Sacred Movement, Painted Prayers

Ichinosuke Umekawa performs at the Mingei International Museum on Friday, October 16, as part of an evening titled Sacred Movement, Painted Prayers. The night runs from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at the museum's La Atalaya Foundation Theater, and it's built around two distinct parts: a live dance performance and an early look at an upcoming exhibition.

The first half is a Nihon Buyo performance by Umekawa, a dancer formally trained in both ballet and Kabuki theatre. He works in Japanese classical dance, bringing folk narratives to life through fluid grace and masterful expression. The second half shifts from the stage to the gallery: guest curator Meher McArthur leads an advance preview of Painted Prayers — The Japanese Folk Art Tradition of Ema, an exhibition dedicated to hand-painted wooden prayer tablets. McArthur's preview draws on her research into the connections between sacred visual art, human devotion, and performing craft.

Taken together, the evening sits at the intersection of living craft, tradition, and movement. You get the dance first, then a guided look at the objects that inform the tradition, with the curator walking you through the exhibition before it opens to the general public. It's a good way to see the two sides of the same tradition in one sitting—the movement on stage and the physical craft on the walls.

Tickets are $15 for members and $25 for non-members. The whole thing runs from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at the La Atalaya Foundation Theater inside the Mingei International Museum.