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"Wow, Natasha (Miko Kuro) will be here in a few hours and we will begin the final stages of preparing for the tea tomorrow night!" writes Jada-Moon Gridley on her Facebook page this morning. "I am so excited about to share and partake in this experience."
I'm excited, too.
To watch.
Miko Kuro's Midnight Tea (MKMT) - a re-emergence of performance "art happenings" through a traditional Japanese tea ceremony - will take participants and voyeurs from Saturday to Sunday inside the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative in downtown Tacoma. The 12 MKMT participants, slots that were filled many moons ago, will experience swirls to their senses - smells, visuals, tastes and sounds - often while blindfolded. The voyeurs - you and me - will have a chance to watch MKMT founders Natasha Marin and Lord Loxley, both of Vancouver, B.C., lead the 12 through various spiritual stages through dance, art and tastes.
"Miko Kuro's Midnight Tea began in 2008 at my Vancouver studio space as an experimental arts 'happening' in the spirit of those which swept through art circles in the '60s and '70s," explains Marin via email - who, as is traditional, takes on the name Miko Kuro during MKMT ceremonies. A "miko" is a temple caretaker/shaman/priestess in the Shinto belief system and "kuro" means dark or black.
"Think about Yayoi Kusama painting naked men and horses with polka dots. Definitely cozying up to the bizarre," she continues.
Marin and Loxley not only facilitate the MKMT experience, Marin will perform movement/poetry and Loxley multimedia offerings.
"The Tacoma Tea will include original works of art by local artists Mandy Greer and Jada-Moon Gridley," Marin adds. "Mandy has created a beautiful one-of-a-kind headdress for Miko to wear, woven out of my own hair. Yes. I said human hair headdress. Jada-Moon does many things, and will be showcasing her henna designs and creations."
Why have tea at midnight?
"Well, for generations and across cultures, midnight has been a magical time of transformation," explains Marin. "The Midnight Tea project is an attempt to co-create a space in which art becomes the sacred part of life and the reality you were part of disappears to make way for a new one."
Tickets will be on sale at the door for $12 each. People should plan to arrive at between 11:30 and 11:45 p.m. as the happening begins right at midnight.
Saturday, May 22, 11:45 p.m., $12
Speakeasy Arts Cooperative, 748 Broadway, Tacoma
mikokuro.com