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Group to demonstrate Nohgaku, a traditional Japanese performance art, at Connecticut College Sept. 21

NEW LONDON, Conn. - The 600-year-old Japanese tradition of Nohgaku - featuring masked performers, flowing costumes and music from the bamboo flute - is coming to Connecticut College Sept. 21. Members of the Kasyu-jyuku, a Nohgaku performance group, will demonstrate this traditional Japanese performance art at 4:15 p.m. in the Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room in the Shain Library. The event is free and open to the public.

Nohgaku is a musical drama in which the characters don masks and costumes made using silk textiles woven in Nishijin, Kyoto. Men play both male and female parts and act out historical plays with a lyrical script. The performers express emotions through highly formalized abstract and symbolic body movements, many of which are rooted in Japanese tradition, manner and concepts. Singing, chanting and music from the bamboo flute (nohkan), shoulder drum (kotsuzumi), hip drum (otsuzumi) and stick drum (taiko) accompany the performance.

This event is sponsored by the departments of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Art History, History, Music and Theater, as well as the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, the Office of Information Services and the Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts.

About Connecticut College

Situated on the coast of southern New England, Connecticut College is a highly selective private liberal arts college with 1900 students from all across the country and throughout the world. On the college´s 750-acre arboretum campus overlooking Long Island Sound, students and faculty create a vibrant social, cultural and intellectual community enriched by diverse perspectives. The college, founded in 1911, is known for its unique combination of interdisciplinary studies, international programs, funded internships, student-faculty research and service learning.

For more information, visit www.conncoll.edu.

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September 14, 2009