August 2, 2026

Anima Mundi

Degenerate Arts Ensemble
| Under the Radar Festival

January 13-17, 2027

[Program tbd]

Runtime: tbd

As Part of
Under the radar Festival

a modern animist epic that fuses visceral movement, live music and cinematic projected imagery to conjure a world of spirit beings and shadows.

Inspired by ancient ritual and Japanese supernatural woodblock prints, Anima Mundi serves as a meditation on reconnection with the other-than-human world, a space to examine the human-centric perceptions that devalue our sensorial animal intelligence. A woman walks into the forest and discovers a portal leading to the source of the soul. Guided through a deep transformation by a Marebito spirit being, she navigates the realms of modern disconnect, moving through dimensions where she is trapped in a factory-farm cage or surrounded by autonomous cars. This multifaceted story is inspired in part by the Aruki Miko, roaming female shamans who performed rites across ancient Japan before their powers were stripped by patriarchal forces. Parsing supernatural Japanese woodblock prints and fables with light projected through textured washi paper, Anima Mundi coaxes ghosts and spirits to emerge from the shadows. True to the vision of director Haruko Crow Nishimura and the signature style of Degenerate Art Ensemble, the performance offers a hyper-visual and texturally rich experience.

Credits

Anima Mundi was conceived by Haruko Crow Nishimura in collaboration with the team and cast

Performers – Haruko Crow Nishimura, Ezra Dickinson (the Marebito), Joshua Kohl (musician), Mako Kikuchi (musician)

Artistic Director, Performer and Song Co-writer – Haruko Crow Nishimura

Music Director, Composer, Producer, Musician and Film Music – Joshua Kohl

Video Projection Artist, Cinematographer – Leo Mayberry

Devised Texts and Artistic Collaborator – Shin Yu Pai

Cinematography and Documentation – Ian Lucero

Costume Design – Willow Fox, Wyly Astley and Kaori Yamashita

Scenic Design – Max Sarkowsky

Lighting Design – Jessica Trundy

Scenic Sculpture Design – Jason Williams

Audio Engineer – Walter Harley

Production Stage Manager – Lily Nguyen

Production Assistant – Ashley Hickey

NYC Tour Producer and Consultant – Cindy Sibilsky

Scenic Fabricators – Bryce Bartl-Geller and Dave Baldwin

Cinematographers – Leo Mayberry, Ian Lucero and Doug Arney

Film Music – Joshua Kohl

Car Drivers – Christopher Warner, Rusty Oliver, Kevin Nortness, Kym Adams, Clark Battle

Film Crew: Trina Cooper

Film Editors: Leo Mayberry, Joshua Kohl and Haurko Crow Nishimura

Costumes and Wigs – Willow Fox, Wyly Astley, Kate Solomon and Eveylyn Bitner

Additional Film Voices – Leanna Keith and Shin Yu Pai

The Segment of the Little Fox Dance was created in collaboration with Amy O’Neal

Degenerate Art Ensemble is a 2025 NDP Finalist Grant Award recipient. Support was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation in support of Anima Mundi and to address continued sustainability needs.

The artist

Degenerate Arts Ensemble

bio

The Bessie Award-winning Degenerate Art Ensemble creates hyper-visual, interdisciplinary performances rooted in the embodied, sensory language of Japanese Butoh dance and physical theater, inspired by the expressive freedom found in cinema, manga, mythology and universal folk tales; mediums that often contain subversive truths and clues for transformation. They weave together live music, song and cinematic imagery to create new mythologies filled with archetypal beings and landscapes, telling stories that strive to awaken a deep sense of interconnectedness. Noteworthy collaborations include work with the Kronos Quartet and Robert Wilson. Their work takes the form of theater, concerts, site-specific activations and museum exhibitions. The Ensemble is led by visionary artistic director/performer Haruko Crow Nishimura and composer/musician Joshua Kohl.