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PAMELA Z is presenting a new work for the 2008/09 season: GAIJIN. Pamela Z says about the piece, “Gaijin is a commonly used Japanese slang term for ‘foreigner’. It is the (often derogatory) shortened word for the (neutral) ‘Gaikokujin’, which literally means ‘foreign-country-person’. During the first six months of 1999, I lived as a Gaijin. I was in Tokyo on a residency granted by the NEA and the Japan/US Friendship Commission. It was a rich and rewarding experience, during which I learned a great deal. One of the most profound lessons was finding out what it is like to truly be an alien in the place where you live.” Performed by Pamela Z on voice, processors, samples and BodySynth™, and with Butoh dancers, the music for Gaijin consists of layered, dynamically varied sound works with text derived from PZ's own writing as well as stories gathered from various people's "foreigner" experiences. The texts are spoken, sung, played as samples, and projected in the space along with other images. The Butoh movement was developed by Z and the three dancers, and takes place on various levels, throughout an environment designed by set designer Lauren Elder, lighting designer Elaine Buckholtz, and video makers Jeanne Finley and John Muse. This season has brought PAMELA Z’s acclaimed solo evening Voci to the Washington Performing Arts Society and to the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art for the Chicago Humanities Festival, and included residencies at Earlham College and Duke University. These followed international performances of Voci in Budapest, Hungary and Mexico.