Megan Kudla of See Chicago Dance reviews Ayako Kato’s recent ETHOS IV, part of the Chicago Artist Spotlight Festival in April 2024:
The Oka Homma Singers’ soul-thumping drums and ringing voices resound in the distance along the Lakefront Trail. A canopy of pink blossoming trees showers petals on the audience as we sail down the path, pulled along by a current of wind and sound. Slow and easy, like swirling air, four figures float through the grove, reverently laying hands upon the bark and grass. They caress the breeze and mimic the shapes of the branches and trunks. Ayako Kato—kinetic philosopher, poet and choreographer—pauses to hang from one branch, arm hooked delicately and body unfolding toward the sky. The crowd is hushed.
“ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth” is not simply a dance performance; it is an ambulatory journey that relies on community gathering and traveling, as well as spiritual engagement and prayer. Ayako Kato/Art Union Humanscape presented this work as part of the Dance Center of Columbia College’s Chicago Artist Spotlight Festival on Apr. 19 at 6 p.m. The series of events sprawls across the South Loop from the Grant Park Lakefront, through the Agora art installation and inside the Dance Center theater.
ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth at Dance Center of Columbia College; photo by Ayako Kato.
banner photo at top: Sophie Allen for See Chicago Dance.
