BUTOH – The Dance of The Ghosts or Go Compromise Somewhere Else...
by Elaine Abrams
There is this certain dusky spirit around the butoh dance. Witnessing a butoh performance is sometimes like being invited to a mad man's head...and you realise that no one shown up, except of you. So you are in the trap, just sit down and watch the show!
It's dark, it's raw, it's honest and it's truly beautiful, when you can handle it. The WELTKUNSTZIMMER in Düsseldorf hosted and presented GHOST BUTOH Special with two exceptional butoh artists, who live and work together in the Normandy – Masaki Iwana & Moeno Wakamatsu.
Picture: Masaki Iwana
Starting with the performances of eight Butoh workshop participants, accompanied by silent whispers, scrathy guitar riffs or just water dripping of a wet wool, the danced parkour culminated in two painfully intense shows of Masaki and Moeno.
Picture: Moeno Wakamatsu
Like the beginning of an amour fou Butoh is certainly not about compromising. It is going to force you out of your comfort zone and may reveal sides of your personality which you learned to hide carefully in order to stay socially compatible. The effect may last for days... „It is chatartic for both, the spectator and the performer“, said Marina Epp – a skillful german butoh performance artist and talented actress to Elaineblogs at the artist dinner after the show. It truly is. No pain, no gain!
Picture: Marina Epp
GHOST BUTOH special. Performance + Workshop Project
Nature, essential experience of existence | Masaki Iwana + Moeno Wakamatsu | 7th - 15th May 2014
BUTOH IN A NUTSHELL
Butoh became famous as the contemporary japanese dance style of the post- Hiroshima generation. Leaned on the tradition of the Nō Theatre, it's been created in the late 1950's by Tatsumi Hijikata. More information about butoh dance, future events and La Maison du Butoh Blanc, you can find on:
www.weltkunstzimmer.de
www.iwanahbutoh.com