Wandering and Wondering

Saturday, July 30, 2011, 3-6 p.m.

Free with Garden admission

Wander through the Seattle Japanese Garden and wonder at the sights and sounds emerging from the landscape. Experience the beauty and tranquility of the Japanese Garden in a unique way. Over a three-hour period, visitors to the garden will encounter dancers and musicians dispersed in surprising locations throughout the garden. Seven dancers and six musicians will transform 13 locales, some hidden, others in plain sight. Inspired by the garden, with all its sensory stimuli, the performers will engage in a spontaneous, minute-by-minute response to all the scents, sounds, sights and sensations the garden offers. Visitors are welcome to spend as much time as they wish with each performer.

Curated by Joan Laage and Susie Kozawa
Dancers: Sheri Cohen, Maureen “momo” Freehill, Consuelo Gonzalez, Joan Laage, Lin Lucas, Kaoru Okumura, Douglas Ridings

Musicians: John Bisbee, Dave Knott, Susie Kozawa, Dean Moore, Mike Shannon, Esther Sugai

Moon Viewing

Saturday, Aug 13, 2011, 7 to 10 p.m.
(Gate will open at 6 p.m.)

$15 or $25 with tea ceremony

Purchase tickets for Moon Viewing at Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/188077.

Experience the Seattle Japanese Garden after-hours at Moon Viewing. In Japan o-tsukimi, or moon viewing festivals, welcome the arrival of the full harvest moon. Celebrate Moon Viewing at the Seattle Japanese Garden with cultural activities and performances by local artists. During Moon Viewing, the garden is magically lit with lanterns, luminaria and floating boats.

Performances will include multi-lingual choral music by Sound Singers Japanese Choir; classical and contemporary Japanese music by Marcia Takemura, Chigusa Kitai and James Jennings; and Danse D’Etre Joi (Dance of Being Joy) a light summer dance about chance meetings and romance with choreography by Helen Thorsen and dancing by Sheri Brown Mary Cutrera, Will Fredo, Lin Lucas, Cara Ross-Berman, Alan Sutherland, Helen Thorsen.

Members of Haiku Northwest will read haiku inspired by the beauty of the moon. Come prepared with a haiku of your own, and enter our Moon Viewing poetry contest! Winning poems will be read during the event.

View the full moon (weather permitting) through telescopes provided by the Seattle Astronomical Society.

Seattle Tankokai will present a Tsukimi Chakai (Moon Viewing Tea) at 6 and 7 p.m. in the Shoseian Teahouse. Tickets for the Tsukimi Chakai are $10 (plus $15 event admission) by advance reservation on Brown Paper Tickets.