Barbara Bourget speaks at Speaking of Dance

At 58 years of age, Barbara Bourget still has the fire and passion for dance with the experience of setbacks, comebacks and achievements throughout her years. With no sight of retirement yet even after her hip replacement, she is a strong force and influence in the dance community along with her husband Jay Hirabayashi. She cofounded Kokoro Dance, in Vancouver with Jay Hirabayashi as a non-profit society in Vancouver, BC in July 31, 1986. Kokoro means heart, soul and spirit in Japanese. Kokoro dance is inspired by the Japanese modern dance form known as butoh. In her lifetime, Barbara Bourget has choreographed well over a hundred and fifty dances in which she hopes to revisit in time as each dance has had a meaning at the time they were created and produced. I had the pleasure of listening to her speak at the last Speaking of Dance lecture on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at the Vancouver Public Library.

When I walked into the lecture room, I saw a petite lady with auburn hair tied back wearing a pair of dark-rimmed glasses at the podium. A projection showing a slideshow of dance photos was being played on the screen behind her. She seemed very academic and conservative. I had to take a second glance before I noticed that the lady who was speaking was Barbara Bourget. I had remembered her from photos of Kokoro Dance when she was almost nude with a shaved head. She seemed larger than life in the performance photos. I had not expected a tiny lady in person who seemed rather covered up in her black long sleeve suit-dress. She talked about how being nude in some of Kokoro dance was not a way to titillate the audience but rather being in one's own skin gave the dancer the fullest body of expression. The dancers get into a transcendental state where the nudity doesn't bother them. The discomfort of seeing each other nude soon passes after one goes through a mourning of erasing ego and normal identity. They are aware of blemishes and that the human body is not perfect as one ages. Their purpose is to reflect the human condition. In order to perform butoh, the audience must be put into a receptive mode. A dancer must only exist moment to moment of the performance. She talked about one dance where she stood still for several minutes. With this quiet stillness, the audience and her start to be one.

I was also quite interested in how a dancer goes into a transcendental state. In one example, she imagined that she was holding an unborn fetus in one arm and how that fetus was in fact her in order to be put her mind into the state needed to execute every movement with care. Imagery seems to be a very important tool. She mentioned that a dancer moves incredibly fast inside. What seems like days could be mere minutes in realtime. A good dancer resists the facism of conformity. She also mentioned three important attributes to be a good dancer. These attributes are commitment in the art, discipline in the form and enthusiasm. When asked about how her age has affected her view of dance now, she admits she's adapted with age and looks at things differently. Recovery is longer and may take her a couple of days to recover from a performance compared to the next day when she was younger. She hopes her body holds up.

Barbara Bourget's lecture ended with a question and answer about Vancouver International Dance Festival (VIDF). The slideshow behind Barbara had shown beautiful images from all types of dances during past Vancouver International Dance Festivals. At one point, her husband Jay Hirabayashi was flying high off the floor with wings looking white and glowing like an angel. She pointed up at her husband and said "Jay" to the audience seeming to show her love and adoration. The audience was silent for a few seconds staring at an image of flight and freedom. She is married with four children and two grandsons. She and Jay started VIDF with the hopes of bringing dances from other places to Vancouver and to heighten the art of dance. Vancouver International Dance Festival is at its 9th season this time from March 3-April 4, 2009. She hopes it'll be around to reach its 10th season next year.

Speaking of Dance is a lecture series part of an outreach program by DanceHouse.