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Programme II

New Butoh Artists series 02

at Kunstquartier Bethanien, Studio2 des ITI

We are delighted to introduce four new Butoh artists.
Two of them are 4RUDE dancers who have appeared in several of our productions. The other two have studied Butoh for many years through 4RUDE's classes and workshops.
For this special and daring evening, they have been challenged to create a short solo Butoh piece. These creations are based on Hijikata’s Butoh-fu method and 4RUDE’s Butoh theatre technique, as well as the artists' own experiences of Butoh.

This evening, we will also be presenting a short performance by Maco.


Solo Butoh: Adina Mohr, Rareș Grozea, Julia Kühn, Yaz

Special appearance: Maco

Artistic director: Hikaru Inagawa


Total running time: about 75 min (No breaks)

  • Solo 1

    The Rug  Julia Kühn (12 min)

    A childhood nightmare. An impenetrable rug - are there voices of people? chattering? - unreachable, unpassable. The Rug becomes a metaphor, an unpiercable membrane between the unattainable other. Can it be heard, can it be seen? An inability to connect, separation embodied through density. 

    Music by A Silver Mt. Zion, Ahmad Kaabour
  • Solo 2

    Petal — 花弁  Yaz (13 min)

    On the earth where memories are buried, petals fall — damp decay feeding life’s return. As the dead nourish the soil, blossoms bloom again. Beneath the beauty of life, fear lurks. In the fold of Obon, death takes new form — becoming tree, girl, grandmother, and the fleeting arrival of returning spirits. 

    Music written by Jules Williams and Yaz, produced and mixed by Jules Williams
  • Solo 3

    Paper Heart Adina Mohr (12 min)

    as we live on, we carry our experiences like imprints and writings on paper. some will fade, some will stay for long. time unfolds and stretches like an infinite trail. our heart might take no part in saving memories, yet every touch sinks in and stays like ink, blue and black, not removable, dyes the water behind the eyes. 

    Music by J. Huthmacher
  • Solo 4

    Burial at Sea  Rareș Grozea (18 min)

    The end is the beginning. A body wrapped in a shroud floats gently towards the bottom of the sea. But something is wrong. The spirit refuses to pass on, and the sea spits it out, refusing to hold it. Burial at sea is a piece about this refusal. It follows a dead body passing through a succession of funeral rites and transformations, as it tries to find peace.

    Music by Ego Store
  • Solo 5

    Special Appearance: Hiroshima (Original Version)  Maco (19 min)

    A mass of melted, deformed flesh slowly collapses and thins, until the bones are laid bare. In time, only the senses and nerves remain, brushing against fragments of memory—before finally dissolving into dust, and vanishing into nothingness. This piece was first performed at the Possible Memories Festival organised by Tatwerk Berlin in 2015.

    Music by Kay Shiero

Meet the Artists

Adina Mohr was born in Bucharest and is based in Berlin. She has trained with 4RUDE since 2017. 2018: First appearance in 4RUDE production Lichtblitz at Theater im Delphi. 2019: First solo Butoh performance Talkshow and co-performer in Das Leben eines Narren at Theater im Delphi. 2021: Co-performer in Das Sein – Ruinen. 2022 and 2023: Co-performer in Empty Stare. 2023: Co-performer in Nosferatu – Hommage from a Butoh Perspective at Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg. She will be appearing in the New Butoh Artist series for the second time, following her appearance in 2019.

Rareș Grozea is a performer and writer based in Berlin. They are currently working towards a PhD in English Literature. They began training with 4RUDE in early 2020. They have performed in 4RUDE’s pieces Das Sein (18-21 Nov. 2021), Butoh-Fu “Hans Bellmer” (10 Sept. 2022), Hommage an Nosferatu (20, 22 April 2023), Empty Stare (5-8 July 2023), and 1m2no (work in progress, January 2024). Outside of 4RUDE, their works include Sustenance (29 November 2024, duo with Yaz), Solitary (30 January 2025, solo), and Tribute to the Angels (23 August 2025, solo).

Julia Kühn studied amongst others the theory of performativity as well as east asian art history at the University of Heidelberg. She was early influenced by a theoretical approach towards performance art, which was the initial seed from which her engagement with butoh could grow. In 2020 she participated for the first time in a butoh workshop (Flowers) held by 4RUDE. Happy to finally encounter the practical side of butoh she continued practicing with 4RUDE. Since around one year she joins regularly training in their advance class. From that point Julia is looking forward to continuing her journey with 4RUDE.

Yaz (Yasuyo Uemura May) is a multidisciplinary artist and hairstylist. After over a decade as a hairstylist and band collaborator, she expanded into conceptual sound and body movement, creating sound for Berlin Fashion & Art Week performances (2023). Encountering 4RUDE (2018) and returning consistently (2022), their Butoh training shaped her embodied awareness, which she continues to cultivate. Her works, including Sustenance (2024) and No Longer Bone, No Longer Breath (2025), address life, death, corporeality, and collective memory. She is part of the non-profit record label careof.co and represented by slt.space.

Past Artists

Series 01 (2019)
Anja Binder, Bratan Bratanov, Adina Mohr, Carmen Lafran, Manuel Breuer

 

Photo:Peter Zach

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