BARDO

“…as raw as flayed skin…Bardo takes us from grief to rage to anguished acceptance.”

- Willamette Week

“brought me to tears. BARDO’s story is raw and cuts deep. For those of us who have experienced deep loss, Butler-Denman’s recount is honest, vulnerable, and true to the reality of death’s grasp on the people it leaves behind.”

- Oregon Arts Watch

the performance

BARDO, an evening-length Dance/Theatre solo performance, premiered February 2020 at Shaking the Tree Theatre in Portland, Oregon.

BARDO is a conjuring and a conversation between the dying and the grieving. It challenges dominant narratives around death and explores the transition states of dying, of grieving, of a relationship moving from the physical plane to existing, maybe (we hope), somewhere else. It reckons with the lack of guideposts, the emptiness and loneliness after a death, and with the active process of filling that space, of making a map where there is none. It is a look at our desire to find connection in known & familiar spaces, & the journey, when those are gone, to find connection elsewhere. BARDO invites audiences into a conversation they may never have considered about death and dying.

the film

In order to reach a wider audience, BARDO was being made into two short films by Portland director and filmmaker Sophia Wright Emigh. They will be screened at festivals, conferences, and hospices. Watch the longer (20 min) film here:

Original score for the performance and film by Ahmond

In the process of making this work, the idea of the bardo provided necessary structure, support, and guidance. It is the foundation on which the dynamics, ritual, and practice of this piece is built. The term bardo came into my awareness via the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. In that tradition, bardo is a transition, and is commonly used to describe the intermediate state between death and rebirth. This work uses bardo as a guiding principle with respect and deep gratitude to the culture to whom it belongs. This work would simply not exist without it. 

Promotional photography and videography by Chris Larson

Funded in part by the Regional Arts and Culture Council

recent work

Afraid/Not Afraid, performer,/creator, commissioned for installation by Pamela Chipman and Jan Cook

Bartok’s Monster, performer, Penn Live Arts, Pig Iron Theatre Company and the Daedalus Quartet

In The Name of Forgotten Women, movement director, CoHo Theatre

BARDO the film, creator/performer

BARDO an evening length one woman show, creator/performer, Shaking the Tree Theatre

A Street Car Named Desire, Blanche DuBois, Sandy Actors Theatre

Performance Lab, choreographer/performer, On The Boards