Production Details

Land of Kamuy - Soil & Soul
The dance piece “Soil and Soul’ is part of the performance “Land of Kamuy” which is based on the myth of the Ainu tribe, the indigenous people of Hokkaido, Japan. Their profound respect for “Kamuy”, the spiritual god of nature, I discovered the sanctity and beauty in their rustic living. This performance represents their faith, ritual, and devotion to Kamuy. Expressing their sacredness through the performance based on the folklore of Kamuy, collaboration with the Butoh movements, traditional dance and storytelling, poetry unifies film and animation. Also this project is the message from the Kamuy, to protest against environmental destruction.

「Land of Kamuy」はアイヌ民族に語り継がれる神話をベースに彼らが信じる自然の神”カムイ”への信仰と生活、儀式と祈りを語り部が導くストーリーと共にカムイの神秘と自然の美しさをコンテンポラリーダンスと舞踏で表現、民族舞踊、音楽も含めフィルム、アニメーションがコラボレーションしたマルチメディアパフォーマンスです。「Soil and Soul」はダンスパフォーマンス「Land of Kamuy」のなかの１シーンです。
大自然が広がる土地、北海道。日本の最北端に位置するその土地には昔からアイヌ民族が生活している。彼らは万物に宿る神KAMUYを信じ、尊び、祭り自然と共存した暮らしをしていた。かつて北海道は自然の神が住む土地「Land of KAMUY」であった。同時に作品はカムイからのメッセージとして、自然保護の願いも含まれている。

Ranko Ogura Dance
Ranko Ogura Dance (ROdance) was established in 2008 and is based in the Bay Area. The initial impetus was for the company to be a platform  for artistic director, Ranko Ogura to explore the Japanese soul dance Butoh. She was particularly interested in the Butoh’s practice of Noguchi Taiso Technique that explores gravity and creates an earth-bound grace to inspire her artistic journey of dance-making. Through its performances, ROdance promotes environmental preservation. ROdance has performed at venues throughout the Bay Area and has toured to nine different cities in Japan. The company also conducts Butoh, Noguchi Taiso workshops.

Artist Biographies

Ranko Ogura (Artistic Director)
Ranko was raised with Japanese traditional arts/cultures and the spirit of harmony with nature formed the foundation of her artistic consciousness. She explored the Japanese soul dance “Butoh” and appreciated the mentality of the Japanese spirit in Butoh’s philosophy and movement. Butoh inspired her artistic journey of dance-making as it fuses Western and Eastern cultural roots. She paticipated to the Festivals and many local events. Also she was awarded San Francisco Art Commission 2023. She performed in NYC, toured in Japan and conducted the Butoh-Noguchi Taiso workshops. Through her performances, she promotes environmental preservation.

Sharon Coleman (Writer, Storyteller, Dancer)
Sharon Coleman is a Bay Area contemporary dancer who has performed with Ranko Ogura Dance in Hamon, ring on water and in the Watershed Poetry and Ecology Festival. She also choreographed and danced in site-specific pieces for the Watershed Poetry and Ecology Festival and created pieces for Broad Statements and Word/Move dance and poetry festival. She studies water Butoh with Ranko Ogura and contemporary dance with Andrew Merrell. She is a published poet and writer, teaches creative writing at Berkeley City College and co-directs the Berkeley Poetry Festival.

Pauli N. Amornkul (Dancer)
Pauli N. Amornkul, MD, MPH, is privileged to return to Ranko Ogura Dance. Pauli is an award-winning performing artist who has worked with over a dozen theater companies, three dance companies, SF Opera (supernumerary), recorded two original cast CDs (Min Kahng, Bay Area Children’s Theatre), and has had the rare opportunity to dance at Davies Symphony Hall. Offstage roles include: physician/epidemiologist, Asst. Prof. UCSF medical school, ice cream addict. May this piece inspire us toward ever-evolving behavior change. #gratitude.

Adele Uchiyama (Dancer)
Adele Uchiyama-Cadorette, a native of San Francisco, California, has a background in contemporary dance with experience in performance, choreography, and improvisation. She has engaged in solos as well as collaborations and particularly enjoys exploratory movements within experimental contemporary dance forms and contact improvisation. Currently, she is broadening her interests into the dance form of butoh, delving into the exploration of dance that emerges from within.

Anthea Colot (Dancer)
Anthea Colot, a Parisian dancer, captivated European audiences before relocating to the Bay Area. Collaborating with local talents in San Francisco and Berkeley, she merges modern dance with diverse artistic influences. Preferring movement over words, she channels Isadora Duncan's ethos: "The dancer's body is simply the luminous manifestation of the soul." Anthéa embraces dance as a boundless expression, sharing her passion across artistic realms."