“Their solos of slowed-motion popping and constricted bodies merged into unison movements of mutual pain. Two different cultures and worlds found their dance of darkness together.” --thinkingdance.net
Flash, a duet choreographed, written and performed by Rennie Harris and Michael Sakamoto, combines their dual approaches to manifesting a body in crisis. The work is conceived as a “conversation” between the artists’ respective aesthetics (hip hop and butoh), cultural backgrounds (African American and Japanese American) and personalities. Hip hop and butoh were both born from marginalized, postwar urban subcultures, and each embodies a philosophical approach to the creation of cultural identity through dance. Flash is an interdisciplinary performance project combining butoh and hip-hop dance, multimedia and other theatrical elements to address the intersection of urban and environmental crisis, social resistance and identity.
