Hijikata said to his pupils "expression without expression" This reminded me "no acting, please" from my acting training. Through my acting training at Actors Studio Drama school. I was trained to be ok with just being there. I remember my teachers insisted to tell us to not presenting nor explaining through acting. So when I encountered Hijikata Butoh, and read his words and a book written by his students, and watch some documentaries- I found myself "home" to the philosophy of "expression without expression."
In the acting training, I had months of just sense memory practice. It developed not only my five senses deeper but also my focus level. In Hijikata's later work- notational butoh (Butoh Fu/Butoh Score), there are many body sensational conditions which we need to create first to begin. It has to be real. We really have to do it. Not kind of, not showing, not presenting, and of course not expressing. We actually feel itchiness, skin dryness, smoothness, lightness... It is a sensation; not presentation. For me, this is one of a principle thought, and I love this very much.
In the acting training, I had months of just sense memory practice. It developed not only my five senses deeper but also my focus level. In Hijikata's later work- notational butoh (Butoh Fu/Butoh Score), there are many body sensational conditions which we need to create first to begin. It has to be real. We really have to do it. Not kind of, not showing, not presenting, and of course not expressing. We actually feel itchiness, skin dryness, smoothness, lightness... It is a sensation; not presentation. For me, this is one of a principle thought, and I love this very much.
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