This performance is one of the highlight program of Butoh Season 2014, organized by Soubi Sha, Japan Foundation KL, and co-organized by Tunku Abdul Rahman Uni. College, with special co-operate with Keio University Art Center, Butoh Laboratory, Japan.

Date: 13 & 14 June 2014

Venue: klpac, Pentas 2

Time: 8.30pm

The original author The Strange Tales Pu Songling (Qing Dynasty) said that maybe only the ghosts or the foxes in the dark forest can understand him well.

Reminiscence. The World of the Strange Tales dance performance was choreographed, and directed by the acclaimed Butoh master Yukio Waguri from Japan, which based on the world-famous Chinese  short story  The Strange Tales. Master Waguri will also be performing on stage together with the local dancers! This performance is not only presenting the mystery world of ghosts and spirits, what most important thing is that through the series of the ghost stories, the  choreographer and dancers are trying to explore the human nature, and projecting the real human society, revealing out of this world good and evil for the final liquidation , and hoping for a new life!

This performance has been performed successfully in last year in Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong as a tour. In addition, with the generous support from Japan Foundation, this performance was also held by Soubi Sha in a form of work-in-porgess in Kuala Lumpur last year on the National Day under the circumstances of insufficient funds. However it was a big succeed presentation, which the performance received an enthusiastic responses from the audiences. And this year, it is honor of Soubi Sha to invite Master Waguri again and to present the full-length version in Kuala Lumpur!

The performance has gathered local Malay, Chinese, and Indian dancers to perform together. Other than this, Master Waguri also combined Butoh, contemporary dance, and traditional dance elements in his creation in order to create a different style and new way of dance; this will be a major highlight of the performance.

Maybe the audience is generally think that  Butoh shows darkness , ugliness and grotesque side, but Reminiscence. The World of the Strange Tales is different, it tries to reflect the different faces of Butoh , also tries to explore the humanity from the darkness .And more importantly, how to find a light in a darkness , honesty,  goodness and beauty. We sincerely hope the audiences will be able to absorb the love and beauty.

* Soubi Sha will donate the profits from the ticket sales profit of the show to Tunku Abdul Rahman University College’s Student Centre Fund for  Students Study Center  new building construction .

聊斋志异之作者蒲松龄（清代）曾说或许唯独深居于幽暗森林的鬼狐能看透他的内心…

《子夜.聊斋》舞剧由日本著名的舞踏大师和栗由纪夫根据闻名于世的中国短篇小说《聊斋志异》的内容编舞、执导兼将与本地舞者携手演出！舞剧的内容不只呈现《聊斋》里的亦真亦幻、亦人亦鬼的奇幻世界；更重要的是编舞者及舞者透过《聊斋》探讨人性及人心，投影人间的真实社会，揭示出对人世善恶最后的清算、及对人生重新开始的憧憬。

《子夜.聊斋 》舞剧，原名为《我心追忆。聊斋志异之世界》， 于去年成功在台湾、澳门及香港成功巡回上演。此外，在制作经费不足的情况下，此舞剧幸得日本基金会赞助某部分经费并由蔷薇的带领下，日本和马来西亚的成员（包括大师和他三位来自日本的女舞者， 以及十三位本地化、巫、印舞者）成功地在于去年的国庆日在吉隆坡举行了一场示范性演出，得到观众的热烈回响。而蔷薇舞踏舍（蔷薇）今年更有幸再次邀得和栗大师特地忙中抽空前来吉隆坡完成完整版的演出！

此舞剧邀请了本地华、巫、印侨舞者偕同参与演出。舞剧不只呈现舞踏元素，大师更大胆尝试融合现代舞及传统舞蹈元素，以创造不一样的舞蹈风貌，并试图找出舞蹈艺术一个新的途径，这将是此舞剧的一大亮点。

或许观众一般认为舞踏旨在呈现黑暗、丑陋和怪诞的一面，但《子夜.聊斋》除了旨在呈现不一样的舞踏面貌，也试图从黑暗中探讨人性，更重要的是如何在黑暗之处寻找光明、真、善、美。希望观众能从我们的演出感受到爱与美。

** 蔷薇将会把《子夜.聊斋》的售票盈利捐献给拉曼大学学院作为建造学生的学习中心。

The fox lady 狐女, performed by Yuka Esumi (Japan). Photo by Senteruo

The scholar is traveling in the deep forest, “am I dreaming?” 

书生夜里在黑暗的森林游走，这是梦吗？

Dancer: Leng Poh Gee 舞者：林宝旭    Photo by Senteruo 照片：森特路

舞剧融合了传统印度舞蹈 Traditional Indian dance element combined in the piece.  Photo by Senteruo

More informaiton:

Yukio Waguri's Talk: Ankoku Butoh @ AMP, KL Malaysia

Yeow Lai Chee

Founder of Soubi Sha, the producer and the dancer of Reminiscence. The World of the Strange Tales 

蔷薇创始人、《子夜.聊斋 》制作人兼舞者：姚丽洙

Photo by Chen Wee Ling, Kelan Shashi

ABOUT YEOW LAI CHEE (Founder of Soubi Sha & Dancer )

“Butoh is the body, Butoh is the spirit, Butoh is NOW.”

Started her performance career since 2004 as a vocalist and dancer for local musical production (Musical on Stage), also a lecturer teaching Public Relations.

She learned Butoh from Lee Swee Keong in 2009, as a core member in Nyoba Kan until 2011. She further learned from Butoh master Yukio Waguri from Tokyo who is the Butoh founder Hijikata Tatsumi’s main disciple for three years.

She performed a series of Butoh performances with local and international artists in her homeland Malaysia, and other countries including Thailand, China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

She set up her own Experimental Butoh company, Soubi Sha in 2012, which aims to promote Butoh in Malaysia, to explore new Butoh methods, and to collaborate with different genre of dancers and artists.

姚丽洙 蔷薇舞踏舍创始人、舞者

“舞踏是肉体、舞踏是精神、舞踏是当下”

于2004年 开始舞台生涯，曾参与本地的自在音乐工作室制作的音乐剧的舞蹈及歌唱演出，目前也是拉曼大学学院的公共关系讲师。

2009年加入马来西亚唯一的舞踏团体寿板，跟随李瑞强学习舞踏。随后向日本舞踏大师土方巽直系弟子和栗由纪夫学习舞踏谱三年。

与国内外的舞者在各地包括她的祖国马来西亚、泰国、中国、香港及澳门携手演出。

于2012年建立自己的实验性的舞踏公司蔷薇舞踏舍，旨在祖国发扬舞踏艺术，探讨及尝试研发新的舞踏方式，以及与各类艺术工作者及舞者携手创作。