2004 年プレミア公演
Once upon time at midnight ある真夜中に
Once Upon a Midnight is a Japanese/Australian rock musical. The script is bilingual, featuring seven Japanese performers and seven Australian performers. It follows the adventures of Kelsey Clarke and the warrior doll Nozomi as they journey to the Underground to liberate the monster world from the mysterious Angelica.
Once Upon a Midnight is a Japanese/Australian rock musical. The script is bilingual, featuring seven Japanese performers and seven Australian performers. It follows the adventures of Kelsey Clarke and the warrior doll Nozomi as they journey to the Underground to liberate the monster world from the mysterious Angelica.
The show was first performed at the Kijimuna Festival in Okinawa, Japan, and later appeared as a headline act at the OzAsia Festival in Adelaide, South Australia. It was a collaboration between the Kijimuna Festival, Flinders University Drama Centre and Adelaide Festival Centre.
Synopsis
Kelsey Clarke is very afraid. She is afraid of germs, she is afraid of traffic…even the toaster makes her feel very afraid.
Deep in the Underground, the monsters are afraid too. Angelica, the Blue Fairy, has flown into their world. No longer will the monsters be allowed to terrify unsuspecting children, no longer can they drink blood and dance the night away.
Powerless to confront Angelica, the Tengu — Lord of the Underground — has no choice but to find the world’s most frightened child and teach her to confront her fear. For timid Kelsey, this means putting on her best cardigan and plunging headlong into the monster kingdom — from murky swamps to haunted Ghost Roads!
With an enchanted doll and a vegetarian vampire to guide her, Kelsey touches her darker side. But is becoming her own nightmare any better than cowering alone under blankets? Can Kelsey summon the courage to find her true self, face her demons and stand against the magical Angelica? Or will the sun rise forever on a future where only the fearful survive?
Production credits
Publicity photo: Yoshiki, Ryan and Tweetles
Director: Catherine Fitzgerald
Choreography: Yumi Umiumare
Assistant Director: Momoko Iwaki
Costume Design: Oka Kazuyo
Dramaturg: Julie Holledge
Set Design: Naomi Steel
Design consultant: Mary Moore
Stills Photographer: Tomoaki Kudaka
Music consultant: Stuart Day
Sword Fight Choreographer: Tuyoshi China
Lighting Designer (Japan): Yoshimi Sakamoto
Lighting Designer (Australia): Fred Schultz
Stage Manager (Australia): Maj Green
Production Manager (Australia): Andrew Bailey
Set Construction (Australia): Glen Finch
Book Translation (to Japanese): Ken Yamamura with Yumi Umiumare Lyrics Translation (to Japanese): Ken Yamamura, Yumi Umiumare, Keiko Yamaguchi, and Mai Kakimoto
Produced by Hisashi Shimoyama, Artistic Director of the Kijimuna Festival, and Professor Julie Holledge, Flinders University Drama Centre.
Dis-oriental
Using everyday objects as metaphors of ‘loss’, while also collecting residential memories defined by a psycho-emotional space, Yumi takes on the notion of ‘oriental’ in the context of moving and living in “foreign” spaces. The work explores the cracks and spaces between disorientation / destruction & attraction / familiarities.
Winner of ReelDance International Dance On Screen Festival (2008)
Using everyday objects as metaphors of ‘loss’, while also collecting residential memories defined by a psycho-emotional space, Yumi takes on the notion of ‘oriental’ in the context of moving and living in “foreign” spaces. The work explores the cracks and spaces between disorientation / destruction & attraction / familiarities.
Inspired by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban’s emergency cardboard tubing house, Yumi explores the notion that a house, usually an object of permanence, could be specifically designed to provide momentary comfort.
Choreographed and Performed by Yumi Umiumare
Sound Design: Cat Hope
Lighting Design: Richard Vabre
Produced by Hirano Production
This work premiered at Performance Space as a part of Rakini Devi’s project, Women in Transit in 2004.
PERFORMANCE HISTORY
2007 SeptemberTheatre, Adelaide Festival Centre, OzAsia Festival
2006 OctoberSpring Dance program at Dancehouse
2004 July as a premier season of Woman in Transit
Film Project
Choreographed and Performed by Yumi Umiumare
Director Sean O'Brien
Writers Sean O'Brien Yumi Umiumare
Sound designer Darrin Verhagen
Producer Beth Frey
Production Company
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Arts Council of England Australia Council for the Arts Channel Four International Circe Films Pty Ltd
REVIEWS
“….Yumi Umiumare does incredibly intense solo in which her Japanese heritage and butoh dance background provide an irresistible focus for small actions on personal or domestic themes that hint at larger concerns……The transformations is riveting, powered by the knowledge that visual is built on layers of psychological and emotional considerations.”
Sydney Morning Herald 2004
Photo by Heidrun Lohr
DasSHOKU Hora!!
DasSHOKU suru is a Japanese term meaning to bleach, to strip off colour. Hora! in Japanese means Look Out! In DasSHOKU Hora!!, the third in the DasSHOKU series, Yumi and the DasSHOKU team strip back the candy-coloured surface of Japanese culture and tickle its hoary underbelly.
DasSHOKU suru is a Japanese term meaning to bleach, to strip off colour. Hora! in Japanese means Look Out! In DasSHOKU Hora!!, the third in the DasSHOKU series, Yumi and the DasSHOKU team strip back the candy-coloured surface of Japanese culture and tickle its hoary underbelly.
Yamamba, an ancient mountain hag who cannibalises those who stray too close, gives birth to twins the scientist and the businessman. Together they exploit a shallow world hooked on instant gratification and collective denial of the dark within.Yamamba mutates into Ganguro girl, the blonde, tanned Japanese icon of Shibuya subculture. At dawn she arises from her nocturnal trance dance to become Muijina, the kimono girl with no face. Then, pretty in pink as Hello Kitty! girl in the enjokosai ‘rescue relationship’ lounge she sells her panties to wrinkled lovers.
Creator / Performer Yumi Umiumare
Co-Creator/Performer Matt Crosby and Ben Roogan
Dramaturg Moira Finucane & Jackie Smith
Set Design Mary Moore
Costume Design ESS HOSHIKA LABORATORY
Sound Design Tatsuyoshi Kawabata
Lighting Design Dori Bicchierai
PERFORMANCE HISTORY
2006 May – June – Season at The Studio @ Sydney Opera House
2006 February – 2005 Green Room nomination
2005 November – World Premiere @ the Tower Theatre, Malthouse, Melbourne
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Please click here for technical specification and download the document
REVIEWS
“Wild extremes in fearless performance shock, fascinate”
THE AGE
“It is a bizarre mixture of butoh, grotesquerie and highly physical acting..”
Herald Sun
“.. Frenzied and stimulating, DasSHOKU Hora!! is at times both comic and confronting, but always compelling.”
Melbourne Stage on line
“Watching Umiumare dance butoh is like watching a stainless steel mannequin ram a knife into a toaster.”
Vibewire on line
Online Reviews/Previews
“Butoh’s difficult, non-naturalistic exploration of extremely physical emotionality is put into relief through the inventive and playful ironies of the cabaret tradition, and in the instance of DasSHOKU Hora!, the result is both frightening and energising.”
RealTime 71 February / March 06
“Umiumare is a thrilling and compelling performer”
melbournestage.com.au
“Cultural anthropology with sound production you can feel in your belly and visuals that will never leave you.”
vibewire.net
“Which way reality from here?”
theage.com.au
“a sight for the wicked”
theprogram.net.au
“Crazy crazy nights”
Atmosphere Harmonics for Lone Voice
The Burlesque Hour
From the frenetic house of Finucane & Smith - internationally acclaimed Queen of Cabaret Bizarre Moira Finucane and Patrick White Award winner Jackie Smith - the work that has created an international storm of sell out critical acclaim and won 6 Australian theatre awards for its provocative and astonishing images of gender, sexuality, power and desire.
From the frenetic house of Finucane & Smith – internationally acclaimed Queen of Cabaret Bizarre Moira Finucane and Patrick White Award winner Jackie Smith – the work that has created an international storm of sell out critical acclaim and won 6 Australian theatre awards for its provocative and astonishing images of gender, sexuality, power and desire.
The Burlesque Hour… SIZZLES! With a mind-cracking mixture of the old, the new, the unexpected, in the world’s most astonishing, most sizzling salon of showgirls with very sharp teeth!
Artistic & Performance Directors! Moira Finucane and Jackie Smith
Creators of the Burlesques! Moira Finucane and Jackie Smith
Azaria Universe
Yumi Umiumare
(Kitty’s World and Hebi Onna created in collaboration with Finucane and Smith)
Deluxe Designers! Sensational Set by Adrienne Chisholm
Luxe Lights by Marko Respondeck
Curvaceous and Crazy Costumes by David Anderson
Sonic Seamstress Darrin Verhagen
HOT ON THE HEELS OF A WORLD TOUR, THE SMASH HIT OF FESTIVALS EVERYWHERE RETURNED TO MELBOURNE FOR 4 SIZZLING SUMMER NIGHTS!
More information : http://www.moirafinucane.com/shows.html
Legendary iconoclast Maude Davey with her infamous and fabled strawberry act; Moscow circus trained circus and burlesque star Azaria Universe; Japanese butoh dancer and shock cabaret artiste Yumi Umiumare and guest artiste Clare Bartholomew’s Pierre – Magician and Love Machine!
Creating a frenzy amongst critics and audiences around the world, from Tokyo to Trieste, London to Ljubljana, Edinburgh to Croatia to the Opera House and beyond; The Burlesque Hour mixes vaudeville and variety, circus and sideshow, striptease and cartoon strip, boho and butoh, music hall, monologue and mayhem in a wild ride that hijacks Burlesque, explodes expectations, and delights and disturbs long after the carnival is over.
SELECTED REVIEWS
“Dramatic, original, effective, breathtaking … beyond genre: the cabaret variety set on fire, definitively”
Vecer News, Slovenia
“I thought I would have nightmare after seeing this show but it was a fantastically indecent and breath-taking night!! In this political time, this indecent and crazy event was so perfect to have at the old warehouse in Yokohama, where it was as if “evil place” in a famous action movie popped up for one night only”
Wander Distance Magazine Yokohama
“Intensive and hairsplitting physicality… it opens up a whole new world, a world of the surreal”
Dnevnik News, Slovenia
“Sexually emancipated, hilarious and kerosene fuelled… gender bending, bodice ripping, stereotype trashing, neo-circus cabaret madness”
Metro UK
“Every single artiste is wickedly entertaining, yet hugely different… saucier than your Edinburgh chippy … grotesquely addictive … with more than a tablespoonful of gothic sex appeal…”
Three Weeks UK
“Unmissable…The minds that inspired it are as sexy as the bodies that perform it… comic, erotic, dynamic, acrobatic… The Burlesque Hour is a night to remember and will retain its power to delight and disturb long after the carnival is over”
The Sunday Age
“From the sublime to the subversive, the hot to the hilarious… outrageous and unforgettable”
The Times, London
“… it was a fantastically indecent and breath-taking night!! Big applause!!”
Wander Distance Yokohama, Japan
“Prepare to be shocked and overwhelmed. Expect no less. Experience so much more. The Burlesque Hour is not for the faint-hearted, the queasy or the conservative. But even these types have to appreciate the entertaining spectacle for what it is. It’s difficult not to. These showgirls are polished and prepared to dazzle, from their go-go dancing routines right through to mad moments of nudity. Jaw dropping, feisty, seductive, dynamic. I suggest you grab a drink, sit back and allow yourself to be thrilled. Unmissable.”
Edinburgh Guide 2005
“The Burlesque Hour is a series of set pieces-lip-synching mimes, dances and commando acts- by an unholy trinity of fatale feministas : Moira Finucane, Yumi Umiumare and Azaria Universe.
Umiumare has a crazy sense of humour and an absolute devotion to her distinctive style of Butoh cabaret.”
Chris Boyd – Herald Sun, 19 July 2004
“The Burlesque Hour is succession of delights; short pieces devised and performed with enormous wit, style, intelligence and originality… ”
“…Umiumare is also funny as a schoolgirl stripper shedding multiple pairs of knickers, and starkly impressive, revealing and ascetic black costume beneath a rich kimono…”
Bill Perrett – The Sunday Age,18, July 2004
“Pain and pleasure in the art of the tease”
“The Burlesque Hour …, involves pungent commentary on gender, power, violence and desire.”
“Yumi Umiumare ..takes the pop culture icon Hello Kitty and makes a notion of demonstrating the evil flipside of this cute, demure creature which happens to lack a mouth..”
Thuy On The Australian, 19 July 2004
“Moira Finucane, Azaria Universe and Yumi Umiumare deliver powerful performance, drawing on contemporary popular song from the schmaltzy sob of love-gone-wrong, to hard-core thrash..” “Umiumare always pushes the limit when she perform…her most profound act was a sustained solo cloaked in orientalism, her body concealed then tantalisingly revealed..”
Hilary Crampton – The Age, 19 July 2004