April Foole's Day

A Stupendous Rumour

I always wanted to be a stupendous person, you know ?

Bold but not Arrogant

Enigmatic yet Approachable

Insistent but not Presumptuous

Irreverent but not Slipshod

Boisterous yet Eloquent

Brisk yet Self-Assured

Charismatic yet Aloof

Pragmatic yet Defiant

Ignoble yet Luminous

Bad yet Good

(in a word : stupendous.)

*     *     *     *     *

Happy April Foole's Day to All !

zen baka in Kyoto

Rippling pool reflections in Japan...

Kikoku-tei
zen garden

equipoise 
like the shadow of a stone - moves
under the sun
fix'd at the centre
sweeping the day along...

'hanatsu kireini' 
(radiate clarity)
like night fire on a hilltop

'kaze'
the wind swirling around...

- present like the moon.

adventurous charismatic equilibrium
the vacuum has a stillness pour'd into it --
the open space that people need
to recognise the invisible.
the mask fulfils the hidden secret longing --
where public individuality gels
into a quiet harmony.

the zen fool

Foolish Paths to Wisdom


...to Be...

"To be or not to be - that is the question."

*        *        *        *        *

...to Have...

"To do without is to have and to become."

*        *        *        *        *

...to Wait...

"To wait is to transcend time."

*        *        *        *        *


"Zen and a Sense of Humour
are as inseparable
as Patience and Wisdom."

Green Tea & Zen Baka

"Green Tea and Zen Baka is simple and slow, and proves a delightful, pleasing contrast to the frenzy of the Fringe."

Eric Karoulla, The Skinny

5 August 2014

Full text

"The human connection is surprisingly touching, and the entire experience blissfully calm."

Kelly Apter, The Scotsman

5 August 2014

Full text

"Traditional Japanese Butoh gentle movement beautifully blends with meditation in this memorably tranquil work, the surprise finale quietly satisfying."  

Brian Cooper, The Stage

10 August 2014

Full text

  

Foole's Day

adrift... 
upon a deep blue sea
in the hyphen between
super-natural
and
extra-ordinary
we are in limbo


Zen Baka

The genesis of Zen Baka (fool)
began with a zen mime performance called : 11 Os...
about a calligraphy artist who makes eleven attempts
to draw a perfect circle.
This work was first performed at a zen meditation centre in Edinburgh
and was later featured in the Tanabata Japanese Festival at the Scottish Museum.

Also about this time I was doing zen mime, funambula,
on the streets during the Edinburgh Festival.

Both pieces went down well with audiences,
who tended to like, or perhaps wonder at, the extremely simplicity
and minimalism of their content and style.

So a collection of works have been created in this zen-like vein :

awkward travel

aqua - objet d'art

the stone jazz daydream

take it easy

arboreal

skuba

All of these works are now encompassed under the title :

Zen Baka.

Dance Base Festival

Zen Baka

At the EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE, 2014

After a performance of daydream at Dance Base in Edinburgh,
Know The Score, curated by Charlotte Jarvis,

 I mentioned to the Artistic Director Morag Deyes

that I was travelling to Kyoto, Japan in the autumn of 2014

with a view to performing some of these pieces there.

They invited me to be part of the Dance Base Festival in August.

 Green Tea & Zen Baka

Ease into your Festival day in the garden with a refreshing cup of green tea

and a mesmerising zen-inspired performance

by minimalist performer David W W Johnstone.

This visual haiku draws on ideas from Japanese Butoh, 

the Zen Buddhist sages and John Cage...

with a gentle hint of mime and humour thrown in.

A quietly understated insight into the daydreaming mind

of a zen fool.

1 - 24 August, 2014 (Not Mondays: 4, 11, 18)
Edinburgh Festival Fringe

10.15 - 10.45 a.m. daily

Free, but ticketed.

Dance Base, Grassmarket, Edinburgh

zen baka

David appears as his mime-fool alter-ego, Limbo,

in new solo works in a series of short pieces

 under the title of

zen baka

created for his upcoming visit to Japan.

New works in the collection :

awkward travel : awaiting a lover's arrival

daydream : memories, hopes, alternate universes

stone : meditation & contemplation on a smooth white fact

take it easy : falling leaves learn survival skills

O : a zen calligraphy master draws a perfect circle

skuba : anagram 'a busk' in musical silence

-- a state of shibumi is understood.

*           *           *

KNOW THE SCORE

 Dance Base Performance Platform

Curator : Morag Deyes,  Co-Curator : Charlotte Jarvis

Saturday, 23 November at 8 p.m.
(Bar opens 7 p.m.)

Dance Base, Grassmarket, Edinburgh

0131 225 5525