Dance Video Index

In this database, you will find 200 dance videos which were collected in the 2023 fiscal year under the auspices of the EPAD (Eternal Performing Arts Archives and Digital Theatre) .

Overview

• Title
• Performer(s)
• Year performed

• The Love of Terror

  Premiered in Tokyo in 2007. This work features a life-size driftwood puppet as the dancer's alter ego, exploring themes of self, other, and human existence from multiple perspectives. Over the course of the performance the puppet, devoid of any will of its own, transforms into a transcendent being, surpassing the limits of human form. The piece was also performed in Mexico City in collaboration with a local puppet artist, where it attracted significant attention.

  

  Performer(s)

  Taketeru Kudo

  Director/Choreographer

  Taketeru Kudo

  Venue

  ZA-KOENJI Public Theatre 1

  Year performed

  2017

• Lunch in Sunlight

  A pictorial and romantic piece in which the gesture of opening the mouth to eat is choreographed to Erik Satie's Trois morceaux en forme de poire [Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear]. Presented at ’DANCE HOUSE PART 1’.

  

  Performer(s)

  Midori Ishii and Katsuko Orita Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Katsuko Orita

  Venue

  ABC Hall

  Year performed

  1982

• Lusty Woman, 69th Generation

  Directed by John Salt, a researcher of Japanese culture, this butoh piece is based on 'The Life of an Amorous Woman' by Ihara Saikaku. With the aim of transforming the emotions of people who lived in the Edo period into butoh, the piece represents a new turning point for Motofuji Akiko. Performed by Takada Keitoku and the Asbestos-kan troupe, with guest performance by Nishimatsu Fuei on shamisen and vocals, the work brings the world of Saikaku's men and women to life in the modern day through kouta, hauta, jiuta and contemporary poetry. Performed twice, at 15:00 and 19:00.

  

  Performer(s)

  Asbestos-kan

  Director/Choreographer

  John Solt, Akiko Motofuji

  Venue

  Asbestos-kan

  Year performed

  1999

• M

  A solo butoh dance in two parts. The performance took place at Terpsichore, a small theatre in Nakano, Tokyo, where Uesugi has performed for many years. In this familiar, empty space, Uesugi creates a delicate microcosm with minimal body movements and the smallest of objects.

  Performer(s)

  Mitsuyo Uesugi

  Director/Choreographer

  Mitsuyo Uesugi

  Venue

  Terpsichore

  Year performed

  2016

• MABOROSHI

  This work contributes to Endo Tadashi's lifelong exploration of the theme of death. Death separates body and soul, and the invisible soul drifts around us. By performing the role of a ghost, Endo expresses what appears to be an illusion [Japanese: maboroshi] existing alongside the dancer's real body. The work premiered in 2019 at Sesc Silo, a cultural centre in Paraty, Brazil.

  

  Performer(s)

  Tadashi Endo (Butoh Centre MAMU)

  Director/Choreographer

  Tadashi Endo

  Venue

  Staatstheater Kassel, TIF (Germany)

  Year performed

  2024

• The Maids

  Everything can be told through the gestures of women". Inspired by Jean Genet's 'The Maids', a masterpiece of French avant-garde theatre, it premiered in Tokyo the previous November. Guided by Genet's words and boldly reinterpreted, the 'three' maids connect, share, snoop and reveal. The me inside myself, the you inside me (inside a woman). Katsumata Keiko (Sōmōjuku) and Sakurai Yuri (Zokucho no Tabi) were invited to join Tanaka Mutsuko for a celebration of women's butoh, in which their three personalities collide.
  
  - Butoh-sha Tenkei Special Performance.
  - Participated in the 4th OSAKA DANCE EXPERIENCE & the Hijikata Tatsumi '98

  

  Performer(s)

  TORII HALL

  Director/Choreographer

  Ebisu Torii

  Venue

  TORII HALL

  Year performed

  1998

• A Man in White

  16mm film of Ohno Yoshito performing. It was discovered in Yoshito's home in 2018, and details of how it was filmed are unknown. A silent film, it was potentially a work in progress. The costume and make-up closely resemble Yoshito's poster from his solo performance in 1969, and it is speculated that it may have been recorded by the sea in Kamakura while he was preparing for his performance.

  

  Performer(s)

  Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Yoshito Ohno

  Year performed

  1969

• Manual Waiter and others (from ‘Satie – Mamako – Suru’)

  From 'Mamako the Mime: Satie - Mamako - Suru' performed in Shizuoka in 1988.
  The event was arranged by pianist Omura Yoko, who invited Mamako to create work inspired by Erik Satie songs such as 'Gymnopédie'.
  Works performed included: 'Acrobat', 'Sympathy for the Poor Eyesight Developed by a Word Processor and a Barcode', 'The Eggplant-shaped Japanese and Bean-shaped foreign worker', 'Manual Waiter' and 'Glass Castle'.

  Performer(s)

  Mamako Yoneyama

  Director/Choreographer

  Mamako Yoneyama

  Venue

  Sizuoka City Culture Hall

  Year performed

  1988

• The March of the Lemmings

  During an abnormal outbreak, lemmings migrate in groups, sometimes dying in large numbers while crossing rivers and such.
  This has given rise to a theory that this is a form of selection, influencing the view of human cultural history.
  This performance depicts the lemming's dance of death.
  In the midst of an unusual outbreak, a dancing frenzy suddenly erupts. The whole group, except for the blind lemming (Wakamatsu), dances wildly and joyfully while jumping into a river to drown.
  The blind lemming stands still, and transforms into a human being.
  The scene becomes a street corner. A pregnant woman, holding the hand of an infant, passes by.

  

  Performer(s)

  Wakamatsu Miki & Tsuda Ikuko Free Dance Performance

  Director/Choreographer

  Miki Wakamatsu,Ikuko Tsuda

  Venue

  Tokyo Post Saving Hall

  Year performed

  1989

• Materiality and Freedom of Seeing (Tokyo Scene 88)

  TOKYO SCENE 88 featured four works between 8-11 December 1988, with the theme ""pure collaboration between space and acoustic sound"". On the third day was a collaborative piece with Goji Hamada's installation/performance, and Kiyoshi Matsumoto's improvised cello music.
  
  Part 1: Performance (In a Black Cage 'I' Sing)
  Part 2: Talk (Kiss my Body with Words)
  Part 3: Performance ('I' Sleep Outside the Cage)

  Performer(s)

  Studio 200

  Director/Choreographer

  Goji Hamada

  Venue

  Studio 200

  Year performed

  1988

• Melancholia – A Portrait of M

  A collaborative piece featuring butoh dance by Uesugi Mitsuyo and film by Takamatsu Makiko. The performance took place in autumn 2021, under the still-restrictive circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was created with the intention of reexamining the meaning of "reality" in a world where, in order to prevent the spread of infection, most performances were not being held in real-life spaces, and audience interaction was largely digital. The venue was a plaza beneath the railway tracks in Koganecho, Yokohama, which served as a special open-air venue where passers-by could come and go.
  
  -DANCE DANCE DANCE @ YOKOHAMA 2021
  -DIGITAL//REALITY International Butoh Festival

  

  Performer(s)

  Mitsuyo Uesugi

  Director/Choreographer

  Mitsuyo Uesugi

  Year performed

  2021

• Metaphysical Emotion V – Dew of a Wildflower

  ""How can we be, how can we erase these bodies that feel warm and cold, and be as a wildflower in the field?""
  Butoh dancer Takai Tomiko (1931-2011), who studied under Ohno Kazuo and Hijikata Tatsumi, began her 'Metaphysical Emotion' series in 1967 under Hijikata's direction. Takai presented 'Part II' in 1986, and continued the series for the rest of her life. 'Dew of a Wildflower' is 'Part V', and was performed in Frankfurt and Paris. Several characters make an appearance in the work, including a fiancée, a pregnant woman and an old woman looking back on her past.

  Performer(s)

  Studio 200

  Director/Choreographer

  Tomiko Takai

  Venue

  Studio 200

  Year performed

  1990

• Metasequoia

  Group work with over 20 dancers, created by Endo Tadashi. The theme of the work is how important nature is to humans, inspired by the experience of Endo's father, a school headmaster who was motivated to rebuild a school that had burnt down after seeing a metasequoia tree that sprouted in its place.
  
  -Mamu Festival

  

  Performer(s)

  Tadashi Endo (Butoh Centre MAMU)

  Director/Choreographer

  Tadashi Endo

  Venue

  Junges Theater Göttingen

  Year performed

  1993

• Mettarohozu

  A scene from a dance therapy presentation held at Seinan Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Hachinohe, Aomori. Sessions were initially held by Ishii Mitsutaka, who went on the invitation of photographer Hanaga Mitsutoshi. However, after Ishii began teaching at other hospitals, other butoh dancers such as Uno Man also began teaching here. Ishii later stated that butoh therapy is 'the truest form of human beings'.
  
  The 1981 presentation 'Baroquekikizu' was credited as a dance therapy event. However, this film of 'Mettarohozu' is credited as a butoh therapy event."

  

  Performer(s)

  Seinan Hospital

  Director/Choreographer

  Hajime Chiba

  Venue

  Seinan Hospital (Aomori)

  Year performed

  1982

• Minotaur Disco

  A new piece choreographed and directed by the Tokyo Real Underground artistic director Kawaguchi Takao, performed by butoh dancer Yoshimoto Daisuke and contemporary dancer Sakai Naoyuki. Divided by several generations, the two performers form a new dance as monsters of a labyrinth. Filmmaker Suzuki Akihiro invites us into a world reminiscent of the 1960s underground film scene, of something more than a simple recording of a stage performance.
  
  -- Holding your breath in the deep, dark labyrinth as footsteps approach. Ah, mon amour!
  Unable to suppress your emotions, you run and take them into your arms, singing and dancing. Je t’aime, je t’aime.
  You don’t realise the footsteps were your own. -- Kawaguchi Takao
  
  -Created as a video piece. The venue indicates where it was filmed, while the performance period refers to the dates the work was available for online viewing, from its release date until the conclusion of the Tokyo Real Underground festival (1 April - 15 August 2021).
  -Takao Kawaguchi Selection: Un Certain Regard
  -Tokyo Real Underground (Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL Special 13)

  

  Performer(s)

  NPO Dance Archive Network

  Director/Choreographer

  Takao Kawaguchi

  Venue

  Filmed Former Hakubutsukan Dobutsuen Station [Museum Zoo Station]

  Year performed

  2021

• Dance Video: Miracle Report

  "Miracle Report" is an experimental dance/art video by Byakko-sha, directed and edited by video artist Kyu Seigen. The four-part work ("Gourmet", "Giger", "Alice" and "China Town") was filmed during their 1986 tour of Taiwan.

  

  Performer(s)

  Byakko-sha

  Director/Choreographer

  Seigen Kyu, Jun Abe, Isamu Osuka

  Venue

  Filmed in Taiwan

  Year performed

  1986

• MOKUJIKI

  UHF Television Yamanashi's 20th anniversary programme 'Travel... the man who became a smiling Buddha: Retracing the steps of Mokujiki Shōnin over 20,000km'. The programme retraces the footsteps of Mokujiki Shōnin, who until the age of 93, travelled from Hokkaido to Kyushu at the end of the Edo period carving Buddha statues with iconic smiles, which later came to be known as 'Smiling Buddhas'. Starring Goi Teru, a butoh dancer from Hokkaido.

  

  Performer(s)

  Television Yamanashi Co.,Ltd.

  Year performed

  1989

• A Moment of Flower

  Suzuki Yukio's solo work, in collaboration with photographer Yagi Saki.
  In this work, the photographer also exists on stage with the dancer, shooting live and projecting images using a projector. The photos she took are projected on the wall after a short delay, and overlaps with the actual dancer. The audience witnesses the accumulation of time. This is like time travel and the audience will feel like they become "the camera". This is a new experiential dance work.
  
  Performed at:
  New York Space CAVE, USA (2023)
  the Headwaters theater, Portland USA (2023)
  Teatre TRAM, Tokyo (2022)
  Center line art festival, Tokyo (2021)

  

  Performer(s)

  YUKIO SUZUKI Projects

  Director/Choreographer

  Yukio Suzuki

  Venue

  Kita-kyushu Arts Theatre

  Year performed

  2024

• Moon of Day, Night and Morning

  A girl, dead while living, dances wildly among countless parasols scattered around her... The parasols become bright red spider lilies, a toy windmill rattling in the wind... Seen as the 11-headed Avalokiteshvara, the girl lies at the bottom of a lake as the night moon rises in the void. The girl and a young man's journey towards chaos unfolds around the moon. The abundant and dynamic world of Orita Katsuko aims to discover a fundamental encounter between Form and Chaos.
  
  -From the ORITA KATSUKO DANCE RECITAL
  -The brains behind Orita's work during the 1980s were:
  Script - Konno Yuichi
  Artwork - Maeda Tetsuhiko
  Lighting - Sawada Yuji

  

  Performer(s)

  Midori Ishii and Katsuko Orita Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Katsuko Orita

  Venue

  Sogetsu Hall

  Year performed

  1980

• Mu (illusion of Emptiness)

  "Do-zan draws its inspiration from the Japanese performing arts of Noh Drama, Butoh and traditional Japanese Dance (Azuma Style). Each member of Dozan has travelled overseas to pursue intensive training in the Japanese performing arts, only to return to Australia to create works which are highly personal in nature, woven with the richness of Japanese movement techniques, costumes, characters and poetry. Yumi Umiumare created and performed ""Mu"" (illusion of Emptiness) whose program note reads:
  
  Holding breath
  Floating in the haze
  Nurturing the point before
  Releasing your breath sharply with a ""pah""!"
  
  - Participated in the Castlemaine Festival
  - The video was recorded in August, 1994 at St Carthage’s Church where Cherie Whitington, Jill Orr, Tony Yap and Yumi Umiumare presented their own pieces in DO-ZAN.
  - Umimare's words are taken from the program for DO-ZAN presented at Castlemaine Library Hall.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yumi Umiumare

  Director/Choreographer

  Yumi Umiumare

  Venue

  St Carthage’s Church

  Year performed

  1994

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