Event Overview
Dance Performance and Lecture on the Burns Archive Collection
Visit Resobox’s exhibition of 19th century photographs of Japan from the Burns Archive, and view the subjects of rice, silk and tea from an entirely new perspective. There will be a short nihonbuyo dance performance by one of our senior students, Yoshiko Furuse before the lecture. Then, Helen Moss will take a look at the products and the photographs represented in this exhibition from different angles, including the aspects of ritual, manual processing, and the rapid industrialization that took place during the Meiji era.
* Complimentary sake will be served!
About the Burns Collection
The Burns Collection was established in 1975 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, a New York City ophthalmologist and photo-historian. The Collection focuses on unique images not available elsewhere, and has been generally recognized as the most important private comprehensive collection of early photography. The Burns Archive, with over a million historic photographs, is best known for images of the darker side of life – death, disease, crime, racism, revolution and war – however, a large part of the collection depicts aspects of social and cultural life.
A favorite and compelling part of the Collection are nineteenth-century Japanese hand-painted photographs. Working together, Dr. Burns and his daughter Elizabeth, wrote Geisha: A Photographic History 1872-1912. It explores the life and culture of Geisha during the Meiji Era with a comprehensive history of photography in Japan. They have also produced several exhibitions. They have been especially pleased to present at the Resobox Gallery in 2012 Geisha: The Golden Years 1870-1890, in 2013 Working Life in Meiji Japan and in 2014 Japan – An Island Nation: 1870-1890.
Burns Archive: http://www.burnsarchive.com/
Gallery
LECTURER / PERFORMER
Helen Moss
Lecturer
Helen Moss (Fujima Nishiki-no 藤間錦乃) teaches and performs Japanese classical dance in the elegant Soke Fujima style.
As a “spokesdancer,” she has given workshops and lecture /demonstrations to introduce people of all ages to the beauty of dance and Japanese culture throughout the New York area, recently leading an artist-in-residency series of workshops at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.
Ms. Moss writes and performs concert narration explaining the dances to increase the audience’s understanding and enjoyment. A classically-trained violinist/violist, she has a unique approach to teaching Japanese dance musically to non-Japanese students, enabling them to better interpret the dance.
Ms. Moss is the founding Secretary and one of the instructors with IchiFuji-kai Dance Association, a multicultural non-profit organization representing the Soke Fujima style in the greater New York City area.
Yoshiko Furuse
Nihonbuyo Dancer
Yoshiko Furuse is originally from Nagano, Japan, where she began her dance training in ballet. Moving to New York City in 2010 to continue her dance studies, she met Helen Moss (Fujima Nishiki-no 藤間錦乃) a master of classical Japanese dance in Soke Fujima style. Ms. Furuse, upon becoming fascinated with the beauty of this dance form, decided to pursue the elegant Soke Fujima style.
Under Ms. Moss' guidance, she has become dedicated to sharing Japanese culture with Western audiences. Whether as soloist, in a duet or as part of a group dance, Ms. Furuse has done so in performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; Shofuso, the Japanese house in Philadelphia; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Resobox. the Japanese cultural center; the Children's Museum of Manhattan and the United Nations International School.
