Happy Spring 2022!
I would like to share with you that we will premiere Trooper’s Brother at Roulette on June 14-16 in 2022.
Trooper’s Brother started in 2018 at Puppet Lab at St. Ann’s Warehouse. One of my dancers, Anna Vomacka encouraged me to put my thoughts into my dance and we started to explore movements by manipulating objects from body parts with Takemi Kitamura, Leah Ogawa, and Anna.
Our long exploration has shifted into questioning the ownership of the body, embracing our bodies, and celebrating our bodies. Here is one-minute footage from Trooper’s Brother.
I hope you can come and witness this piece.
Choreographed and directed by Nami Yamamoto
In collaboration with
Takemi Kitamura, Leah Ogawa, and Anna Vomacka
Lighting Design by Kathy Kaufmann
Costume Design by Nina Katan
June 14-16 (Tuesday – Thursday) 8 pm
$20 online/$25 at door
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue
(Entrance on the Corner of Third Avenue; Accessible Entrance on Atlantic Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Before going to Roulette…
I am a BAC (Baryshnikov Arts Center) Open Resident in 2022. I am very excited to be in BAC for the final development of Trooper’s Brother.
After going to Roulette…
I am performing Jessica Jackson Hutchins’s Restless Animal Kingdom at MASS MoCA on June 25th, 2022. I performed for Jessica in March 2020 just before everything got shut down. It will be nice to be reunited with their crews.
Nami Yamamoto, from Matsuyama, Japan, holds an MA in Dance Education from New York University and a BA in Physical Education from Ehime University. Her work has been funded by Creative Capital, Jim Henson Foundation, Creative Engagement by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, City Artist Corps, and others. She has been nurtured and inspired by her residency experience at Movement Research, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, New Dance Alliance, and Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography. Her work, Headless Wolf (2017) received The New York Dance and Performance Awards, (the Bessies) for outstanding production. While her studio creation was on pause in 2020, she has created dance films,powerless creature keeps going…documented at East River Park. In 2021, she was a Gibney DiP Resident Artist and an Artist in Residence at CPR – Center for Performance Research to develop her piece, Trooper’s Brother. She will be at Baryshnikov Arts Center to develop her final phrase of Trooper’s Brother in June. Nami enjoys teaching dance at NYC public schools through Dance Makers Program at Movement Research.
Trooper’s Brother is inspired by my experience going through multiple surgeries with Dr. Deborah Axelrod at NYU Langone Medical Center. She is a breast surgeon who dresses up as a kitty cat on Halloween. My relationship with her changed from calling Dr. Axelrod to Deborah throughout my diagnosis process. My observations and interactions with Dr. Axelrod, her nurses, receptionists, surgical coordinators, and colleagues are my inspiration to create this work.
Trooper’s Brother was developed at St. Ann’s Warehouse Puppet Lab with Matt Acheson and Lake Simons as Lab Co-Directors at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY, in 2019. Trooper’s Brother was created, in part, with a space grant in 2019 from BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange with support from the New York State Council on the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the Jerome Foundation, and the Howard Gilman Foundation. Trooper’s Brother was also supported, in part, by CPR – Center for Performance Research’s Artist-in-Residence program in 2020-21, which is made possible, in part, through the National Endowment for the Arts and Dance/NYC’s New York City Rehearsal Space Subsidy Program, an initiative made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Nami Yamamotoresearched, developed, and honed Trooper’s Brother with financial, administrative, and residency support from Dance in Process at Gibney in 2020-21. Nami Yamamoto also received NDA/New Dance Alliance’s LiftOff Creative and Project Development Residency in 2020-21 to develop Trooper’s Brother. Trooper’s Brother will be developed in part during a residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, NY. Trooper’s Brother is supported by Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.
2020
What a year… I hope everyone is safe and well.
It’s hard to talk about what I did or what I have done in 2020.
I took the time. I tried to be present. I tried to listen.
One thing that kept me going was taking small video footage to document my routine at East River Park. I created small dance videos, powerless creature keeps going. I have created four (April, May, Fall, and Winter) so far.
You can find my other videos here.
In 2020, I attended a lot of meetings. I met new people and connected through zoom. I even performed through zoom. PSOH – virtual!
(Presented by Center for Performance Research, Performance Studio Open House
Stuart B Meyers, Lu Yim, and Nami Yamamoto shared an evening of experimentation on October 22, 2020.)
I taught a 15 minutes dance class for K, 1st, 4th and 5th grade through Dance Makers at Movement Research.
There were some new and inspiring opportunities in spite of what happened.
2021
My residency at Center for Performance Research is extended to 2021. I will be performing Performance Mix in Spring 2021. In May, I am going to the DiP residency at Gibney Dance Center. I am hoping to see my dancers, Takemi Kitamura, Leah Ogawa, and Anna Vomacka to compose/decompose our piece,Trooper’s Brother.
Although I enjoyed meeting people virtually, I miss a live performance. I miss seeing shows, being backstage, and feeling light. I miss rehearsing with people. I just love to be in the studio, a creative space together.
Happy Holidays and I hope everyone is well. I will never forget 2020 and I look forward to welcoming 2021.
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Trooper’s Brother is inspired by my experience going through multiple surgeries with Dr. Deborah Axelrod at NYU Langone Medical Center. She is a breast surgeon who dresses up as a kitty cat on Halloween. My relationship with her changed from calling Dr. Axelrod to Deborah throughout my diagnosis process. My observations and interactions with Dr. Axelrod, her nurses, receptionists, surgical coordinators, and colleagues are my inspiration to create this work.
Nami Yamamoto, from Matsuyama, Japan, holds an MA in Dance Education from New York University and a BA in Physical Education from Ehime University. She received The New York Dance and Performance Awards, (the Bessies) for outstanding production of Headless Wolf in 2018. She has been inspired by her residency experience at Movement Research, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography. Her work has been funded by Creative Capital, Jim Henson Foundation, Suitcase Fund from Dance Theater Workshop, and others. She is a Space Grantee in fall 2019 at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Gibney DiP Resident Artist in 2019-2020, and an Artist in Residence in 2020 at Center for Performance Research, and receives Satellite Residency Program in 2020 at New Dance Alliance to develop her current work, Trooper’s Brother. Currently, she teaches at New York City public school through Movement Research’s Dance Maker’s program.
Dance Documentary Project in 2020- powerless creature keeps going… My days are up and down. Somehow following my routine keeps me going these days. Documentation started on April 5th. That was the first day that I was finally able to let my body move. I am just documenting and making myself alive. I feel powerless…, but I am trying to accept and embrace my powerlessness. Things changed so much, but maybe nothing changed in me. I am not sure. |
