Japan takes center stage on Sunday, July 16, with two local events standing out among the nationwide celebrations to honor 120 years of migration between Mexico and the land of the Rising Sun.
Zapopan’s massive Plaza de las Americas (facing the Basilica) hosts the Konoha Fest from noon to 8 p.m., featuring a cornucopia of all things Japanese, including exhibits, cultural demonstrations, workshops and conferences. All are welcome and admission is free.
At 7 p.m. that evening, Yumiko Yoshioka, a world-renowned Japanese Butoh dancer and choreographer, presents the second part of her “100 Flowers” trilogy, inspired by Garcia Marquez’s novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” at the Teatro Alarife Martin Casillas (Av. Alcalde 1351).
In this piece, Yoshioka dances the life of a unique creature, born on a planet 100 light years away from ours. Imagining itself to be the only one of its species on that planet, it enjoys its existence until it realizes its destiny: to exist in solitude.
Butoh dance is a postmodern movement in which formal dance technique is eschewed in favor of primal and idiosyncratic movements. Says Yoshioka, “Butoh for me activates divergent body energies that are usually not seen or permitted in our daily life. In other words, as our body is a receptacle of time, we can evoke its forgotten memories through dance.”
She describes “Before the Dawn” as a “dance of metamorphosis, where darkness melts into brightness … Creatures hidden in our forgotten memories joyfully start to revive. Something grotesque yet strangely beautiful grabs our attention. We can’t help but be captivated by this strange force, a source of darkness and light.”
Entry to Sunday’s performance is free.