Directed by Joan Laage (Kogut Butoh)

Live music by Tivitavi

Performed by Kea Tonetti, Maruska Ronchi, Elisa Tagliati, Gauri Silvia Fontana, Giulia Leuzzi, Marco Casiraghi, Veronica Vetrila, Ricardo Sarmiento Muñoz,  Aeryn Rock

Costumes designed by Joan Laage and realized  by Joan Laage, Veronica Vetrila, Marco Casiraghi

“Strata” layers the attributes of Chinese zodiac signs with ancient mythological figures. Drawing on imagery and structures from “Borderlines,” her earlier work inspired by Polish avant-garde director Tadeusz Kantor’s famous production “Dead Class”, Joan created this new piece with the creative input from the performers.

The performance was created during an art residency with Joan Laage at the Spazio Continuum in Milano and was performed  at the Sala Alma Rosè- Artepassante,  Repubblica, Milano.

Joan Laage (Kogut Butoh) studied under butoh masters Kazuo Ohno and Yoko Ashikawa and performed with Ashikawa’s group Gnome in Japan in the late 80s, and more recently, has enjoyed training with Atsushi Takenouchi. After settling in Seattle in 1990, she formed Dappin’ Butoh, a company known for its appearances in Seattle’s fringe theater and dance festivals. Joan has performed and taught at national and international butoh festivals, was a featured artist at the UCLA Butoh Symposium in May 2011 and has been an adjunct faculty at Cornish College of The Arts (Seattle). She is featured in Dancing Into Darkness: Butoh, Zen, And Japanand Butoh: Metamorphic Dance and Global Alchemyby Sondra Horton Fraleigh.She performs frequently at the Seattle Japanese Garden where she is a docent. Joan is a founding member of DAIPANbutoh Collective which produces an annual butoh festival in Seattle. In 2017 and 2018, Kea Tonetti joined Joan’s Earth Tomes Project with performances at Spazio NU in Pontedera, and along with Maruska Ronchi, Kea performed Joan’s new work “Three Little Pierrots” at Spazio NU. Joan presented her work “Rose” at Kea’s studio on an evening with solos by Kea Tonetti and Marek Jason Isleib. In 2019, Joan returned to Milano to direct the “Remnants Project” and to perform Two Little Pierrot with Kea, that they also performed for the Paris Butoh Festival 2019 at the Espace Culturel Bertin Poirée.