Now re-issued, this compact book unravels the contribution of one of modern theatre’s most charismatic innovators. Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo combines:
• an account of the founding of Japanese butoh through the partnership of Hijikata and Ohno, extending to the larger story of butoh’s international assimilation
• an exploration of the impact of the social and political issues of post-World War II Japan on the aesthetic development of butoh
• metamorphic dance experiences that students of butoh can explore
• a glossary of English and Japanese terms.
As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial exploration before going on to further, primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners are unbeatable value for today’s student.
PREFACE TO 2018 RE-ISSUE, Sondra Fraleigh INTRODUCTION BUTOH SHAPESHIFTERS Kaze Daruma: the origins of butoh Hijikata’s butoh Nature, mud, and butoh morphology Butoh alchemy in global circulation Hijikata: a corpse standing desperately upright Yoneyama Kunio Studying Neue Tanz The drug of Ohno Tokyo New names Dancing life: Ohno Kazuo Born to dance Together and apart Together again Ohno’s international stage Ohno is a bridge Butoh, community, and healing THE WORDS OF HIJIKATA AND OHNO Hijikata-speak The criminal and the fool: writing/living darkness Body as spirit: writing/speaking the butoh body Being a corpse Hijikata’s butoh-fu: what is an image? Words that dance: Ohno’s images Spiritual darkness: inside Ohno’s studio and Konpaku How Ohno prepares: words for the speech of the body The Ishikari river’s hooked-nose salmon Body as universe: Kazuo and Yoshito speak of love and care DANCES OF DEATH, SACRIFICE, AND SPIRIT Two butohists: why they dance the way they do Dance as experience: shedding the social body Challenging modernization Kinjiki (Forbidden Colors, 1959) Barairo Dansu (Rose Colored Dance, 1965) Nikutai No Hanran (Rebellion of the Body, 1968) Note on Natsu No Arashi (Summer Storm, 1973) La Argentina Sho (Admiring La Argentina, 1977) Suiren (Water Lilies, 1987) Interview with Ohno Yoshito – on Suiren The future of butoh DANCE EXPERIENCES Introduction to metamorphic explorations Nakajima Natsu: becoming nothing/ becoming something Ohno Yoshito: the patience of not starting Yoshioka Yumiko: body resonance Morita Itto and Takeuchi Mika: psychosomatics of butoh Takenouchi Atsushi’s Jinen Butoh Frances Barbe and the practice of butoh-fu Harada Nobuo: butoh is everything Waguri Yukio and Butoh-Kaden CD-Rom English glossary of terms Japanese glossary of terms
Sondra Fraleigh is Professor Emeritus of dance and somatic studies at the State University of New York at Brockport. She chaired the Department of Dance at SUNY Brockport and has been a Faculty Exchange Scholar for the State University of New York. Her innovative choreography has been seen in theaters in New York, Germany, and Japan, and she is often a guest lecturer in Europe, America, and Asia. Fraleigh is the founding director of Eastwest Somatics Institute for the study of dance and movement therapy, a member school of ISMETA, International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association. Tamah Nakamura is a professor at Chikushi Jogakuen University, Fukuoka Japan. Her areas of expertise are contemporary Japan, popular culture and gender. Research interests include artistic inquiry, and butoh. She has published articles and presented on butoh in Japan and internationally.
