Attune: DC ⇄ Kyoto

Overview
Attune: DC ⇄ Kyoto is a dance showcase featuring artists in the US and Japan. The work is an eclectic mix of contemporary and traditional styles. In “Waiting Room,” by Malcolm Shute, four dancers on a bench lean, shift, jerk, and twist with restless energy, reflecting the anxiety of waiting for bad news. In “Tsuru (Crane),” by Heidi S Durning, four dancers glide across the stage with paper cranes, twisting their fingers into beaks, and spiraling down to land. In Pebbles at a River's Edge, by Sylvana Christopher, three dancers gradually disintegrate, flow together, and recombine as a group. Kyoko Fujimoto will transform the Japanese Noh dance into a contemporary one by exploring the traditional stillness (Sei) and evolving it into detailed, active movement (Do). The dances offer an array of moods and influences.

As an add on to the showcases, you are invited to take part in workshops brought to you from Japan and the United States. These include a zazen meditation practice led by the head priest of a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, an introduction to the mesmerizing traditional dance form nihon buyo, and a contact improvisation experience. Contact improvisation is a US folk dance in which movers connect in close partnership, mutually leading each other. Participants in the Contact improvisation workshop will be invited to perform an improvised score during each evening performance of Attune.

Festival Schedule
Saturday August 29
5:30pm-6:45 Contact improvisation workshop
Participants are invited to perform an improvised score in both Attune evening performances.

8:00-9:15pm Attune performance

Sunday August 30
1:00-2:00pm Zazen meditation experience

2:30-3:45pm Attune performance

4:30-5:30pm Nihon Buyo workshop

6:30-7:45pm Attune performance

Artists
The festival features classes and performances by Sylvana Christopher/SylviDances, Stacey Yvonne Claytor/Claytor Company, Heidi S. Durning, Kyoko Fujimoto, Akifumi Mitsubayashi, Nozomi Nishitani, Kumiko Nonaka, Malcolm Shute/Human Landscape Dance, Daya Tomiko, and Tabata Vara/Totema Dance. Attune takes place Saturday August 29 through Sunday August 30, 2026, at the Dance Institute of Washington, 3400 14th St NW, Washington DC 20010.

Tickets
Please note, to attend a workshop, you must first purchase a ticket to a performance. On the ticket page, first choose a performance ticket; on the next page, you may choose your workshop(s). This helps to cover the costs of both workshops and performances.

History of Attune
Attune Movement Festival was created in 2016 by butoh artist Miyuki Kobayashi and Akifumi Mitsubayashi, director of the breathtaking Shinpukuji Buddhist Temple in Kameoka City, a short train ride from Kyoto, Japan. It has since become an annual festival of movement in Kameoka City Japan, Attune: DC ⇄ Kyoto is our inaugural production in the United States. 

To learn more about previous Attune Movement Festivals, visit https://attunemovementfestival.org/

Trailer for the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPkc_Ikw8Fg

Support
This event is supported by a grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.