Last night at the Youngstown Cultural Center in West Seattle, the crowd was treated to a
very deep and emotionally moving experience. Dancers for the Aerial Butoh Dance
company - Cara Ross Bergman, Mary Cutrera and Helen Thorsen - were absolutely
fantastic in their interpretation of a story inspired by a Lakota Indian creation myth,
entitled “Wind Cave.” The performance delivered by Sheri Brown, the story’s 4th
character and heroine, is absolutely stunning, and solidifies the stellar, mysterious, and
haunting depiction of the myth.
The performance involves a very impressive audio-visual experience, with a creative and
innovative set, including aerial banners, where the dancers perform stunning acrobatics
that visually match the unique lighting design, and sonically, the impressive traditional
Lakota soundtrack, perfectly. The first two thirds of the 70-minute performance involve
two women, apparently stunned and disoriented by the powerful celestial powers
affecting and contorting them, at times overwhelming them, and at others causing them
to writhe and convulse violently on the floor in the most intriguing ways. One can easily
imagine a natural background, both from the set which includes trees and branches, and
the soundtrack, which includes authentic sounds of nature, to accompany the chants
and haunting sounds of the Lakota tribal culture. The dancers (Thorsen and Cutrera) at
times appear to be possessed by a light calling out to them, and at other times converge
in several cocoon-like positions, clearly representing, birth, re-birth, and creation. They
are watched and overseen by a loving and kind “earth mother” (Bergman) who protects,
rescues, and revitalizes them at different moving points in the story.
The costumes are very well done, highlighted by the “earth mother’s” veiled, virginesque,
matrimonial, and glittering dress, combined with Brown’s silk, flowery dress, expressing
and symbolizing the flower of youth and rebirth simultaneously. The makeup also
expertly reveals extremely vivid facial expressions that brilliantly convey the awe, horror
and joy the characters experience. Nowhere is this more clear than during the final 25
minutes, when the story’s heroine (Brown) appears with a light, swiftly flowing and joyful
dance, immediately followed by a gut-wrenching, at times robotic, and at others chaotic,
display of bodily contortion and emotion that clearly shows how the youthful character is
forced to experience the pain and anguish the other two older women had experienced
earlier, before she can ultimately reunite with them, guided by the earth mother, and form
a new, perfectly-shaped and all-encompassing human being. Brown’s performance is
unforgettable, as is the entire production.
Tickets can still be purchased for $18 at the door for tonight’s culminating show.
Also see : https://windcave.brownpapertickets.com or DAIPANbutohCollective.com