Naked Stages 2007

In a time when environmental issues are so highly abstracted and politicized, The Survival Pages invites you to reconnect, viscerally, with the ecological good sense of what it means to survive. Using Butoh Dance, original music, video, and found-object puppetry, Naked Stages 2007 performance artist Malia Burkhart journeys into the roots of our human disconnection from the natural world. Smell the dirt as Malia unearths her relationship troubles with the planet through humor and beauty.

"The Survival Pages is about a piece of nature—myself—investigating itself as a piece of nature. An intrinsic element in the development of this piece has been exploring the Minnesota environment and seasons through Butoh, a postmodern form of Japanese dance. When immersed in the experience of the dance, my senses are heightened; the layer of separation between myself and my environment becomes permeable. The messages I received throughout the course of these explorations form the basis of this piece. " —Malia Burkhart; creator, performer, The Survival Pages

Malia Burkhart’s work in puppetry is best known through her work with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater, through community projects such as the Mayday Parade, as well as mainstage productions including Gyre, Gotama, and Come to the Well. Ms. Burkhart’s performances in Butoh Dance have included Beware of Falling Coconuts, Remembering Rachel Corrie in Minneapolis, and Bone Moon with choreographer Ken Mai in Osaka Japan. Malia is a 1994 graduate of the arts high school at the Perpich Center for Arts Education. She graduated with a BA in Studio Art and “Art as Community Activism” from the Paracollege at St. Olaf College in 1998, with additional studies in Performance Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996. Most recently, Malia studied techniques in found object puppetry through workshops with London’s Improbable Theater offered through the Walker Arts Center last spring.

Naked Stages 2: November 8-10, 2007 at 8 PM
Malia Burkhart's The Survival Pages
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