What is Butoh?
The answer to this question is one of positioning in the world of dance.
Many people who see butoh for the first time think, “Is this dance?”
That is the standing position in the positioning of Butoh.
In general, what do people think dance is about?
People think of dance as a fusion of techniques such as physical technique, artistry, and musicality. Do not you think so?
Butoh is the presentation of another position to that common sense. It is the so-called antithesis.
Antithesis is the most intense form of positioning.
Butoh succeeded in doing so.
People who have seen butoh tell people, “I saw something strange” and “If so, can it be called dance?” And the circle of interest keeps expanding. By being moderately denied, it becomes a larger and longer movement.
Start by denying the general dance-like dynamism, physical strength, instantaneous power, jumping power, rotational power, and so on.
Start by denying the general notion of beauty.
Because that’s how it achieves that positioning.
Simply put, it is the opposite of ballet.
“Let’s reverse the ballet!”
Of course, I don’t think Butoh was born from this kind of marketing point of view.
Slowly, they(who started Butho) discovered that the positioning was surprisingly effective.
White makeup, crab legs, low center of gravity, ethnic costumes, dirtiness, darkness.
They were all means to an end those days.
Butoh should not be defined by such forms and superficial things.
Butoh is not dancing strangely with cosplay-like costumes and makeup.
Certainly, there are times when Butoh is danced alongside modern costumes and art. But I think it’s just a collaborative, contemporary thing. It is not the essence of butoh.
There is no point in imitating the means.
Butoh is the antithesis of dance in general.
beautiful dance, beautiful dance Need long lessons. You have to move your body a lot. Old is ugly, young is better. Dark is dirty.
Are such thoughts true?
There should be as many means as there are people who do.
“The strength is wonderful” and “the symmetrical shape is beautiful” is like an old and naive way of thinking.
Butoh is an understanding of complexity.
Nature is beautiful. Nature is not simple. Nature is complicated. People are complicated.
What has stopped is not stopped.
What is stopped is continuing to stop by all powers as Butoh.
Butoh is said to move slowly.
The reason I see it slowly is because I have no eyes to see.
Do plants move slowly?
Constant change continues to happen.
“I’m busy Don’t tell me I’m slow”, the plants say.
