“Formidable dreams” is a contemporary creation myth story. Working from personal dream memories, Butoh movement choreography and poetry, surreal vignettes were strung together to create a live performance. My body, wrapped in plastic and birthed from a giant paper body, propelled itself backward into the space of the audience, proposing many alternatives to witnessing a human body in motion and attempting to relate to the world and rediscover itself. With my musical collaborator, Johanna Wiesbrock, we engaged in a rehearsed spontaneity between us—together we developed a vocabulary to communicate and remain present to the situation of live performance. Johanna used vocals, viola and a loop pedal to produce aural landscapes, and I performed as a cast of characters—visages, animals, ghouls, spirits—moving in and around these changing landscapes. The cumulative effect, perceived as fortuitous but realized as corporeal acts, caused a disturbance in the passing of time and the understanding of energy. This dance held the audience transfixed, generating palpable excitement and feelings of elation and transformation. Magic.