CONEY ISLAND RITUAL CABARET is informed by dancer/choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata who co-originated butoh in 1960s Japan in an effort to defy and subvert authority, including conventional notions of dance, thereby seeking transformation -- on the personal, societal and human level. Hijikata embraced the zeitgeist of Tokyo's underground and the Europe-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 and 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 Inspired by this historical reference, in 2016 ICL founded a butoh, theatre and performing arts festival at Coney Island USA.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 Piñón (Body Ritual Movement) coined the term Ritual Cabaret for work that seeks to marry ritualistic physical theatre with cabaret, burlesque and sideshow on the CIUSA stage. The challenge is to deconstruct and reinvent your 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?