Choreographed and Directed by Vangeline*

Performers:
Azumi Oe
Margherita Tisato
Sindy Butz
Kelsey Strauch
Kana Takahashi
Zhixuan Zhu (Miki)
Vangeline

Music:
Ray Sweeten

Scientific Advisors:
Sadye Paez
Constantina Theofanopoulou

Lighting Design:
Ayumu Poe Saegusa

Stage Manager:
Martha Lorena Preve

Technical and Production Manager:
Anna Wotring

Ms. Zhixuan Zhu (Miki)’s solo is choreographed by Zhixuan Zhu (Miki).

Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in Japanese butoh. She is the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute (New York), a dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese butoh while carrying it into the twenty-first century. With her all-female dance company, Vangeline’s socially conscious performances tie together butoh and activism. Vangeline is the founder of the New York Butoh Institute Festival, which elevates the visibility of women in butoh, and the Queer Butoh Festival. She pioneered the award-winning, 15-year running program The Dream a Dream Project, which brings butoh dance to incarcerated men and women at correctional facilities across New York State.

She is the recipient of the 2022/23 Gibney Dance in Process Artist Residency; the winner of a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award; the 2015 Gibney Dance Social Action Award, and the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London. She is also a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellow in Choreography for Elsewhere.

Vangeline’s work has been heralded in publications such as the New York Times (“captivating”) and Los Angeles Times (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”) to name a few. Widely regarded as an expert in her field, Vangeline has taught at Cornell University, New York University, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Sarah Lawrence, and Princeton University (Princeton Atelier). Film projects include a starring role alongside actors James Franco and Winona Ryder in the film by director Jay Anania, 'The Letter" (2012-Lionsgate).

In recent years, she has been commissioned by triple Grammy Award-winning artists Esperanza Spalding, Skrillex, and David J. (Bauhaus). She is the author of the critically-acclaimed book: Butoh: Cradling Empty Space, which explores the intersection of butoh and neuroscience. Her work is the subject of CNN’s “Great Big Story” "Learning to Dance with your Demons.” She is also featured on BBC’s podcast Deeply Human with host Dessa (episode 2 of 12: Why We Dance). www.vangeline.com

Sadye Paez is a Fellow at the New York University’s Center for Ballet and the Arts and a Senior Research Associate in the Neurogenetics of Language Laboratory (Erich D. Jarvis) at The Rockefeller University, studying the neurobiology and genetic basis of why humans dance. She is also currently the science communications director for the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP), which aims to generate near error-free reference genome assemblies of all ~70,000 living vertebrate species. Sadye’s specific research efforts with these genomic projects focus on the sixth mass extinction and conservation. Sadye’s early training as a physiotherapist and biomechanist laid the underpinnings for her current work in understanding the evolution of dance. She earned her undergraduate and master degrees at the University of Central Florida in Micro and Molecular Biology and Physiotherapy, respectively, and her PhD in Biomechanics/Human Movement Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill). She was previously an Assistant Professor in Physiotherapy in the Schools of Medicine at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill. Decolonizing science by addressing the principles, processes, and practices that shape STEM culture is Sadye’s passion. She is currently an inaugural chair of the justice, equity, diversity and inclusion committee for the EBP. She is involved with Women in Science at Rockefeller (WISeR); she has also participated in Science Saturday, a STEM festival for K-8 students and their families. Sadye is also a competitive Latin dancer.

Constantina Theofanopoulou is an Associate Research Professor at Hunter College, City University of New York, a Visiting Associate Professor at Rockefeller University. She is interested in understanding the neurobiology of social communication, in complex human behaviors, such as speech and dance. In her trajectory so far, she has led and collaborated in studies ranging from behavioral neuroscience to comparative genomics. Her studies have been published in impactful scientific journals (e.g., Nature, Proceedings of Royal Society B) and her findings have attracted media’s interest worldwide (e.g., Science), while she has been invited to give ~60 lectures, including at Harvard Medical School and Columbia University. Dr. Theofanopoulou has received more than 20 awards for her scientific studies, including the distinction in the Forbes 2021 list of the 30 most successful scientists under the age of 30. Dr. Theofanopoulou is also actively involved in the dissemination of science to the general public and in inspirational speech (e.g., speech at the University of Yale, TED talk), as well as in the support of underrepresented minorities in science. She has served as STEM mentor in the New York Academy of Sciences, teaching Life Sciences to elementary and middle school students in underserved communities throughout NYC, and in 2021, she was voted networking coordinator at the Council of the Rockefeller Inclusive Science Initiative. Lastly, Constantina is a flamenco dancer, having performed in many solo and group shows worldwide; in 2012, she was awarded with the first prize of the Spanish Dance Society.

Ray Sweeten aka Barragan-Sweeten (b. 1975) is a visual artist & sound maker based in New York and Rhode Island. He has performed and screened works at Moma/PS1, San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, New York Film Festival, Anthology Film Archive, Issue Project Room, Participant Gallery, Microscope Gallery, The Kitchen, Roulette, and toured throughout Europe as a member of Fabrica Musica. He has released music as f13 on Beige Records as The Mitgang Audio on Suction Records. In 2010 he co-founded DataSpaceTime with visual artist Lisa Gwilliam and has exhibited, performed, and screened works at Centre Pompidou, Parish Museum, City Center NY, Microscope Gallery, AS220, Next Festival at BAM, Florida Atlantic University, and Cica Museum. He has taught at Guggenheim Museum and was guest artist faculty at Sarah Lawrence with L. Gwilliam. DataSpaceTime is represented by Microscope Gallery in NYC.

The raw value of live performance is what fuels Butoh dancer azumi O E. Mesmerizing, shocking and playful movement is choreographed with meticulous timing, conspiring a visual relationship between the inner and outer human dimensions. Azumi wields her physical form as an expression and exploration of full individuality routed by the notion of collective oneness.Following eight years with New York-based company Vangeline Theatre and as Assistant Choreographer/Principal Dancer for Butoh Master Katsura Kan, azumi O E makes a continuous effort to exceed artistic constructs. She regularly develops experimental projects through solo pieces and collaborations with artists of various mediums. Notable co-operative works span video art and live performance with contemporary visual artist MARCK; composer Takuya Nakamura, “Impulsive Instrument” with Bassist Sean Ali, and upcoming duo with bassist Tim Dahl. www.azumioe.com

Sindy Butz is a German-born interdisciplinary visual and performance artist, Butoh dancer, somatics science researcher, and fabricator living and working in New York City.

She is the founder and artistic director of Ash River Studios, an art and design house based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Butz immersive artworks, installations, and endurance performances were exhibited worldwide in museums, galleries, and theaters such as the Brooklyn Museum, Queens Museum, New Museum, Museum der Dinge Berlin, Theater for the New City, Dixon Place, and Princeton University. She was featured by the Marina Abramovic Institute, Hyperallergic, and the NY Times. Currently, she is working on her upcoming installation for the opera project Black Lodge by composer David T. Little and libretto Ann Waldman, for Opera Philadelphia.

Butz is a certified BodyMind Dancing™ and FlemingElastxx® instructor, Butoh-, Chi Kung- and Dynamic Embodiment Practitioner™. Sindy has been a principal dancer of Vangeline Theater from 2010 to 2018 and joined the New York Butoh Institute faculty in 2016. She has trained extensively in Japanese Butoh dance, Noguchi Gymnastics, and Katsugen Undo with Vangeline, Yoshito Ohno, Semimaru of Sankai Juku, Natsu Nakajima, Mari Osanai, and Tetsuro Fukuhara, among others.
She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Visual Arts from the academy AKI Enschede (Netherlands) and a Master's Degree in Art Science from the University of the Arts Berlin, Germany. She concluded her postgraduate research with a renowned DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) scholarship at the New York University, Interactive Telecommunication Program in wearable art and assistive technology.

Margherita Tisato is a dancer, teacher to teachers, movement enthusiast, and a passionate changemaker. She has been dancing and teaching since she was 17 and leading yoga and meditation classes, workshops and teacher trainings for over a decade.
In New York since 2006, she is a principal dancer with Sokolow Theater/Dance Ensemble, Dances We Dance, and works with Dances by Isadora et al. Margherita started studying Butoh with Vangeline in 2007, becoming a principal dancer with the Vangeline Theater in 2008 until 2017, and has been training regularly with other prominent Butoh Masters, making Butoh an integral part of her artistic and spiritual practice. She teaches butoh workshops internationally.
Margherita is known for creating Trauma-informed spaces for transformation. She facilitates a range of experiences spanning from meditation, yoga, and somatic movement to dance, Butoh, and body suspension. Other educational offerings include experiential workshops in anatomy, pain science, embodiment, and trauma theory. Notably, she has been a guest speaker at the University of Nebraska and the Transart Institute Creative Research Ph.D. program with Liverpool John Moores University. She co-taught Sokolow repertory and technique classes at Loyola University in Chicago, Williams College in Massachusetts, and Ailey-Fordham in New York. She has taught in prisons and addiction recovery programs in NYC since 2015, and she’s currently working on a research grant on Embodiment and Addiction through the University of Nebraska Rural Drug Addiction Research Center.

Kelsey Strauch is a visual and movement artist based in Brooklyn. With a BFA in painting from the University of Oregon and completion of the Professional Track program at New England Center for Circus Arts in Brattleboro, VT she has toured extensively as a professional circus artist specializing in object manipulation. Growing up in Montana she developed a deep relationship with the natural world that she carries into her visual and movement art. Most recently seen at the Metropolitan Opera in Philip Glass's 'Akhnaten' as a member of the juggling ensemble. Kelsey is honored to be collaborating with Vangeline. Her first Butoh performance was with Tetsuro Fukuhara's 'Tokyo Space Dance' as a part of Future Fest in 2013. Kelsey has worked in Film, Television, Editorial and Commercial work throughout her 10 years in NYC. More notably she has worked with Rick Owens, Cirque du Soleil, Orange is the New Black, CBS Sunday Morning, Real Simple Magazine, Rodney Smith, Snarkitecture, LA Opera and The Metropolitan Opera to name a few. She is currently signed with State MGMT.

Kana Takahashi, originally from Saitama, Japan, is a NYC-based dancer/actor. Her favorite theater credits include South Pacific at Midtown Arts Center and West Virginia Public Theatre, Miss Saigon, Hair, Pippin, Oklahoma!, Unto These Hills, Six Strings Sonics (Fringe NYC), and War+Lovers (off-Broadway). As a dancer, she has performed for John Cage Centennial Festival, ALDEN MOVES Dance Theater, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Ailey Citigroup Theater, MuSE, and Azul Dance Theatre, among others. She received her certificate of dance from the Ailey School. She also holds a Single Sword Stage Combat certification by SAFD and a Flexibility Specialist certification by IFPA. kanatakahashidance.com

Zhixuan Zhu (Miki) was born in China in 1999. She lived in China for the first two decades of her life and is currently studying in the United States. Miki is an artist, movement explorer, spiritual researcher, and Buddhist devotee. She was born in a traditional Buddhist family, which made her fascinated by the occult from an early age. Her dance work is also associated with it. For example, one of her dance pieces, "Simulated summoning," presented the process of permitting an Evil Serpent God to enter her body. Despite the potential pitfalls of these creations, she was still drawn to dark, borderline spiritual dance. In 2021, she graduated from Beijing Normal University with a BFA in Dance (minor: Literature). During her undergraduate years, she received complete and broad dance training, which included modern dance, ballet, contact improvisation, Chinese classical dance, folk dance, Laban, and Alexander Technique. These extensive dance training experiences have made her a dancer with excellent movement texture and solid spiritual expression. Currently, she is a second-year student in the Master of Fine Arts in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis at Duke University. Because she found that dance practice has largely subdued the essential aspects of spirituality in embodied performance practice, this has led to her research interest in repairing the natural connection between dance and spirituality. She also hopes that dance can be an effective and direct way for people to heal from the trauma inside. Ultimately, her wish is for world peace and for people to love dance forever.

Ayumu Poe Saegusa (Lighting Designer) started stage lighting design in 2000 in Tokyo. He moved into NYC in 2005 and became resident lighting designer of HERE.  He also works as a Freelance lighting designer for various type of shows from NY Fringe festival to Lincoln Center Festival in various countries from Japan to Europe. He is a good collaborator for multimedia opera show and all sorts of puppet shows. His credit for opera shows including “Looking At You” (directed by Kristin Martine at HERE in 2019), “Book of the mountains and Seas” (By Basil Twist at Copenhagen in 2021, at St Ann’s Warehouse in 2022). He funded Creative Machine Stage Lighting LLC in 2016. (www.Creativemachine.lighting)

Martha Lorena Preve (Stage Manager) is a Mexican multi-disciplinary theater artist. She is the co-founder of the female led hispanic theater company Something from Abroad, that has residency with Frigid NY. She has played different roles for the company: producer, director, playwright and performer. She has worked as a Stage Manager for Chelsea Theatre, Hartbeat Ensemble, Chelsea Factory and The San Diego Repertory Theatre and as a Stage Manager and Assistant Stage Manager for three Off Broadway shows at the Theater Center. Her most recent work Pastorela was staged at the Lucille Lortel Theatre as part of the Tinsel festival. You can see her company's Days of the Dead festival this coming fall at Frigid NY. She is thrilled to be working with Vangeline and this team of amazing dancers.

Anna Wotring, (Technical and Production Manager), Pittsburgh native, is a community minded dance artist, designer and production stage manager committed to the practice of collaborative leadership. She currently works with Annie Heath, Lauren Horn, Jennifer Nugent and slowdanger as a technical design consultant, dancer, and production stage manager. Wotring obtained her BFA in Dance, at the Five College Dance Department in Western Massachusetts. She has had the privilege of working with a multitude of dance organizations, including Alvin Ailey Studios, Attack Theater, Ballet Des Ameriques, BalletNext, Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Company, the Dance Conservatory of Pittsburgh, Dance Place, H2O Contemporary Dance, Monica Bill Barnes and Company, New York Live Arts, the Pillow Project, Prayers of the People, RoseAnne Spradlin, Scapegoat Garden, Time Lapse Dance, and many others. Wotring is beyond excited to begin working and imagining with the Trisk team. @annaissupercool

The Slowest Wave is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

About The Rockefeller University
The Rockefeller University is one of the world's leading biomedical research universities and is dedicated to conducting innovative, high-quality research to improve the understanding of life for the benefit of humanity. The university’s 70 laboratories conduct research in neuroscience, immunology, biochemistry, genomics, and many other areas. A community of 2,000 faculty, students, postdocs, technicians, clinicians, and administrative personnel work on our 16-acre Manhattan campus. Our unique approach to science has led to some of the world's most revolutionary and transformative contributions to biology and medicine. During Rockefeller's 121-year history, our scientists have won 26 Nobel Prizes, 25 Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards, and 20 National Medals of Science.

We respectfully acknowledge that the work of Triskelion Arts is situated on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of Lenapehoking, the homeland of the Lenape peoples. We pay our respects to their land, water, and ancestors, past, present, and future. This acknowledgment demonstrates a commitment to the process of working to dismantle the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism and to learn to be better stewards of this land.