March 9th was the birthday of Japanese choreographer and founder of the genre of dance performance art called Butoh. In a tribute to him, many Butoh performers from the Bay Area held an event yesterday at Ohlone Park in Berkeley, California.
The event was organized by Butoh performance artist, Hiroko Tamano, in celebration of the Life and Death of Hijikata Tatsumi.
photo by Styrous®
Hiroko and her husband Koichi Tamano have been major influences in the Bay Area Butoh scene and around the world. They performed in a couple of the Sandra Sakata fashion shows for her art to wear boutique, Obiko (link below).
Tom White, Professor Emeritus of the California College of Arts & Crafts, incorporated Butoh movements and concepts into his art and named it, butohDrawing,
which he taught as part of the curriculum in his classes there and
they held performances as part of the completion of the classes.
People call it Butoh Dance; I prefer to call it Butoh movement as dance implys a formal, structured, pretty and controlled act. Butoh
is the complete opposite of Western
concepts of "dance". In its pure state, it is usually improvised with no planned theme or
agenda (there are exceptions) other than to express what is in the heart
of each performer at that particular moment. In no way is it "pretty" by Western standards! It can be
ugly and distorted . . .
. . . it can be comical . . .
. . . often it is excruciatingly SLOW!
But it is beautiful in its own distinct way!
Unfortunately,
I don't know the names of all the performers I photographed during the
event but where I do, I have given them credit. If you recognize
someone, please let me know and I will add their name. Thank you.
The Performance
photos by Styrous®
Mark Deutsch
Kyoko Takenaka
Bob Webb (above & below)
There is a jungle gym
in the park near the performance area; when I was a kid in the early
forties, I thought it was called a "Jungle Jim." I recall hanging by the
back of my knees on the top bar one time; my legs slipped and I landed
on my head! That might explain a lot. Memories of those days long gone
flashed through my mind and it was delightful to watch the kids
scrambling around on it . . .
. . . but they did take time out to watch the performance.
Kyoko Takenaka
Luku Netherthot & Mao Homie
The performance closed with a chant that everyone, including the audience, participated in reciting.
Viewfinder links:
YouTube links:
Styrous® ~ Monday, March 28, 2022
YouTube links:
Christina Braun ~ various videos
Mark Deutsch & Martha Matsuda at TYG
Dean Santomieri ~ various videos Koichi & Hiroko Tamano ~ various videos
Bob Webb ~ Butoh
Styrous® ~ Monday, March 28, 2022
