The history of the Festival is informed by dancer/choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata who originated butoh in 1950's in an effort to defy and subvert authority, including conventional notions of dance, thereby seeking transformation - on the personal, societal and political level. He embraced the zeitgeist of Tokyo's underground and European-influenced avant-garde arts scene comprised of neo-Dadaism, Fluxus, German Expressionism, Surrealism, and Existentialism. During the day, he trained his dancers by inventing body rituals towards a revolutionary dance form. At night the group then experimented with bringing their exploration into the competitive marketplace of cabaret/burlesque. Inspired by this historical reference, in 2016 ICL founded a butoh, theatre, and performing arts festival at Coney Island USA.

After three years of directing ensemble workshops and performances for the Festival, Mexico-based Diego Pinon of Body Ritual Movement coined the term Ritual Cabaret for work that sought to marry ritualistic physical theater with cabaret, burlesque and sideshow on the CIUSA stage.

We would like to challenge you to deconstruct and reinvent your particular art form, whatever it might be. If the goal is TRANSFORMATION - of the self, of society, of humanity - what will it take to bring this about? Is it possible to invent a new genre? What is Ritual Cabaret to you?

Each year, the Festival performances inspire and evolve the aesthetic "ritual cabaret." Before downloading the application, we encourage you to read this short synopsis of our collaborative search to help guide your proposal.