Body Weather Laboratory

OGURI and BODY WEATHER LABORATORY Dancer/choreographer Oguri is one of the foremost exponents of the contemporary dance movement known as Butoh. Trained in Japan, his career began in 1984. He has been based in Los Angeles since 1991 and has been offering classes entitled Body Weather Laboratory (BWL). BWL strengthens the growth and understanding of Butoh, which utilizes in-depth study of nature assource material for dance. BWL has been in residence at the Electric Lodge in Venice since 1997 and supported in part by OGP since 1999. In 1993 BWL formed a dance company and has conducted workshops and residencies.BWL tours and performs locally and internationally. COMMUNITY BWL is in residence at the Electric Lodge located between the Oakwood and Milwood neighborhoods at 1416 Electric Avenue in Venice. BWL workshop participants, ages 11-65 years, have included artists, dancers, psychologists, arts programmers, actors, scientists, filmmakers, singers, musicians, designers, photographers & architects and are internationally and ethnically diverse -- Middle Eastern, Asian, European et. al. Since 1999 BWL has received support from the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Dept. for "Earthbeat" a project which focuses on audience development and arts education. "Earthbeat" projects have reached out to all people in the Venice community from beachfront residents to the homeless. In planning "Earthbeat" projects,BWL has worked with The Venice Community Center, Venice Arts Mecca, Venice H.E.A.R.T., S.P.A.R.C., Beyond Baroque and the Abbot Kinney Merchants. In "Earthbeat" 1999, Oguri and Adam Rudolph performed, taught classes and led post-performance discussions, free of charge, at the Electric Lodge.In 2001, a residency with sculptor Stephen Glassman produced an interactive dance sculpture. "Earthbeat" 2002 featured musicians Nels Cline and G.E.Stinton. It expanded our project cross-town by inviting Eastside locals to the Westside to work with dancers Oguri and Jamie Burris. In 2003 & '04 we worked in Little Tokyo at the Japan America Cultural and Community Center. Performances and workshops by artist Hirokazu Kosaka, composer Wadada Leo Smith and Oguri were well attended and led to good reviews and a new group of workshop participants. Earthbeat performances and workshops have been mostly free of charge and have served the community in Venice and Downtown LA.In "The Flower of the Season" '04-'05 we began a relationship with the literary community at Beyond Baroque in Venice sparking new collaborations and performances with writers and poets. Audience surveys from projects guide us in our continued work and scheduling. The early BWL program at La Boca attracted a broad audience from all over the city and stressed the importance of culture enhancing lives. Drift, the piece created for Grand Performances (formerly California Plaza) was invited back four times. This led to the 1997 commission through the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Arts Partners Program for a project which explored audience development with open rehearsals and question/answer sessions. BWL has a continuing commitment to deepening communication between performer and audience.BWL has presented international performers including artists from Japan and Europe: dancers Min Tanaka and Christine Quoiraud and composer Yas Kaz. BWL hosted residencies for dancers Eiko and Koma, Butoh's legendary Kazuo Ohno and Yuko Kaseki. BWL has working relationships and exchanges with many artists, schools and organizations including the JACCC, UCLA, Cal State LA, USC, Highways Performance Space, Anna Halprin at Mountain home studio, Farmlab/UNDER SPRING, and The Electric Lodge.