Photography by Maya Vajra
Tomasz Gil © 2005
Butoh is a style and approach to dance that emerged in Japan after the Second World War and is related to German expressionism, Japanese theater traditions and perhaps other currents in 20-th century art stressing the actuality of a performance over its presumed artifice. The aim of butoh dancer is to shed one's personality and make one's body a mouthpiece of the experience of being. The individual dancer's experience - emotions, perceptions, thoughts and will - are expected to resonate with the audience and universalize the impersonal layers of existence.
Butoh in Seattle - currently/temporarily emigrated to Cracow, Poland and other points in Europe
An amazing Seattle butoh performer is Sheri Brown.
Other Seattle Butoh destinations would be PAN and Degenerate Art Ensemble. These two are distinct groups of performance, music and visual artists, but also portals into the local "community".
Memoir on Wreck Beach Butoh in Vancouver, BC, Canada - summer 2005. This is also a tribute to Kokoro Dance - a great dance company there.
Butoh resources on the web
| From March 2003 performance based on poetry of Miłosz with Joan Laage, David Thornbrugh and Brent Arnold
Photography by Maya Vajra |
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created October 26, 2004
last updated February 6, 2007