The KCAI Crossroads Gallery: Center for Contemporary Practice is pleased to present Wind in the Pines by Aretha Aoki & Ryan MacDonald (‘08 Painting & Creative Writing). Aoki and MacDonald will be artists-in-residence from mid-October through early-November and will present two performances and install a related exhibition in the galleries, as well as engage with KCAI students. Wind in the Pines is a project of the Center for Contemporary Practice program at the KCAI Crossroads Gallery.

Wind in the Pines is an hour-long interdisciplinary dance piece that weaves memoir, 3D animation, sound and dancing to create an immersive excavation of a mysterious family past. Centering around Aretha Aoki’s Japanese family history during World War II, it attempts to make the past feel present, despite language barriers, geographical and cultural distances and the imperfection of memory.  Multiple mediums, references and images create a space where history, fiction, imagination and embodiment can co-exist. Live and animated video projection embellishes the setting in the classic Noh play Matsukaze: a wintry beach, a forest of pine trees, a full moon. Two “sisters” dance almost entirely in mirrored unison in unwavering, almost telepathic connection. A third dancer roams the edges, acting partly as stagehand and partly as agitator.

Aretha Aoki is a choreographer, performer and teacher originally from unceded Coast Salish territory (Vancouver, B.C.) and currently residing in Wabanahkik, Maine.  Her research as a choreographer is grounded in improvisation and collaboration with artists both within and outside the field of dance. 

Aoki’s work has been performed at the Kraine Theater, Judson Church and Danspace Project in New York City, Portland Ballet Theater in Portland, Maine, School for Contemporary Dance and Thought and the Academy of Music in Northampton, Mass., Brooklyn Studios for Dance and many others. She was the dance consultant for the theater production of Babette’s Feast (2018), which premiered at Portland Stage in Portland, Maine and had an Off-Broadway run at the Theater at St. Clement’s in New York City. 

Performances:

Friday, October 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Please note seating will be limited for these performances

Exhibition:
November 1 – November 27, 2019
Opening Reception: 
First Friday, November 1 from 6 - 8 p.m

Wind in the Pines  

Aretha Aoki & Ryan MacDonald
Choreography by Aretha Aoki in collaboration with performers
Performed by Aretha Aoki, Shaina Cantino and Alice MacDonald
Video and sound by Ryan MacDonald
Lighting design by Christopher Akerlind