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

• Renge Village

  Light movements are gradually overlaid with Indian music and skillful use of props. This work is a perfect example of Orita Katsuko's own characteristics in movement.
  
  -Presented at the Modern Dance May Festival.
  -In 1985, the work was presented to the Korean Dance Association and Korean dancers.

  

  Performer(s)

  Midori Ishii and Katsuko Orita Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Katsuko Orita

  Venue

  Toyoko Theater

  Year performed

  1984

• Rent a Body- The Last Night of Ballhaus

  A site-specific performance held through the whole of the Ballhaus Theater in Berlin just before the fall of the Wall, where tensions were rising on a daily basis.
  Furukawa Anzu was invited as director and choreographer to realise Delta RA'i's idea of transforming the entire venue into a dance space. With 46 dancers chosen through audition, performances went ahead after a month of rehearsals. The shows were packed out every day, and it became a legendary piece that became a talking point among Berlin artists for a while.
  
  -Butoh dance/theatre project
  -51 performers in total

  

  Performer(s)

  tatoeba

  Director/Choreographer

  Anzu Furukawa

  Venue

  Ballhouse Naunynstrasse (Berlin)

  Year performed

  1989

• Return to the Village

  My ballet instructor in New York once crumpled up a piece of paper and tossed it in the air saying 'this is ballet'. The falling of nature itself. We used to dance in front of the Opera House fountain on the way home from lessons. The flautist was a naturalist, who lived day to day with no job or home. But if his life were natural, it is too heavy. Can we marvel at beauty and let it soften our hearts without understanding it? I want to dance a dance without having to try too hard. Is that natural, or unnatural?
  
  - Participated in the ACA National Arts Festival 1976 Excellence Award
  - Awarded the ACA National Arts Festival 1976
  - A full-length video of the rehearsal. The performance took place on 8 November 1976 at the Yomiuri Hall.

  

  Performer(s)

  Wakamatsu Miki & Tsuda Ikuko Free Dance Performance

  Director/Choreographer

  Miki Wakamatsu, Ikuko Tsuda

  Year performed

  1976

• Ridges in a Field under Moonshine

  By moonlight I stand
  The life of the seed, the seed of life / Will surely be sealed
  At night, butterflies / cross the channel
  It is not that I dance, but that / my body is invited to dance
  As though there is an endless exchange between the countless full moons and blood
  This is how the butoh should be danced.
  (Bishop Yamada, The Butoh Chronicles III)
  
  - Hoppo Butoh-ha Performance

  

  Performer(s)

  Hoppo Butoh-ha

  Director/Choreographer

  Bishop Yamada

  Venue

  Sapporo DOSHIN HALL

  Year performed

  1982

• The School of Hard Knocks

  The film travels through the urban canyons, parking decks and rooftops of New York, where choreographer Yoshiko Chuma and actor John Nesci explore the textures and architecture of the city through engagement with movement and objects. Finally, the journey leads to the natural landscape of Maine where Jacob Burckhardt’s camera captures the movements of leaves, water, light, and a raft floating in the fog. Created in 1980.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yoshiko Chuma

  Director/Choreographer

  Yoshiko Chuma

  Year performed

  1980

• The Sea of Memoriz

  When we die, we are divided into two types of people: those who leave this world with hatred, and those who let bygones be bygones and are left surrounded by pleasant memories. It seems people can in fact rewrite their memories. Two people who rewrite the memories of a bad separation can fill the hole left in their hearts, and when they leave this world, their ill feelings disappear.
  
  - Participated in the 12.Int Tanztheaterfestival Graz

  

  Performer(s)

  Kanazawa Butoh Kan

  Director/Choreographer

  Moe Yamamoto, Kei Shirasaka

  Venue

  Theater im Palais (Austria)

  Year performed

  2003

• Sea of Time

  Tamano Koichi, who studied under Hijikata Tatsumi at Asbestos-kan from 1964 and was nicknamed by him as 'Nijinsky with crab legs', formed the Harupin-ha group in 1972, before moving to San Francisco in 1979 where he helped establish butoh in the USA. He continued to perform many times in Japan after emigrating, as a guest performer in Dairakudakan performances and working with the composer Kitarō on tours of Japan. 'Sea of Time' is his own piece, presented in Osaka, which included participation by some of his students from the USA.
  
  - Tamano Koichi Butoh Performance
  

  Performer(s)

  TORII HALL

  Director/Choreographer

  Koichi Tamano

  Venue

  TORII HALL

  Year performed

  1996

• 서울 (Seoul) Erotica – Ajumma’s Breast and Shape of a Peninsula

  Since time immemorial, many white shadows have haunted the Japanese people. The moment we set foot in the Korean peninsula, they begin to shine brightly. These shining white shadows are not angry. We just want to quietly listen.
  
  - Participated in the 2nd OSAKA DANCE EXPERIENCE
  - Katsura Kan & Sultan Bank Butoh Performance
  

  

  Performer(s)

  TORII HALL

  Director/Choreographer

  Kan Katsura

  Venue

  TORII HALL

  Year performed

  1996

• SHARANPOKA

  Mitsuyo Uesugi's first solo butoh performance on returning to Japan, after working with Catherine Diverrès in France for three years. A captivating piece, she was described as capturing the space 'not with the breadth of movement, but with the difference in presence' and 'repressed movement'. 'The love (eros) within her is complete.' (Satō Masatoshi, Terpsichore News).
  
  -Mitsuyo Uesugi Solo Butoh Performance

  

  Performer(s)

  Mitsuyo Uesugi

  Director/Choreographer

  Mitsuyo Uesugi

  Venue

  Terpsichore (Nakano, Tokyo)

  Year performed

  1991

• SHE

  The music consists entirely of Maria Callas and Bach arrangements. Highly acclaimed, 'she showed absolute control of the body, with incredible power and extreme fragility' (Peter Bu, Le Figaro, 7 August 1997). 'She explored every inch of the female figure, stereotyped as it has been for eternity. Everyone is brought into that moment. She tells the story of a state of mind, transforming her whole body in an astonishing way' (Du Théâtre, Autumn 1997, no. 18). The work toured 25 times across 6 countries.
  
  -Mitsuyo Uesugi Solo Butoh Performance at the Mimos Festival Perigueux

  

  Performer(s)

  Mitsuyo Uesugi

  Director/Choreographer

  Mitsuyo Uesugi

  Venue

  LE PALACE

  Year performed

  1997

• Shinjuku Station Rush Hour Tango and others (from ‘Clown’s Lane’)

  Shinjuku Station Rush Hour Tango', created in the 1970s, is one of Yoneyama Mamako's best known works. A scathing satire of people passing through the station in a 'pankago' - her own original form of performance combining pantomime with witty song and narrative.
  The video is from the 1984 solo mime recital 'Clown's Lane', which included the following pieces: 'Tako o Ageru Kodomo' [Child Flying a Kite], 'Onna no Seicho' [Growing Woman], 'Zō no Hanashi' [Elephant Story], 'The Button War', 'Shinjuku Station Rush Hour Tango', 'Sora o Tobu Otoko' [The Flying Man] and 'Piero no Tama' [The Clown's Balls].

  

  Performer(s)

  Mamako Yoneyama

  Director/Choreographer

  Mamako Yoneyama

  Venue

  Mitsukoshi Theater

  Year performed

  1984

• Sinking Waterfall: A Collaboration of Drums, Sculpture, Light and Butoh

  In the ancient history of butoh, demons, supernatural beings and dragons have come and gone. Do they live deep within our bodies today? The body is a mysterious and strange container. Go up the river of memory and find a glowing scale at the bottom of a waterfall. At this signal, the fight between the Water Dragon and the Fire Dragon begins. Such a scene of chaos is the sole domain of the Butoh. Man after man passes by. Tossed around by love, Narukami Shonin climbs a waterfall and becomes a dragon. It is the beginning of a new festival.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yukio Waguri + Kozensha

  Director/Choreographer

  Yukio Waguri, Jinishi Hiranuma

  Venue

  P3 art and environment

  Year performed

  1995

• Soft Moon

  "Has Humankind really lost Memory
  of when the soft Moon approached the Earth
  Drawing out all kinds of hard protrusions
  and Revealing the Earths True Nature"
  
  From the Orita Katsuko Dance Performance. 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

  1982

• Someil de Terre

  Wind Burial - Fern in the Wind', 'Cremation - Egg in the Fire', 'Water Burial - Stone at the Bottom of the Water' and 'Bird Burial - Bird Woman's Head', were the four parts to Yoshimoto Daisuke's 'Funeral Series' performed between 1983 and 1987. With this addition of 'Someil de Terre', it became a 5-part series. Original concept: 'Stanislav de Gala Soshaku Kōfujin' [Madame de Stanislav de Gala Mastication]
  
  - Daisuke Yoshimoto Butoh Dance

  

  Performer(s)

  Daisuke Yoshimoto

  Director/Choreographer

  Daisuke Yoshimoto

  Venue

  Sogetsu Hall

  Year performed

  1995

• Song of the Owl

  Orita Katsuko collected owls, which are said to bring good luck*. In Greek mythology, the owl is a symbol of the goddess Athena. This work explores the nocturnal and mysterious characteristics of the owl as its theme.
  *Not living owls
  
  -Presented at the ORITA KATSUKO DANCE RECITAL.

  

  Performer(s)

  Midori Ishii and Katsuko Orita Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Katsuko Orita

  Venue

  Sogetsu Hall

  Year performed

  1980

• Konpaku [Soul]

  One of Ishii Midori's early works was 'Himeyuri no To' [Tower of Himeyuri]. This work, 'Konpaku', shows her shift from direct expression to a more abstract form of expression. This dance of mourning performed to Faure's 'Requiem' expresses sorrow over the tragedy of war, and the desire to heal people through dance and music.
  During the war, Ishii went to Southeast Asia with composer Koseki Yuji and others to give performances for the troops. They also performed many performances of encouragement in Japan.
  
  -From an Ishii Midori Dance Performance.

  

  Performer(s)

  Midori Ishii and Katsuko Orita Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Midori Ishii

  Venue

  Tokyo Post Saving Hall

  Year performed

  1987

• Spiral Dream – Then Find the Hidden Stone

  Spirals are the form of life. They surround us everywhere: in the bud of a morning glory, the structure of the galaxy, in DNA. Spirals dance through life, living, death and destruction, all creation. We are suspended in the dream of the body, in the midst of ascent and descent. But do not be alarmed, because we know that truth is hidden in the unformed and the invisible. Butoh is a signpost. Seeds should be sown in fresh soil. Let us wait for the day new, never before seen sprouts appear.

  Performer(s)

  Yukio Waguri + Kozensha

  Director/Choreographer

  Yukio Waguri

  Venue

  La Vita Hall

  Year performed

  1994

• Spiral Dream – Two Nights of Butoh + Piano

  Spirals are the form of life. They surround us everywhere: in the bud of a morning glory, the structure of the galaxy, in DNA. Spirals dance through life, living, death and destruction, all creation. We are suspended in the dream of the body, in the midst of ascent and descent. But do not be alarmed, because we know that truth is hidden in the unformed and the invisible. Butoh is a signpost. Seeds should be sown in fresh soil. Let us wait for the day new, never before seen sprouts appear.

  Performer(s)

  Yukio Waguri + Kozensha

  Director/Choreographer

  Yukio Waguri

  Venue

  Jean-Jean (Tokyo)

  Year performed

  1994

• Splish Splash

  The performers of Splish Splash seem to reproduce the axial stop-and-go movement of the computer game Pacman in apparitional, partly repretitive movment patterns in different settings.The rapid and surreal visual language and the symbolic props create a cryptic commentary on facts of the entertainment industry.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yoshiko Chuma

  Director/Choreographer

  Yoshiko Chuma

  Year performed

  1982

• Standing

  A solo piece exploring the speed and accents of movement through repetition.
  

  

  Performer(s)

  Bonjin Atsugi

  Director/Choreographer

  Bonjin Atsugi

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