t o k e n o

Min Tanaka, one of my favourite butoh dancers and choreographer. He conceived a movement ideology in butoh which "conceives of the body as a force of nature: omni-centered, anti-hierarchic, and acutely sensitive to external stimuli". In October 1990, Min Tanaka premiered "The Rite of Spring" at Paris Opera Comique with stage art by Richard Serra and music by Minoru Noguchi.  Rite of Spring

My first contact with modern dance come through the art of Butoh, while attending a seminar by Sumako Koseki. It is hard to talk about butoh either from the point of a performer or a spectator. Therefore, I will only transfer what my Sumako once told me. Butoh is to exist in life like a young cat does. No more no less.  Tatsumi Hijikata started butoh in Japan after the second world war as an artistic counterpoint of the westernization of Japan's culture.  In contrary to ballet which acts above the ground, butoh is tied to the earth.   One of my favourite Hijikata performances is here: A Girl