Dance Video Index

In this database, you will find 373 dance videos which were collected from the 2023 to 2025 fiscal years under the auspices of the EPAD (Eternal Performing Arts Archives and Digital Theatre) .

Overview

• Title
• Performer(s)
• Year performed

• L’Arrache-coeur

  Welcome to Anzu Furukawa's "L'Arrache-coeur"!
  
  Before the performance, let's test ourselves. Just for fun!
  
  1) Which five of the following do not have a heart?
  A ginkgo tree / a tomato / a larva / an earthworm / a nightingale / Homo sapiens / a mackerel / a nautilus / a mushroom / an octopus / an elephant / a virus / a bee / Anzu
  
  2) In October 1941, when the US-Japanese negotiations reached a deadlock, General Tojo Hideki said, "To withdraw from China or not - that is the heart of the matter".
  My mother was 12 years old.
  I was not yet born, of course.
  
  On 5 February 1965, "Vietnam is the heart of liberalism", President Lyndon B. Johnson began bombing North Vietnam.
  I was 12 years old.
  
  In 1989, the Tiananmen Square massacre took place in China, and in Germany the Berlin Wall fell at the Brandenburg Gate.
  My daughter was 12 years old.
  
  What did the work look like when you were 12?
  
  If you are 12 years old, I hope that when you are alone, your heartbeat reminds you of this performance.
  
  (Anzu Furukawa's programme notes)
  
  
  -Premiered at the Kuopio Dance Festival in 1997

  

  Performer(s)

  Anzu Furukawa

  Director/Choreographer

  Anzu Furukawa

  Venue

  Ballhouse Naunynstrasse

  Year performed

  2000

• Laugh Box

  It has been 53 years since I graduated university. I laugh once or twice a day, so in total I have laughed nearly 40,000 times.
  I think about packing all those laughs into a casket and travelling with them to the other world. (Wakamatsu)
  This is an essay-dance by Wakamatsu, an advocate of free dance. It begins with a dance in front of a Jizo statue, followed by singing and poetry recitation. The disciples sing in chorus in the audience and in the backyard.
  'It's not just about singing and dancing, it's also about the struggles of life. A bricolaged body with something to say.'
  In the sunset, one dances.

  

  Performer(s)

  Wakamatsu Miki & Tsuda Ikuko Free Dance Performance

  Director/Choreographer

  Miki Wakamatsu

  Venue

  d-soko Theater

  Year performed

  2009

• Le Grand Luminaire

  Towards technological shamanism - an exploration of new archaisms.
  The acceleration and multiplication of information have changed our relationship with time and the great mysteries of existence.
  The institutions of our societies seem incapable of embracing this phenomenon.
  The mythological and archaic notion of shaman seems to offer us a suitable position to understand our new situation and ask these questions:
  - What are our new totems?
  - Where will the psychopomps go to look for lost souls?
  - What are the new ecstasies?
  - What are the enduring initiation and healing rituals?
  The current situation, digital deluge, reactivates the archetypes of Butoh's origins - a phenomenon of shamanic resilience in the face of civilisation's accelerated metamorphosis.
  

  

  Performer(s)

  Compagnie MEDULLA

  Director/Choreographer

  Naomi Mutoh

  Venue

  Le Cuvier

  Year performed

  2016

• Letter to Abakanowicz (1994)

  Performance by Akiko Motofuji inspired by the installation of figurative sculptures by Magdalena Abakanowicz at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), which had been placed the previous year. After watching a video recording of the performance, Abakanowicz contacted Motofuji, and the two began corresponding by letter, discussing their creative work. How can butoh be expressed through the restricted spirits of sculpted bodies? In this way, the work became a collaboratively directed/choreographed butoh piece.

  Performer(s)

  Asbestos-kan

  Director/Choreographer

  Akiko Motofuji, Magdalena Abakanowicz

  Venue

  Asbestos-kan

  Year performed

  1994

• Letter to Abakanowicz: The Silent Body

  Akiko Motofuji Akiko performed 'Letter to Abakanowicz' the previous year at Asbestos-kan. This was performed again as a revised, collaborative piece between Motofuji and Abakanowicz at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Based on experiences of war, the work questions human existence, and was presented at MOCA on the 50th anniversary of radiation exposure in Hiroshima. Subtitled 'The Silent Body', it was performed by a group of nude and expressionless male butoh dancers, in an attempt to express the anonymity of Abakanowicz's sculptures.
  
  "Opening performance at 'Special Exhibition for the 50th Anniversary of the Hiroshima A-bombing: AFTER HIROSHIMA'. Two performances at 11:00 and 16:00."
  

  

  Performer(s)

  Asbestos-kan

  Director/Choreographer

  Akiko Motofuji, Magdalena Abakanowicz

  Venue

  Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art

  Year performed

  1995

• The Lifetime of Lady Boy Ivan Ilyich

  "On the one hand, there are those who are discriminated against as a sexual minority. On the other hand, those who are distinguished by arrogance and are recognized because of beauty. Growing old is not synonymous with gradual decline, ugliness and rust. It is this contradictory duality, the incongruity within that will renew things." - Masaki Iwana
  
  Based on Leo Tolstoy’s novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”

  

  Performer(s)

  Masaki Iwana

  Director/Choreographer

  Masaki Iwana

  Venue

  Altera Pars (Greek)

  Year performed

  2018

• “LIGHT, Part 4: Jigsaw Puzzle” & “Lunch”

  Kei Takei made her New York debut in September 1969 with "LIGHT", and presented "Lunch" in December of the same year. "LIGHT, Part 4: Jigsaw Puzzle" premiered in December 1970.
  In 2005, the "Dance ga Mitai! 7" season featured a "Critics Recommendation Series", in which nominators explained their reasons for selecting participants. Kei Takei was recommended by dance critic Hakudai Yamano, who pointed out that her name appears in the Oxford Dictionary of Dance alongside Michio Ito, Yoko Morishita and Tatsumi Hijikata, and that she is highly regarded internationally.

  

  Performer(s)

  Kei Takei’s Moving Earth

  Director/Choreographer

  Kei Takei

  Venue

  Azabu die pratze

  Year performed

  2005

• Light, Part 53: “Houses” ~ A One Day Fantasy ~

  "Recently, I’ve had many opportunities to ride the Shinkansen. And as I looked out the window at the houses, houses, houses... I imagine them spreading out as ivy crawls across a floor. Like living things - houses, houses, houses...
  This is where the creation of this piece, "Houses", began. I’m not sure where I’ve arrived with this piece, but I hope to enter the house."
  - Kei Takei
  
  Premiere of Part 53 of the "Light" series, which has been ongoing since 1969. The performance was staged during a time when many events were still being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  

  Performer(s)

  Kei Takei’s Moving Earth

  Director/Choreographer

  Kei Takei

  Venue

  THEATER X

  Year performed

  2022

• LIGHT, Part5

  Kei Takei made her New York debut with 'LIGHT, Part 1' since 1969, which became a long term series. As of December 2022 she has created up to Part 54. Some of these works have been solo pieces, others performed with a group. Although each piece is individual, they are all linked to create one 'LIGHT' series.
  'LIGHT Part 5' was first performed at the Dance Theater Workshop in New York in November 1972. The video is of when the piece was performed in the garden of Musashino Art University in the rain in 1990, by Kei Takai along with two men.

  

  Performer(s)

  Kei Takei’s Moving Earth

  Director/Choreographer

  Kei Takei

  Venue

  Musashino Art University

  Year performed

  1990

• Lion Heart

  A single branch covered in cotton, strapped to the wrist and carried on the shoulder, appears as a large wing. The tilted head bobs slow and silent. Only minute vibrations form the dance. The Village Voice dance critic Deborah Jowitt described this work as 'the Joan of Arc of Butoh'. It became the starting point for Yamda Setsuko's dance.
  
  - Yamada Setsuko Butoh Performance

  

  Performer(s)

  Setsuko Yamada

  Director/Choreographer

  Setsuko Yamada

  Venue

  Saramu-kan Studio 33

  Year performed

  1982

• Sasayaka ni Shiawase [A Little Happiness] / ELCK

  Sasayaka ni Shiawase' [A Little Happiness] premiered in 1988. 60 minutes long, it is a drama following five groups, inspired by a poem by Bertolt Brecht. In this world, things happen unexpectedly - let us be happy with our current reality.
  'ELCK' premiered in 1989. 40 minutes long, it is inspired by the painting of the same name by Pieter Bruegel and means 'each' or 'everyone' in Dutch. 'People stand on a broken earth, and greedily desire objects of the world.' If only Eve hadn't eaten the apple...
  
  - Sasayaka ni Shiawase': Winner of the 20th Dance Critics Society Award (1988)
  - Yonei Sumie Dance Performance 1991
  - Video recorded 24 May. 'ELCK' was performed along with other works at a matinee, while 'Sasayaka ni Shiawase' was performed at the soirée on 25 May.

  

  Performer(s)

  Sumie Yonei

  Director/Choreographer

  Sumie Yonei

  Venue

  Sogetsu Hall

  Year performed

  1991

• Live at Mandala

  Isamu Osuka, who would later establish Byakko-sha in 1980, founded Oriental Yasokai the year after his 1976 dance tour of Southeast Asia. This footage documents Oriental Yasokai's inaugural performance, held at the live music venue Mandala in Kichijoji, Tokyo. According to the flyer, the work performed was titled “Sanno Giyaman To: An Invitation to the Dancers Who Support the Theatre.” Various prototypes can be discerned here that would later be developed and refined into Byakko-sha’s works, including their signature piece "The Skylark and the Lying Buddha." Much of the music frequently used in later works also appears in this recording, although it is possible that it was added or edited at a later stage.

  

  Performer(s)

  Byakko-sha

  Director/Choreographer

  Isamu Osuka

  Venue

  Live House MANDA-LA

  Year performed

  1977

• L’ombre du cerisier

  "L’ombre du cerisier(Beneath the Cherry Tree's Shadow)" is a choreography by Juju Alishina. It portrays three symbolic characters in three situations. Like insects moving under a cherry tree, they live simply and harshly.
  
  Part 1: Woman in Black
  A woman in mourning lives quietly with ghosts but faces sudden chaos - bombings, escapes, confiscations, evacuations. Can she return to her peaceful daily life?
  Part 2: My Small Territory
  Various humans and animals defend their small territories, expressing love, protection, and escape.
  Part 3: Senbu
  A Japanese doll abandoned on a battlefield dances, recalling brighter, peaceful days.
  
  This work is influenced by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
  Performing multiple characters in a solo piece is a challenge that Juju Alishina is pursuing.
  
  -Choreography of Juju Alishina

  

  Performer(s)

  Dance Company NUBA

  Director/Choreographer

  Juju Alishina

  Venue

  Espace Culturel Bertin Poirée

  Year performed

  2022

• Lone Dance 4: The Darkness of the Body (Tokyo Scene 88)

  TOKYO SCENE 88 featured four works between 8-11 December 1988, with the theme "pure collaboration between space and acoustic sound. Looking to the future of people and materials". This piece was a collaboration between Kawamura Namiko, who began her 'acts of perception' in 1974 at Kujukuri beach, walking nude in nature over 100 times which led to her performance piece 'Hitori Odori' from 1986, and Noguchi Minoru, who has worked with Tanaka Min and other dancers and artists to create pioneering electronic music.

  

  Performer(s)

  Studio 200

  Director/Choreographer

  Namiko Kawamura

  Venue

  Studio 200

  Year performed

  1988

• LONG DISTANCE LOVE

  Tokyo and New York. Connected by the internet, female actors from two cities perform a single work at the same time, crossing the Pacific Ocean and the International Date Line. What is this, if not Long Distance Love!? Although Yubiwa Hotel had drawn out the dramatic potential of various spaces in the past, this work attempted to make the very time and space between two cities into a theatre. This global spirit was interrupted by 9/11 after the opening of the performance. Even as New York City still reeled, we encouraged each other to return to the next performance.

  

  Performer(s)

  YUBIWA Hotel

  Director/Choreographer

  Shirotama Hitsujiya

  Venue

  club asia P

  Year performed

  2001

• 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 Saikaku Ihara. 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 Akiko Motofuji. Performed by Keitoku Takada and the Asbestos-kan troupe, with guest performance by Fuei Nishimatsu 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

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