BUTOH PERFORMANCE

Butoh performance in the context of the exhibition ZEN-SONATE by Sylvie Xing Chen at Galerie “kunstsichtbar”, Zentralstrasse 134, 8003 Zurich.

18:30 Introduction
18:45 Performance
19:15 Fashion & Talk

What is Butoh?
“Butoh is a contemporary dance theater which transforms itself along the currents in art, through a dedication of both form & improvisation deeply connected to the nature of being. Improvisation, particularly with regard to speed as well as the form of movements, and the expression, which is about being touched, emotion, and catching a specific mood, are also characteristics in Butoh.
Butoh dance emerged in Japan during the postwar years as a form of resistance to the Americanization in Japanese culture. Butoh” dance emerged in Japan during the postwar years as a form of resistance to the Americanization in Japanese culture. These were the dancers wanting to oppose this, but they were too constrained by the Japanese tradition of dance as well, too technical in their preconceptions. They turned to what was the most honest they had, to their bodies. In exploring its sensation and movement, the reduced and the avant-garde forms of the new dance theater “Butoh” were born. Actually, the term derives from Japanese ” Ankoku Butoh , in English “Dance of Darkness”, and that was Butoh in the beginning. Poverty and brutality prevailed in society. Dancers witnessed families who had to sell their children in order not to starve. Impressions of this kind migrated to the stage. Discrimination and exclusion also became part of performances.

For me, “Butoh” is devotion. A surrender of myself in order to devote to a deep connection with existence & nothingness.

Price: collection