Calendar of Events

The Salish Sea Butoh Festival proudly presents:

* A LIVE PERFORMANCE GALA *
with master dance artists from Japan, Europe and New York City

at the USO HALL on the grounds of Fort Worden State Park

7:00pm Doors open || 7:30pm SHOWTIME

A ONE-NIGHT ONLY SHOW featuring stage performances by:
Katsura Kan from KYOTO, JAPAN
Yuko Kaseki from BERLIN, GERMANY
Jacquelyn Marie Shannon from BROOKLYN, NY

This is a production of the second-ever Salish Sea Butoh Festival in Port Townsend, Washington. It highlights master artists of the 1st generation of Butoh from Japan along with 2nd and 3rd generation artists from all over the world performing on the same stage. All ticket purchases include admission to a post-show reception with complimentary refreshments and a chance to meet and talk to the artists.

About Butoh:

Butoh is an avant-garde dance movement that originated in Tokyo, Japan shortly after WWII. It is characterized by physical movements that tend towards the earth and the subconscious. Butoh, which is influenced by and incorporates elements of Surrealism, Dada, French Existentialism, German Expressionism, Japanese theatre, and eastern spiritual thought, was developed in the late 1950s and 1960s through experimental collaborations between its founders Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno. Their work established Butoh as disciplined and rigorous, yet spontaneous and idiosyncratic, intellectual and experimental, yet grounded in the human body. Instead of aspiring to an aesthetic ideal, Butoh reveals the primordial human being and the inner world. It implies total presence where dance is an expression of being in the world as well as containing the world within oneself. It grows from themes such as dreams, ghosts, androgyny, nature, solitude, and the natural cycles of life and death.

Thing is a 3-day music and arts festival located at historic Fort Worden. This includes a mix of music, comedy, visual arts, speakers, and highlights from STG’s education and community programs. The festival’s focus on new and up-and-coming performers and focus on diversity creates an environment where all are represented and feel welcome.

Headliners include Modest Mouse, Father John Misty, and José González.

Thing is an all ages event; children 12 and under get in for free.

“A pretty relaxed affair, and that’s not a bad thing. In fact, that’s part of the allure.” –The Stranger

Tickets and more information here.