Butoh is a postmodern improvised dance form from Japan, and now established worldwide in niches.
Some say it is inspired by Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Its initial founding was not, though some later performers taped that source. Portland performer Meshi Chavez and artist Yukiyo Kawano are examples.
In fact, it was founded by Tatsumi Hijikata, age 31 at the time, in 1959. 1959 and 1960 was a great public rebelion against the renewal of the US-Japan Security Treaty. The protests drew one third of the entire population to the streets. With that, the generation who had never served in the armed forces, particpated in street theater and the arts. It was a movement like Paris and the US in 1968, BLM, or the Arab Spring.
In that crucible, Hijikata with collaborator Kazuo Ohno created a new dance form in opposition to Western ballet and modern dance. He gathered collaborators who formed the root of the butoh family tree. Toward the end of his life, Hijikata founded Hakutobo, an all women group.
Seattle is rich in its own butoh family tree with Joan Lagge working with Hakutobo's second unit, then training many in the West. San Francisco is also rich with Koichi Tamano, an early Hijikata collaborator. He is retired, his wife Hiroko Tamano still does workshops. They operated the famous Country Station https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/country-station-sushi-san-francisco in the Mission where anything could and did happen after hours.
Seattle has an annual butoh festival and performances throughout the year under the umbrella of Daipan Butoh https://www.daipanbutohcollective.com/. NYC has a butoh festival organized by Vangeline https://www.vangeline.com/ who has been collaborating with neuroscientists to study the brain while performing. Portland had a butoh node and festivals with Mizu Deserto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DuLsbcnbcQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVxjHA5b2JA. Good for her, she closed shop and literally rode off into the sunset following love.
You find workshops in LA under Min Tanaka's student Oguri under the Body Weather Laboratory. One of my favorites, Akaji Maro with his Dairakudikan, 大駱駝艦, is active performing and with a week long workshop. There is always a new generation of performers, like Kana Kitty, self-taught, independent of the butoh family tree, https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/dancing-with-death-kana-kittys-anarchic-transcendent-butoh-dance/ and her unit Wozme, though their work is a bit pop-y to me. Several of the surviving members of Sankai Juku are active active teaching. Workshops may be found in Germany and Sweden.
Now comes the Portland Art Collective with its second annual Portland Butoh Festival.
It has 4 nights of performance and 4 days of workshops.
Performence are:
Thursday April 10th
Nicole Walters with musician Eric Jordan
Rachel Goldman
Salty Xi Jie Ng & Crystal J Sasaki with musician Brian Pfeiffer
Vanessa Skantze with musician Matt Hannfin
Friday April 11th
Minja Mertanen with musician Carl Annala
Emily Haygeman
Aida Miró video screening
Paula Helen with musician Michael Perry
Saturday April 12th
Carl Annala with musician Ice Queen
Hank Logan Peterson
Carlos Cruz - video screening
Helen Thorsen
Sunday April 13th
Ash Pillar with musician Andrew Anderson
Wicking Ground with musician Green Heron
Vicky Filippa - video screening
Amapola with musician Vanessa Skantze
Worshops are Thursday & Friday by Vanessa Skantze from Seattle, and Saturday and Sunday with Minja Mertanen https://www.minjamertanen.net/cv from Finland.
The performances are $25 per night and the workshops are $25 per day, which is inexpensive for a dance workshop.
At the Portland Arts Collective https://www.portlandartscollective.org/ 122 NW Couch Tickets and schedule https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2nd-annual-portland-international-butoh-festival-tickets-1273197862079 Performances 7:30 each night $25
