Aretha Aoki and Ryan MacDonald
Choreography by Aretha Aoki in collaboration with the performers,
with early creative contributions by Deborah Goffe
Performed by Aretha Aoki, Shaina Cantino and Alice MacDonald
Video and sound by Ryan MacDonald
Lighting Design by Christopher Akerlind
Wind in the Pines is an hour-long interdisciplinary dance piece that can be performed in both theater and gallery spaces.
Wind in the Pines weaves memoir, Noh theater, digital animation, sound and dancing to create an immersive excavation of a mysterious family past. Centering around Aretha Aoki’s Japanese family history during World War II, Wind in the Pines attempts to make the past feel present, despite language barriers, geographical and cultural distances, and the imperfection of memory. Multiple mediums, references and images create a space where history, fiction, imagination and embodiment can co-exist. Live and animated video projection references and embellishes the setting in the classic Noh play Matsukaze: a wintry beach, a forest of pine trees, a full moon. Two “sisters” dance almost entirely in mirrored unison in unwavering, almost telepathic, connection. A third dancer roams the edges, acting partly as stagehand and partly as agitator.
See calendar for showing dates.
(stills from animations by Ryan MacDonald)
Wind in the Pines was made possible in part with a research and development residency and support by Vermont Performance Lab and Studio 303 with support from New England Foundation for the Arts. Wind in the Pines was funded in part by New England Foundation for the Arts’ New England Dance Fund, with generous support from the Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation. Wind in the Pines is the recipient of generous residency and production support from the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought (SCDT) and Bowdoin College.
arethaaoki.com 