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Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis (1990)

Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis (1990)

Documentary
Release Date: 1990, January 1
Directors: Michael Blackwood
Countries: United States of America
Production: Michael Blackwood Productions, Michael Blackwood Productions
Cast: Akaji Maro, Min Tanaka, Tatsumi Hijikata, Yoko Ashikawa, Kazuo Ohno, Akiko Motofuji, Nario Goda, Yukio Waguri, Natsu Nakajima, Sanae Hiruta

Overview:

"Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis" is a visually striking film portrait shot on location in Japan with the participation of the major Butoh choreographers and their companies. Although Butoh is often viewed as Japan's equivalent of modern dance, in actuality it has little to do with the rational principles of modernism. Butoh is a theater of improvisation which places the personal experiences of the dancer on center-stage. By reestablishing the ancient Japanese connection of dance, music, and masks, and by recalling the Buddhist death dances of rural Japan, Butoh incorporates much traditional theater. At the same time, it is a movement of resistance against the abandonment of traditional culture to a highly organized consumer-oriented society.

Keywords:

dance butoh