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Permalink Reply by Irene Siegel on August 14, 2011 at 10:53pm

i was actually thinking about this recently when i was introducing butoh dance to a new group of students here in the Palestinian West Bank, where modern dancers are marking the 'initiation' and development of new forms. they're doing this by both drawing on and break from their own cultural/artistic heritage, much as 'butoh pioneers' did...

butoh aesthetics would seem to defy historicity (e.g. the repeating thematics of primal states, 'nature' imagery...); but in considering its "inception", beyond the artistic lineages (kabuki, noh, german expressionism, etc), its aesthetics/dynamics are inextricable from its socio-historical context: esp the youthful anger and rebellion post-WWII; hiroshima/nagasaki that fed this 'rebel' dance spirit... So what fascinates me is not just how those events shaped butoh as it developed in japan; but how this 'spirit' has been/might be expressed and realized in other historical and geographical contexts... 

such as the PWB...

or the U.S., where much of what is presented under the rubric of 'butoh dance' reflects a calcified imitation of forms, rather than an engagement with the underlying dynamic... which is where i think really compelling, strong (butoh-based) performances spring from...