About
Ana is an independent dance artist/choreographer with a background in art and a wide range of dance styles. Since 1994 she has specialised in Butoh performing in UK and Asia. Work includes theatre, site-specific, cross art collaboration and dance film. She has performed in a wide range of venues besides theatres from churches, pubs, studios, streets to gardens and art galleries. Her films have been screened as part of Dancin Oxford and in Oxdocs International film festivals at Playhouse, Old firestation, Phoenix, Penultimate Picture Palace, castle walls.
Ana regularly teaches and choreographs with Café Reason Butoh dance theatre (www.cafereason.com).
She has also taught for Anjali open classes for learning disabled adults and children, choreographing pieces for galas at The Mill Banbury and Headington Theatre; and more recently for the charity Crisis teaching dance to homeless and vulnerably housed people. She is currently offering classes for dance for older people.
Ana is committed to creating opportunities for dance and is an active member of The Oxford Dance Forum. She has also set up regular sessions for cross art collaboration and organised informal platforms for works in progress by café reason and other dancers and artists.
In 2011 she received Lottery support through Arts Council England for development of her work exploring light, film and the ageing body.
A few background formative factors:
Gymnastics as a child
Studying art and history of art
Living in Lyon and studying contemporary dance with Claude Mazodier. Dancing with two different groups of fantastic busking African musicians during that year.
Dance busking solo for the first time in streets of England and Ireland.
Discovering contact improvisation via ‘joint work’ and ‘Motionhouse’
Living in Malaysia where I studied Indian classical dance (Odissi) at The Temple of Fine Arts and first studied and performed Butoh with Lena Ang as part of Taro Dance Theatre with Palani Naryanan and Janette Hoe.
Living in Indonesia where I watched and absorbed Javanese and Balinese traditional dance and music and practised regular movement meditatations with Susanna Miranti. Fortunate to experience opportunities created by Pak Prapto at Lemah putih with contemporary practitioners of Indonesian dance, theatre and music.
Attending as many Butoh workshops organised by Marie Gabrielle Rotie through London Butoh Network (Butoh UK) and others (including cafe reason) as possible. (Ko Murobushi, Masaki Iwana, Yuko Kaseki, Tetsuro Fukuhara, Minako Seki, Marie Gabrielle Rotie, Shinichi Momo Koga, Stuart Lynch, Ernst Fischer, Nick Parkin, Tadashi Endo, Katsuro Kan, Yukio Waguri, Sayoko Onishi, Itto Morita)
Work with Cafe reason -performing, teaching and co-directing projects.
Collaborations with improvising musicians through Oxford Improvisors -especially with Bruno Guastalla and Malcolm Atkins.