An Evening with Aretha Aoki and Ryan MacDonald

Join Aretha Aoki and Ryan MacDonald for an evening of experimental performance and behind-the-scenes conversation about their lives as professional artists who blend dance, music, and theater. Together with their daughter, Frankie Mayfield, they will share segments of their new show, IzumonookunI.



IzumonookunI is a multidisciplinary and multigenerational dance inspired by Izumo no Okuni, 17th century founder of the Japanese dance-drama form, kabuki—a form that currently contains little trace of its female-centric, grassroots, counter-cultural origins. Choreographer Aretha Aoki and sound and visual designer Ryan MacDonald are re-imagining Okuni in conversation with post-punk/glam-goth/dark-wave within a hybrid, contemporary landscape of live synthesizer, digital design, dance, and taiko drumming. IzumonookunI premiered at the Bates Dance Festival in July 2024.