What is Butoh?
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Butoh is an experimental, avant-garde dance form. It originated and flourished in Japan, drawing influence from such art forms as German Expressionist dance (Neuer Tanz), American Modern dance, Spanish dance, as well as theatre, literature and fine art. Beginning in 1959, founder Tatsumi Hijikata collaborated with others to develop Butoh, allowing the form to evolve along with not only Hijikata’s personal artistry, but Japanese society as a whole. Hijikata established his own Butoh training system, and created thousand of choreography, so called Butoh-Fu (notational Butoh). Kazuo Ono, the one of most influential Japanese dancer collaborated with Hijikata, and toured the piece all over the world. Ono focused on improvisation-based, spiritual approach to dance. Everyone has own Butoh (Butoh means Dance).
"My dance is the expansion of human concept - letting a human body metamorphoses into anything including an animal, a plant, even an object which does not have a life, and the fundamental ideology of my Butoh is finding the possibility.” - Tatsumi Hijikata “Butoh is a dance of a life” -Kazup Ono |
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I believe that everyone can be transformed, and I’m most interested in creating works of art that compel my audiences to allow the seeds of dance within them to bloom - because the moment that seed becomes a flower, is when Butoh happens. - Yokko, The artistic director of Ren Gyo Soh
