What draws us together as people and separates us again is an untamable force of nature. Understanding the futility of clinging to the idea of permanence does not seem to dissuade us from hanging on, blindly daring to live and love in spite of this knowledge. Is it obstinacy or heroism that drives our desires?

The motivation to make emulsion is at heart to pay homage to my two greatest heroes of contemporary dance who have both passed away this yearmy sensei Kazuo Ohno, and Pina Bausch.Divine connection /decay, and intimacy / isolation are underlying themes in the work of both. By combining these dissonant states, emulsion will explore the relentless repetition and impermanence of any one condition and celebrate the confusing bliss of the active spaces between.

WHY
From 1994 to 2000 I was a student of Kazuo Ohno’s and part of the last group to study with him and he remains a guiding force in my creative process. During that time as his student, I met Pina Bausch and her company at Ohnos studio.That meeting left a lasting impact on me that is hard to define, yet it brought my interest back to my roots in western contemporary dance.The loss of them both in the last year has left a great void in the contemporary dance world.Both were pioneers of two very different dance forms, yet they were contemporaries and friends.In essence I think they shared a common artistic goal.

Using their common underlying themes, Emulsion will unite – momentarily – two forms fundamentally opposed in theory.Butoh reaches to the ground for guidance; western dance, for the sky.Or asAkram Khan put it, in western culture we wear our chaos on the outside, and in eastern culture we wear our chaos on the inside. I feel inspired to create something which explores these differences.

Just as inspiring is the opportunity to bring together as many former students of Kazuo and Pina as possible and offer a platform where they can pay homage.The idea for emulsion slowly began to percolate this winter as these events have brought back together many of the students and friends from around the world. Its a chance to create something together again and celebrate the ways our lives have been touched by knowing these wonderful dancers.

HOW
The concept for emulsion has two parts. In the first part a set group of dancers are choreographed by two accomplished and divergent former students of Ohno and Bausch, Maureen Freehill and Nina Dipla.In the second part a collection of former students will send their own 30 second film homage that we then edit together in a scrolling mosaic.

Musically, emulsion will be contained within an original deconstructed version of Handels Sarabande. Its timing will be manipulated, stretched and compressed like taffy, yet true to the original structure and melody with four parallel, symmetric sets of sixteen bars. Each musical set of sixteen will be further represented by a season, and be layered with ambient recorded samples from nature, acoustic and electronic instruments, and the sounds of the dancers movements and breathing.

Visually the scenes will be set in four environments which reflect through seasonal elements the idea of nature victoriously overpowering man-made structures, the weather, water, animals and plants, invading the walls and floors of an old building blurring interior with exterior. The costumes will be designed to feel delicate and fragile, to accentuate the vulnerability of dancers bodies to the elements. The scenes choreographed by Nina Dipla will be shot in France and Germany, and the Scenes choreographed by Maureen Freehill will be shot in Japan.