Butoh was born in Japan in 1959. Tatsumi Hijikata distilled his rebellion against traditional Japanese theater-dance, the influx of ballet from Europe and Japan as America's post war ward into movement. In a time of violent political protests, street theater and artists' ferment, Hijikata created the first butoh performance, Forbidden Colors. Collaborating in 1961 with Kazuo Ohno, the two established the dual branches of butoh: dark and light. Initially Hijikata's branch represented dark forces, spectacular staging, political themes, sometimes tapping the grotesque. Ohno's branch represented love, lightness and the universal themes across cultures of birth, the life cycle of the flower, one's mother, and death.
Butoh is propagated one person to another. Those original branches have divided many times since, but the lineage of a performer is sometimes a clue.
Tonight is a rare opportunity to see butoh in Portland. Vanessa Skantze from Seattle regroups her New Orleans ensemble Death Posture. Mizu Desierto, based in Portland performs.
Skantze studied with Atsushi Takenouchi. Takenouchi's Jinen butoh taps the oneness of the universe, people, the things they created as inspiration for improvised movement. Takenouchi, in turn, studied and performed with Bishop Yamada's Hoppo-Butoh-ha, based in Hokaido. In Hokaido, Yamada sought to recover the wild energy of nature and the spirit of the land, embodied by Shinto. Vanessa Skantze's solos remind me of a solo performance I have seen by Bishop Yamada. Yamada was one of the first members of Dairakudakan, founded by Akaji Maro. Dairakudakan creates spectacular performances resembling epic myth. Maro was an early collaborator with founder Hijikata.
Hijikata changed directions later, incorporating women performers for the first time, starting with painter Yoko Ashikawa, who had no previous movement training. Hijikata set on Ashikawa a sublime movement vocabulary which has had a major impact on butoh. Ashikawa and her group Hakutobo has been a large influence in Seattle.
Mizu Desertio has roots in Arizona. She incorporates the spirit of the high Southwest desert with the mysterious gestalt of the snake and the mischievous spirit of the monkey. She creates beautiful ritual performances with dramatic costumes. Mizu has studied extensively with Diego Pinon, Kazuo Ohno and the Tomano's in Berkeley. Largely self-taught in butoh, Pinon taps into Mexican shamanism and psychodrama as an inspiration for movement. Ohno, actively performing to age 92 and making his most recent appearance on the stage at age 99, contributes a lightness and compassion to Mizu's work. Koichi Tamano was an early collaborator with Hijikata. He and his partner Haruko teach and perform as Harupin-ha. Harupin-ha's performances also have a mythical flavor. Often the performances incorporate a clear plastic sphere of about 8 feet with a performer moving and walking within it. Tamano is one of the remaining early Hijikata collaborators active today and the only one in the US.
Mizu is the creator of the Water in the Desert Festival and performances on the Willamette River beneath the St John's Bridge.
This evening Death Posture performs with its original cohort. Mizu Desierto performs with musicians Power Circus. Local noise meisters also perform.
At the Fez Ballroom 316 SW 11th. 8PM $7
Interested in more? There is a revived San Francisco butoh festival www.butohsanfrancisco.net June 21-29 and one in New York City in the Fall.
