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Butoh: danse macabre

Presented by Spank Dance Company at Salvage Vanguard Theater

June 17, 2010

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Mari Akita, Ellen Bartel, Caroline Sutton Clark, Music performed live by Adam Sultan

100% Improvisational performance tapping into the raw essence of movement and sounds. This is a very westernized version of Butoh

Long story:

Now that Butoh is back into my personal practice and performance I am experiencing again the profound effects of its form. Improvisation is liberating to an artist because it unlocks the mind from the task of remembering rehearsed steps. Instead, the mind is remembering all the things it has forgotten, unfolding a long history of movement and emotion like an old map. This is interesting as a performance only when the dancers are skilled and daring enough to commit to its raw form. Myself and the dancers I have included into these sessions are of that caliber. Individually we present Butoh in very different ways, but collectively we are capable of seeing the work from the inside and the outside as we perform. That is the challenge that I enjoy most of all when performing improvisation. It is being aware of all aspects of the “hear and now”. It is my goal to be aware of myself and the dancers as if I were in the audience, to be aware of myself as I tap into the character inside of me, to be aware of gesture and the freedom to not judge where it is going, from the very small unfolding of a finger to a quick scoot across the floor. We can bring the audience with us to these places and into their own experiences. Butoh is a performance experience that is unique and not quickly forgotten.