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

• BLOOM

  Premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 1996.
  Received a number of rave reviews including: 'a totally electrifying experience' (The Stage), 'makes you think about the beauty and meaningfulness of movement' (The Scotsman).
  It has been since been developed and refined, and performed in many places across Japan, and become one of Gekidan Taihen's key works."
  
  - Tobita Theatre Performance Award

  

  Performer(s)

  Performance Troupe TAIHEN

  Director/Choreographer

  Manri Kim

  Venue

  AI Hall (Itami City Theater Hall)

  Year performed

  1996

• Blue Sky Dancer: Gilyak Amagasaki

  Street performer Gilyak Amagasaki danced all over the world in what he called 'Blue Sky Dance Performances'. These began with performances that were held almost every autumn from 1978 in an outdoor square of the Mitsui Building, in the skyscraper district of Shinjuku, Tokyo. This video shows the entire performance of 13 October 2002. In it, Gilyak indicates a cloth on which the title is written and explains to the audience what is to be performed, then proceeds to dance. There was no charge for the performance, but the audience was encouraged to pay donations. The video shows the audience helping Gilyak collect money thrown on the ground after the performance.

  Performer(s)

  Gilyak Amagasaki

  Director/Choreographer

  Gilyak Amagasaki

  Venue

  Shinjuku Mitsui Building Hiroba

  Year performed

  2002

• Ito Kim’s ‘Body Story’ and Yazagi Takeshi’s ‘Meat Excuses’

  'Body Story' - The fascinating changes, the many different textures that can appear and disappear from a single body; mechanical and rigid, movements smooth as water, drifting like air... A strong solo improvisation piece that fully incorporates the sharp, flowing movements unique to Ito Kim.
  
  'Meat Excuses' - Reason and instinct, laughter and anger, tension and relaxation, seriousness and frivolity, the self and non-self, artistry and entertainment. A tragicomic story of a piece of meat in various repeated battles.
  
  - Participated in the 4th OSAKA DANCE EXPERIENCE Dance Battle - Before Dance / After Dance - Ito Kim x Yazaki Takeshi

  

  Performer(s)

  TORII HALL

  Director/Choreographer

  Ito Kim, Yazaki Takeshi

  Venue

  TORII HALL

  Year performed

  1998

• Tai [Body]　

  Ishii Midori's choreography to Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring' is not the usual story of sacrifice, but rather uses themes that the famed piece inspired in Ishii: nature and vitality. The dancers' interplay of curves and straight lines, feet shifted by the centre of gravity and stillness in motion are excellent, and the expression captured by their bodies in the final chapter is a beautiful hymn to humanity.
  
  -Presented at the Ishii Midori Dance Recital as Ishii Midori Dance Works Vol. 2.
  -Premiered in 1961, this version was performed in 1983. Awarded the Art Encouragement Prize in April 1962. Orita Katsuko, was awarded the first Art Festival Individual Performance Award for Modern Dance with this piece. It was performed again in 2015 and 2018 at the Dance Archive Performances organised by the Contemporary Dance Association of Japan, and hailed as a powerful and dynamic work.

  

  Performer(s)

  Midori Ishii and Katsuko Orita Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Midori Ishii

  Venue

  Tokyo Post Saving Hall

  Year performed

  1983

• Brandenburg Concerto and 5 short pieces

  British choreographer Anton Dolin said he had never seen anything like it, claiming that the music by Bach must have written for this piece; that was the effect of Ishii Midori's Brandenburg Concerto. Ishii's particular way of finding rhythm - moving from 'hold' (off-beat), having 'stolen sounds' and being 'still in the midst of movement' - these are also traditionally Japanese ways of finding rhythm. This is one of Ishii's signature pieces, which exemplifies these ideas.
  
  -The first section of Ishii Midori's 50 Years of Dance anniversary performance, including Brandenburg Concerto, and five short pieces: 'Southern Moon' (6'22"") / 'Golliwog's Cakewalk' (2'22"") / 'Udaru' (5'32"") / 'Three Themes' (0'32"") / 'Four Walls' (7'35"") / 'Brandenburg Concerto' (18'33"")
  
  

  

  Performer(s)

  Midori Ishii and Katsuko Orita Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Midori Ishii

  Venue

  National Theatre of Japan : Small Theatre

  Year performed

  1981

• Butoh is a Corpse Striving to Stand

  The title is an aphorism that Hijikata Tatsumi himself used to express his own butoh. The piece was directed by Motofuji Akiko as part of 'Japanese Summer 1960-64' at Art Tower Mito, and presented as a tribute to Hijikata in a retrospective exhibition that looked back on avant-garde artists from the first half of the 1960s. It was performed in the entrance hall by Motofuji Akiko, Ohno Kazuo and Ohno Yoshito among others, in front of a large photograph taken from the finale scene of [Hijikata's] 'Rebellion of the Body'.

  Performer(s)

  Asbestos-kan

  Director/Choreographer

  Akiko Motofuji

  Venue

  Art Tower Mito Contemporary Art Gallery

  Year performed

  1997

• Butoh of 21,000 Nautical Miles

  A 30m long railway track replicating the Manchuria Railway was built with sleepers and stones, and a boat designed for audience seating was towed over it. This was a work of remembrance, and included themes such as ghosts of former Japanese soldiers, brides wandering the tracks, a group dance of deranged young Indians from which emerges a golden Buddha, and other extraordinary and everyday representations, interwoven with images more related to Buddhist philosophy, as appears more in later work.
  
  -This work was performed from 5-16 September. with 4 subtitles:
  First Easterly Wind (5-7 September)
  Westerly Wind of the day of the Buddha's death (8-10 September)
  Southerly Wind of the Rainy Season (11-13 September)
  Early Autumn Typhoon (14-16 September)"
  

  

  Performer(s)

  UNO-MAN

  Director/Choreographer

  Man Uno

  Venue

  Sagacho Exhibit Space

  Year performed

  1984

• Butoh Yori no Shokan: Theory of Origins, 1993

  ""This work was quite something! I included an entirely nude scene... It was created in the heat of the moment, and I was relieved that it didn't cause any trouble with Sogetsu Hall... Or perhaps I didn't even think about that! Now it's a good story to tell."" (Takeuchi)
  
  A recital commemorating the 22nd anniversary of Takeuchi Yasuhiko's solo dance career. At the 40th anniversary another recital was held under the same title 'Butoh Yori no Shokan' [The Summons of Butoh].

  

  Performer(s)

  Yasuhiko Takeuchi

  Director/Choreographer

  Yasuhiko Takeuchi

  Venue

  Sogetsu Hall

  Year performed

  1993

• Butoh-ichi – The Blind Thief

  Performed at the Ishii Mitsutaka Dance Experience. It begins with the words 'Niku-ichi' emblazoned in the darkness. Ishii drags a blind old woman out from the audience, makes her play a shamisen and dances spectacularly. Then, held by four stage hands, he performs a bizarre strip dance. A large monster, similar to the lion in a lion dance draped in a large cloth, circles the stage. A crazed Ishii wielding a scythe reveals the true nature of a harvester. As a man in an iron helmet is polished with an electric grinder, sparks and bright yellow demonic flames colour the world of darkness. In the finale, Ishii lines up all the performers on stage and performs a dance of thanks.

  

  Performer(s)

  Mitsutaka Ishii

  Director/Choreographer

  Mitsutaka Ishii

  Venue

  Ikebukuro Sphere Theater

  Year performed

  1969

• CANDIES girlish hardcore

  First international touring production. After premiering in Cardiff, UK, it was toured through London, Portland (USA) and New York before triumphantly returning to Tokyo and Osaka. Here we have the recording from the Japan society performance in New York. Works by Yubiwa Hotel at the time had an entire cast of female performers, and presented views on life, death, society and the world through the history of women's lives. They attracted a great deal of attention with innovative visuals, and audiences who would chat 'Mean Girls!' and 'Stunning!' at them.
  

  

  Performer(s)

  YUBIWA Hotel

  Director/Choreographer

  Shirotama Hitsujiya

  Venue

  Japan Society, New York.

  Year performed

  2006

• A Canoe going underneath a Cherry Blossom Tree / Dream of Love

  Ohno Kazuo performed two works at the second 'Shinobu-kai' event which was arranged, it is thought, by Kitabayashi Tanie of the Mingei Theatre Company. 'A Canoe going underneath a Cherry Blossom Tree' was based on a poem by Shiraishi Kazuko, and was also performed at a memorial for Eguchi Takaya in February that same year. 'Dream of Love' performed to the song by Liszt comes from the end of 'My Mother', but Ohno often danced this as a single-song performance for such occasions.

  

  Performer(s)

  Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Kazuo Ohno

  Venue

  Yamaha Music Salon (Tokyo)

  Year performed

  1979

• The Captive World – a New Interpretation of Dr Caligari

  The ballet adaptation of 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari', made famous by film director Robert Wiene.
  The story is about the delusions of a mentally ill man. A doctor who experiments on human subjects, and kidnaps a woman. A man comes to save the woman but is also captured. The woman is driven mad by the experiments and the man is mentally manipulated. In the end the sick man believing he is the doctor, kills the doctor and the woman, and is himself engulfed in flames.
  How much of this is fact and how much is delusion?
  
  - Participated in the ACA National Arts Festival 1984

  

  Performer(s)

  Wakamatsu Miki & Tsuda Ikuko Free Dance Performance

  Director/Choreographer

  Miki Wakamatsu, Ikuko Tsuda

  Venue

  Yomiuri Hall

  Year performed

  1984

• Champing at the Bit

  Shot in the subway of New York without permission in 1982. The members of the cast were the School of Hard Rocks.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yoshiko Chuma

  Director/Choreographer

  Yoshiko Chuma

  Venue

  New York

  Year performed

  1982

• City of Memories

  The title of this piece - 'City of Memories' represents the time we send on memory and unconsciousness. It is a dance that expresses, with contemporary originality, the time in which many lives are interwoven, their histories, the instantaneous energy of people and the mysterious aspects of nature and humans which cannot be fully understood. It is an early work in which Orita Katsuko began creating group performances.
  
  -Awarded the Dance Critics Society Award
  -Presented at the Katsuko Orita Dance Recital

  

  Performer(s)

  Midori Ishii and Katsuko Orita Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Katsuko Orita

  Venue

  ABC Hall

  Year performed

  1978

• Commercial Eruption

  Yoshiko Chuma acts on Andy Warhol's idea of "15 minutes of fame" and translates and exaggerates them into a 1980s logic: the quarter of an hour turns into only 10 seconds that frame the numerous different protagonists’ options to present and merchandise themselves and their role models. The reference to advertising strategies of a culminating capitalism are both critical and ironic.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yoshiko Chuma

  Director/Choreographer

  Yoshiko Chuma

  Year performed

  1982

• ‘Consecration of Flowers’ in Prague

  This work was first performed in 1992 as part of Torifune Butoh-sha's inaugural performance, and has been performed in Japan and abroad, including at the Avignon Theatre Festival, New York and at Kamigamo Shrine in Kyoto. The work was choreographed and composed using the Hijikata notations in Mikami Kayo's master's thesis 'Study of Tatsumi Hijikata: Butoh Techniques', modelled on her friend and writer Suzuki Izumi, who committed suicide and left a child. In the first half, 'As a Ghost Passes, Embracing a Child', the following butoh notations are used: 'As a Ghost Passes, Embracing a Child', 'Flowing Neck', 'Embracing the Child', 'Moonlight', 'Sheets', 'Threads on the Ceiling' and 'Hallo'. The second half 'Days of Love' include notations such as 'Lady in Relief' and 'Three peacocks'.
  
  - This work was specially invited to perform for the opening ceremony of the World Music Respect Festival in Prague, July 1999.

  

  Performer(s)

  Torifune Butoh Sha

  Director/Choreographer

  Yukio Mikami

  Venue

  The Spanish Hall, Prague Castle

  Year performed

  1999

• Contemporary Dance Kyōgen: Chimatakaruru Yaorozuno – Kitsune no Maki

  Contemporary dance kyōgen [traditional comedy], with original script, songs and live music. A combination of theatre, ballet and puppetry, the dancers take the roles of both performers and stagehands, while also speaking lines and singing songs. With a clownish fox as the facilitator, it is a comical and fantastical portrayal of modern Japan. The first half, titled 'Hitomebore Issei Ichidai Junjohen' is a retelling of a love story between a fox and a rabbit, which premiered in 1995 to great acclaim. The second half, titled 'Fuyugare Bōkyōhen' tells the tragicomic story of a rich tanuki [racoon] and a pauper kitsune [fox].
  
  -29th Newcomer's Award - Dance Critics Association of Japan (1997)
  -Arts Foundation Grant Programme: Ueda Haruka Dance Recital 2.
  Volume 1 (First half): Hitomebore Issei Ichidai Junjohen [Love at first sight]
  Volume 2 (Second half): Fuyugare Bōkyōhen [Nostalgia]

  

  Performer(s)

  Haruka Ueda

  Director/Choreographer

  Haruka Ueda

  Venue

  Aoyama Round Theatre

  Year performed

  1997

• Dance of Prayer

  The first documentary film produced by Gilyak Amagasaki to commemorate 30 years of his street performances. At the time Gilyak had damaged the cartilage in his knee, and was uncertain how long he would be able to continue dancing for. He created the film so that others might watch his dances in the future, with recordings of nine of his performances including 'Jongara Ichidai' and 'Nenriki'. Along with footage from his performances in Sapporo and Kyoto, the film includes autobiographical elements, with scenes of his hometown Hakodate. Produced, directed and starring Gilyak Amagasaki, 1998, colour film (70min).

  

  Performer(s)

  Gilyak Amagasaki

  Director/Choreographer

  Gilyak Amagasaki

  Year performed

  1998

• The Dancer Disappears

  One year after Muronoi Yoko passed away in 2017 at the age of 58, a book was published called 'The Dancer Disappears'. Muronoi left behind many photographs and videos of her solo performances, and this video anthology of the same title traces her career in sequence from her first performance in 1983, to her performance at Gallery Inukai (Sapporo) in 2017.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yoko Muronoi

  Director/Choreographer

  Yoko Muronoi

  Year performed

  1983

• DARK BOX – Garden in Darkness

  The walls are covered in photographic paper. The dance begins in total darkness. After a number of flashes of a green lamp, the lights come up and images of Namerikawa Goro's dancing body appear on the walls. This was the trick used in 'Dark Box'. Although the date of the performance at The Seed Hall is unknown, it was also performed at the Mandeville Center at the University of California, San Diego on June 20, 1986, and at the Suzue Gumi Warehouse in 1987. For the Suzue Gumi Warehouse performance, the photographic paper wall stretched 30 metres side to side.

  Performer(s)

  Goro Namerikawa/Austro Arts Association Co.,Ltd.

  Director/Choreographer

  Goro Namerikawa

  Venue

  Seed Hall

  Year performed

  1986

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