CAVE Gallery
CAVE, the current home of LEIMAY, opened as a gallery and performance space in 1996. CAVE gallery featured 70 visual art exhibitions with 300 artists while also featuring live music and performance art. CAVE Gallery became well-known as a locus for experimentation in all mediums. Here, away from heavy commercial pressure, in an environment that supported exploration, artists were able to present work ‘nakedly’ by offering raw works charged with the spirit of the avant-garde. In addition to studio arts, openings often included music and other kinds of performances. From Japanese painter Naoki Iwakawa to No wave band DNA bassist Tim Wright, European sculptor Villu Jaanisoo, draughtsman David Opdyke to hundreds of known and unknown artists for ten years, CAVE gallery aggressively combined all manner of media, and each opening was a welcomed attack on the senses.
New York Butoh Festival
LEIMAY presented and produced four editions of the N.Y. Butoh Festival. Over 100 artists from Japan, Sweden, Germany, France, Colombia, and the U.S. were presented; 8,000 people attended various sold-out events. The first festival in New York was dedicated solely to the emerging international form called Butoh, which originated in post-World War II Japan and has grown into a worldwide movement. This festival celebrated the global evolution of this form and supported both emerging artists and established masters. The New York Butoh Festival hosted international and national artists in a series of performances and workshops at various venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The New York Butoh Festival brought many Japanese artists to New York and the United States for the first time to teach and perform. Masters like Yoshito Ohno, Akira Kasai, Ko Murobushi, Yukio Waguri, Masaki Iwana, and Yumiko Yoshioka were among the influential artists that made this a global festival and a hub for the continued international development of Butoh.
SOAK
SOAK presented a cascade of AcTs and training in theater, Butoh, dance, music, and performance art every Spring over four weeks for six years. SOAK broadened the perceptions of LEIMAY artists and audiences with work that was experimental, rigorous, and thought-provoking. The festival showcased finished and in-progress work by international, local, and fellow artists, and blended them together in a melange that inspired audiences, invigorated the artists, and stimulated the community surrounding LEIMAY’s activities. SOAK programming included performances, classes, workshops, and lectures.
The New York Butoh Kan Training Initiative
Established in 2008, New York Butoh Kan (NYBK) was an effort to strengthen resources for studying Butoh and Noguchi Taiso in New York. The NYBK Training Initiative was the first and only program of its kind in the United States; it facilitated rigorous physical training and enriched students with the first-person historical context of Butoh from international masters. The NYBK endeavored to set forth an integrative training opportunity for the dancer, actor, and interdisciplinary performer, creating a platform for the future development of new work. It was the only program in the United States dedicated to the intensive study, exploration, and expansion of the practice of this potent contemporary form, which challenges conventional definitions of dance/theater. The Noguchi Gymnastics Method is a base technique for Butoh training. It encompasses philosophy and a set of exercises developed by Michizo Noguchi in the 1960s. It is based on a unique concept of perceiving the human body as a sack of water (skin) in which the bones and organs float. The NYBK brought for the first time to the USA, Noguchi Taiso teacher Mari Osanai and hosted a direct student of Michizo Noguchi, Imre Thorman, along with a selected group of first, second, and third generation of Butoh masters.
The NYBK Training Initiative was a catalyst for developing LEIMAY’s Ludus Practice.