Yeah yeah no no is a contemporary butoh work that integrates a Buddhist religious practice within a commodity culture framework that utilizes kawaii (or cute) iconography, like Sailor Moon and Pokemon, as a means of merchandising and packaging racial difference. The work treats the consumer culture runoff from the Japanese archipelago as the source of diasporic self-identification, essentially filling the void left behind by the cultural erasure stemming from Japanese internment camps. The piece is a somewhat dystopian take on Glenn’s experiences growing up as a fourth-generation Japanese-American, when he would squeeze in as much Nintendo time as possible before having to go to Buddhist Sunday School every weekend.

Yeah yeah no no was presented as part of Movement Research’s Winter 2023 Season at Judson Church (New York, NY) on January 29, 2024.

Choreography and media design by Glenn Potter-Takata
Performance by Glenn Potter-Takata, evan ray suzuki, and Kimiko Tanabe

Photography by Rachel Keane

Yeah yeah no no was created with the support of the Bronx Cultural Visions Fund through the Bronx Council on the Arts.