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The "Pollen Revolution" description says that the artist, Akira Kasai, presents "his own transformational style of butoh." So what's butoh? I assumed it was an older Japanese style of dance, since Kasai's pictured in a traditional Japanese kimono, wig, and white face paint typical of kabuki and noh performances.
Sarah Anton posted a great article on the live arts & fringe site explaining trends in modern Japanese dance, "Contemporary Dance in Japan: New Wave Dance and Butoh After the 1990's" by Kazuko Kuniyoshi. It turns out that butoh's only about 50 years old, and it's all about refuting staid practices. Kasai wears a kimono, but it's a woman's costume, and he uses it as a symbol of broken barriers.
The article is very informative, linking its chronology to ideological changes. According to Kuniyoshi, the breakthrough came in the 1950's when Tatsumi Hijikata introduced sex, violence, and the less polished side of human nature into Japanese dance. Butoh's full name, "ankoku butoh" means "dance of darkness." Hijikata saw the body as an extra-lingual entity, requiring its own set of expressive terms to convey its purpose as a person's definitive memory container. Much of butoh was based on Western dance, but Hijikata removed the mimickry and found his own meaning in movement. The article states that the essence of butoh is that the body generates its own stories, that it should not rely on existing stories.
Akira Kasai began dancing in the 1960's, and studied intensively with not only Hijikata and other Japanese choreographers, but also with the developers of German eurythmics. Before 1970, his dance focused on reaching the spiritual realm by exhausting the body. In fact, his pieces still feature constant movement, but the article points to Kasai concentrating on a richer palette to achieve his goals. Until 1996, he staged his performances as secret cult rituals. More recently, Kasai's dances have become very public, abandoning clandestine settings and specific audiences. He currently attempts to supercede physical reality with the aid of anti-melodic music that refutes storylines. Kasai turns to Japanese, European, and American dance forms to "sublimate the physical body."
Kasai's show sounds fascinating. Does anyone have anything to add about butoh, dance, Kasai, or anything else?
Sarah Anton posted a great article on the live arts & fringe site explaining trends in modern Japanese dance, "Contemporary Dance in Japan: New Wave Dance and Butoh After the 1990's" by Kazuko Kuniyoshi. It turns out that butoh's only about 50 years old, and it's all about refuting staid practices. Kasai wears a kimono, but it's a woman's costume, and he uses it as a symbol of broken barriers.
The article is very informative, linking its chronology to ideological changes. According to Kuniyoshi, the breakthrough came in the 1950's when Tatsumi Hijikata introduced sex, violence, and the less polished side of human nature into Japanese dance. Butoh's full name, "ankoku butoh" means "dance of darkness." Hijikata saw the body as an extra-lingual entity, requiring its own set of expressive terms to convey its purpose as a person's definitive memory container. Much of butoh was based on Western dance, but Hijikata removed the mimickry and found his own meaning in movement. The article states that the essence of butoh is that the body generates its own stories, that it should not rely on existing stories.
Akira Kasai began dancing in the 1960's, and studied intensively with not only Hijikata and other Japanese choreographers, but also with the developers of German eurythmics. Before 1970, his dance focused on reaching the spiritual realm by exhausting the body. In fact, his pieces still feature constant movement, but the article points to Kasai concentrating on a richer palette to achieve his goals. Until 1996, he staged his performances as secret cult rituals. More recently, Kasai's dances have become very public, abandoning clandestine settings and specific audiences. He currently attempts to supercede physical reality with the aid of anti-melodic music that refutes storylines. Kasai turns to Japanese, European, and American dance forms to "sublimate the physical body."
Kasai's show sounds fascinating. Does anyone have anything to add about butoh, dance, Kasai, or anything else?
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