Butoh

Butoh
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Name	Butoh
Caption	Tatsumi Hijikata (center) performing with members of the Ankoku Butoh troupe
Other names	Ankoku Butoh
Country	Japan
Year	late 1950s–1960s
Founders	Tatsumi Hijikata; Kazuo Ohno
Genre	Avant-garde dance; performance art

Butoh Butoh is an avant-garde Japanese dance-theatre form that emerged in the late 1950s and 1960s as a radical reaction to postwar cultural currents. Rooted in the practices of founders Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, it intersects with international currents around Grotowski, Artaud, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, and Pina Bausch, while engaging photographers, composers, venues, and institutions across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Practitioners have performed at festivals and sites including Venice Biennale, Festival d'Avignon, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Sydney Opera House, and Lincoln Center.

Origins and Historical Context

Butoh developed from intersections among Japanese practitioners and global avant-garde figures such as Antonin Artaud, Samuel Beckett, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and Pina Bausch. Founding artists Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno drew on classical and modern repertoires like Noh, Kabuki, Bunraku, and repertories associated with Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham. Early performances took place in alternative spaces tied to movements around Gutai Art Association, Fluxus, Surrealist International, and experimental galleries in Tokyo, Osaka, and Yokohama. Political and cultural upheavals following events such as Battle of Okinawa resonated with responses to Western occupation and encounters with figures like Yoko Ono and institutions including Tokyo University and Waseda University.

Characteristics and Techniques

Butoh practices emphasize altered physicality, slow tempo, and transformational aesthetics, invoking visual and theatrical legacies such as Kabuki and Noh while dialoguing with experimental creators like Robert Wilson, Laurie Anderson, and Merce Cunningham. Costuming and makeup often recall imagery used by Francis Bacon in painting, or by photographers like Ansel Adams and Eikoh Hosoe, with staging at venues such as Tate Modern, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, and Centre Pompidou. Sound collaborators have included composers and musicians like Tōru Takemitsu, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and John Zorn; lighting and design partnerships have connected to institutions like Royal Albert Hall and Suntory Hall.

Major Practitioners and Companies

Leading figures and companies span Japan and the globe: founders Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno; companies and artists including Company Hijikata Tatsumi Ankoku Butoh Kenkyūjo members, Eikoh Hosoe collaborators, and later practitioners like Sankai Juku founders Amagatsu Ushio and his troupe, which toured venues including Sydney Opera House and Lincoln Center. Other prominent ensembles and artists include Tadashi Endo, Ko Murobushi, Min Tanaka, Yukioka-Maeda, Fuyuki Yamakawa, Sayoko Onishi, Hideto Heshiki, Sankai Juku, Dairakudakan, Hijikata Tatsumi Memorial Hall affiliates, Tokyo Butoh Lab, Butoh Dance Project Tokyo, Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio, Eifman Ballet collaborators, and international companies such as Dancing Earth Collective and performers from France, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, South Korea, and China. Festivals commissioning Butoh work have included Venice Biennale, Festival d'Avignon, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Performa. Institutions that taught or hosted workshops include Yale School of Drama, Juilliard School, Royal Ballet School, and Berlin University of the Arts.

Notable Performances and Works

Canonical works and landmark performances range from early pieces by Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno to major choreographies performed at international festivals: Hijikata’s early productions staged at alternative spaces in Shinjuku and Ueno; Kazuo Ohno’s solo recitals and collaborations with photographers like Eikoh Hosoe; Sankai Juku’s productions such as those presented at Lincoln Center and Sadler’s Wells; Dairakudakan’s spectacle pieces; choreographies by Min Tanaka and Tadashi Endo shown at Festival d'Avignon and Venice Biennale. Noted works have been documented by filmmakers and curators including Akira Kurosawa, Shohei Imamura, Wim Wenders, Tony Kushner, Nam June Paik, and institutions like NHK, NHK World, Arte, and BBC Arts.

Influence and Reception

Butoh’s reception spans praise and controversy within circles around Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, National Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and academic programs at Sorbonne University, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley. Scholars and critics from outlets associated with The New York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian, Asahi Shimbun, and Yomiuri Shimbun have debated its aesthetics and ethics. Influence extends into cinema with collaborations involving Akira Kurosawa, contemporary choreography like Pina Bausch’s work, visual art referencing Francis Bacon, theater experiments linked to Jerzy Grotowski and Antonin Artaud, and music collaborations with John Cage and Toru Takemitsu. International cultural programs by Japan Foundation, UNESCO events, and biennales have facilitated cross-cultural exchanges with artists from France, Germany, United States, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, and China.

Training and Pedagogy

Training blends studio practice, workshops, residencies, and university courses at institutions such as Tokyo University of the Arts, Waseda University, Yale School of Drama, Juilliard School, Berlin University of the Arts, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and community programs supported by Japan Foundation. Methodologies draw on improvisation, somatic practices associated with Alexander Technique, influences from Martha Graham technique, and cross-disciplinary exchanges with practitioners of Noh, Kabuki, Bunraku, contemporary theater directors like Peter Brook, and movement theorists such as Rudolf Laban. Key pedagogues and mentors include surviving disciples of founders and international teachers who lead workshops at festivals like Edinburgh Festival Fringe and residencies at venues such as Sadler’s Wells and Lincoln Center.

Category:Dance