Ken Mai: Solo Works

Solo"Vigan Bhairav" 覚醒の深みへ
Duration 55min.
Premiered at Chile International Butoh Festival in Santiago, Arica in Chile 2018.
Performed at Höyhentämö in Helsinki 2019.

Photo by Hugo Angel G

Solo"Requiem Of Flower"花の鎮魂歌
Duration 45min.
Premiered at Seattle Butoh Festival/Apr.2017.
US Tour- Seattle-Portland-Asheville-Chicago-&Warsaw, Poland -Helsinki,Finalnd 2017.

Photo by Sandee Johnson in Asheville,US.

Solo "XESDERCAS"
Choreographed and dance by Ken Mai.
Assistant performer: Sanni Aliisa(Helsinki),Shiraz Pertev(Paris) and Satu Tapanainen(Wroclaw,Poland).

Photo by Jaime Culebro,Laura DG,Kazimierz Zdzieblo.

Solo work "SACRIFICE/生贄" -
Choreographed and dance by Ken Mai.
Assistant performer: Tui Berg. Premiered at MART Gallery in Dublin/Moving body butoh festival.
29.May.2015 and has also performed at Teatro Espace in Torino,Italy.
19.Jun.2015/Moving body butoh festival- At CCA in Glasgow,Scotland /UNFIX festival,and Hoyhentamo Theatre in Helsinki/29.30.Sep & 01.Oct.2015.
Photo by Pihta Alina.

Solo work "Dhayana/ Meditation/静慮 -Premiered at Paris Butoh festival
16 & 17.May.2014.
At Espace Culturel Bertin Poiree in Paris,France and it has been touring Amsterdam-Trino Italy,Dublin,Cork Ireland,Glasgow Scotland,Heslinki Finland and Firenze,Italy!
Review!

Marvelous and deeply moving honoring

Butoh enters into direct communication with the past better than any other dance, including the governing forces of those destined for paradise as well as those roaming the darkness. This is the amazing experience that Ken Mai made us live, a Japanese dancer and choreographer based in Helsinki since 2006. At the beginning of the performance Dhyana, nothing foreshadowed what was going to happen next, the dancer coming out of darkness to invoke the kami, the deities of nature and the creative forces of the universe in the Shinto religion; he symbolized the woes of a tree violently agitated, bruised, tortured by the storm gods, crowned by a light of fire.

In the second image, we find him up side down in the center of a circular flower bed, legs apart, hands on his sex opening like a flower, symbolizing the birth of life with refined eroticism, accompanied by Indian music of ineffable sweetness. But following the cycle of life, we can soon see Ken Mai in the guise of a teenager full of delicacy and unspeakable serenity, his eyes filled with tears of love and compassion, to the extent that we seemed to re-live, through this quasi- divine expression, some disturbing images of the Argentina incarnated by Kazuo Ohno in his time. Then gradually, this paradisiacal vision is erased by that of an old man with emaciated body, sickly, deformed, ravaged by the all the sufferings of mankind yet lively with an unwavering hope.

In the third image we see him reappear wearing a long white skirt, radiating intense happiness in a moving way, with the dance and voice thanking the celestial beings for the life they gave him and the beauty of the world that they let him get a sense of.

The amazing thing about this artist is his ability to evoque his intentions with extraordinary accuracy and, more importantly, great strength. Of course, he is completely impregnated with the art of Kazuo Ohno and Hijikata who's work he perfectly assimilated and now teaches in Finland. But he completed his teaching with a through study of German Expressionism, particularly those of Kurt Jooss , Mary Wigman and Harald Kreuzberg, who greatly influenced butoh. The interpenetration and the combination of these two art forms have doubtlessly allowed him to exacerbate the intensity and power of his art.

Text and Photos by J.M. Gourreau.

Photo by J.M.Gourreau.

"Our Lady Of The Flowers" Premiered at Antic Teatre in Barcelona. 28.May.2013.

Hoyhentamo in Helsinki.
26 & 27.Nov.2013. Assistant Mari Imppola.

Photo by Paul Takahashi and Joona Lehtinen.

Photo by Stefania Vara and Jorge Gareis.

"Prayer of the heart" at Koko Theatre in Helsinki!!! Premiered 14.Sep.2012 & 15.16.Sep.
Supported by Samuel Huber Art foundation.

Photo by Vanessa Riki.

Poem of Phenomenon Premiered at Paris Butoh festival/19.Jun.2012.

Sarzana Butoh festival/14.July.2012.

Barcelona Butoh festival/10.Nov.2012.

Warsaw,Poland/30.Nov.2012.

Helsinki,Finland/3.4.5.Dec.2012.
Special guests: Anu Kaaja & Mari Imppola.

This human body is called a city with eleven gates/Premiered at NOD
Roxy/23.Jun.2010/Praha,Czech Republic.

Plasy Monastery/13.July.2010/Plasy,Czech Republic.
Supported by Ministry Culture of Czech Republic.

Wegajty International Theatre Festival/02.Aug.2011/ Wegajty,Poland.

Koko Theatre/09-16.Sep.2010/Helsinki,Finland.