Today we have a special guest post from Florentyna Leow on the world’s first theatre expressly devoted to regular Butoh performances. Butoh is an avant-garde dance style originating in Japan. First developed by Kazuo Ono and Hijikata Tatsumi in the 1960s, one of the central features of Butoh is its very indefinability - it is difficult to attach a definition or set of … [Read more...]
Kyotographie Masterclass with Isabel Muñoz & Taketeru Kudo
Thanks to Marguerite Paget for sending this in... Capture the Moment! – Grasping the body and the movement The work of Isabel Muñoz has always evolved around the body and movement. This is partly what has contributed Isabel Muñoz’s international notoriety. Passionate about dance, she has worked on various series dedicated to the arts she herself practiced for a long … [Read more...]
Bridget Scott’s Butoh Workshop #3
Our friend Bridget writes, On 24th July I will hold the third in my series of monthly butoh workshops at Ichijoji Shukaijo - an old dojo in Ichijoji. We will begin with a good warm up and then do some butoh image work, followed by pair work, some choreography and improvisation and finally a warm down. My workshop will be inspired by my work with my teachers Katsura … [Read more...]
Butoh Workshops & Shiatsu Classes with Bridget Scott
Our friend Bridget Scott says, At last I am starting to teach my own monthly butoh workshop at Ichijoji Shukaijo - an old dojo in Ichijoji. In April I worked with Katsura Kan, who was the teacher who lead me into the butoh world in 1989. I also studied with Min Tanaka, and butoh greats: Kazuo Ohno and Yoshito Ohno. I feel as if I have come full circle after dancing with … [Read more...]
Scenes from Living Arts vol. 3
Wednesday saw another fine night of avant garde revelry at Urbanguild. Undoubtedly the highlight of the evening was the flamenco/butoh collaborative performance in tribute to the late Kazuo Ohno & La Argentina (Antonia Merce). It was a very powerful, joyful, weird and wonderful celebration, a meeting across cultures and a promise; for as Bridget Scott said to me after, … [Read more...]
Living Arts Vol. 3
Our friend Mitsu Salmon has sent some details about the Living Arts event at Urbanguild this Wednesday (July 7th). "Flamenco dancer Begona and guitarist Javier from Spain are visiting Japan to collaborate with the Butoh master Ima Tenko. They are doing a piece in memory of Kazuo Ohno`s passing. Also in the evening is Chris Cobilis from Australia. Singer/songwriter Misa … [Read more...]
Patterns: A Butoh Dance Performance
Bridget Scott writes: I know it is short notice, but I want to let you know about my performance on Sun 8th November in Kyoto. I will be performing with an old friend, Jeannie Donald-McKim, who I introduced to Butoh nearly 20 years ago. Jeannie returned to England and studied Dance Movement Therapy and set up Oxford based Butoh group, Cafe Reason. She is having a nostalgic … [Read more...]
