Butoh blurb

Here are my intro notes from yesterdays session. The suggested video links (which we didn't have time for) and a research questions will follow:


Born in late 1950's/postwar Japan by Tatsumi Hijikata. Takes influence from but sought to rebel against constraints of Japanese traditional dance and influenced by western modern dance.
Unlike dance is Western sense, Butoh does not have a specific form (though dancers do have similar styles and vocabularies i.e. the evolved white make-up for one...)‏

It is approached more like a mediation or martial art where the dancer brings forth and responds choreographically to energy from within. "Butoh is a form that almost precedes dance, just as a child moves and plays before he dances." (Akaji Maro on http://home.earthlink.net/~bdenatale/Butoh&SurrealismPart2.html)‏

Accordingly Butoh is often largely improvised although large global companies (Sankai Juku etc.) do construct vast stage shows where a vast portion of the stage directions/choreography are fixed.

Working, as we are. with type of 'Butohesque' vocabularies as a surface form does disservice to Butoh itself which rejects such approaches. Butoh performance is focussed on meticulous preparation, emptying, training to develop physical prowess but also catharsism in its performers. The preparation is as much mental as physical or indeed psycho-physical.

“It has no physical technique or common terminology for the dance itself. It is a dance unto itself, for it is the unique expression of the dancer unencumbered by language and tradition and constraint. “ (Dan Hermon on http://www.butoh.net/define.html)‏

It is sometimes not considered a dance form but more like a religion. Butoh is considered primarily a form for the dancer his/herself rather than for the purpose of 'entertainment'. Butoh seeks to tap into the dancers inner world/unconscious and connect, through bodily reactions, to the outer world/environment. It has been/is often refered to as a 'dance of darkness' because of this potentially dark or taboo inner world that can be and is often revealled.