Overview

• Title
• Performer
• Year

• Your Teacher, Please

  Lecture performance about Yoshito Ohno's butoh workshops by Ana Rita Teodoro, who visited Japan three times between 2008 and 2016 to take part in his classes. This new work, which delves into an exploration of butoh from an outside perspective, brings together Teodoro's interest and research in what lies beyond the butoh clichés of twisted bodies and white paint. It is also a valuable piece that gives viewers a sense what it was like to experience Yoshito Ohno's workshop.
  Premiered in Paris, June 2018.

  

  Performer(s)

  NPO Dance Archive Network

  Director/Choreographer

  Ana Rita Teodoro

  Venue

  Dance Base Yokohama

  Year performed

  2024

• You are Me, I am You

  This piece was inspired by the simple breath of the saxophone and developed organically.
  For me, sound is a powerful catalyst.
  The joy of creating here and now, together with the saxophonist, overflows through my body.
  From there, you are me, I am you, I am everything, everything is me, you are everything, everything is you...
  We draw closer and closer to a unified consciousness, and from this, a prayer is born.
  
  Performed as part of the Kyo Lakshmi Theater: Regular Performance Series. The second performance was "Konchikichin~". (Other performers and pieces: Nobuo Kanetani "Gion Matsuri no Watashi" / Miwako Matsuda "KARAN" / Yasuo Fukurozaka "Shojo A no B-men")

  

  Performer(s)

  Rosa Yuki

  Director/Choreographer

  Rosa Yuki

  Venue

  Kyo Lakshmi Theater

  Year performed

  2024

• Yomotsuhirasaka (The Slope between the World of Living and Dead)

  First performance by the Susanoo Butoh Dance troupe. In the previous year, 1974, Akira Kasai had presented 'A Dance of Requiem for Amaterasu Omikami' in July and 'Denju no Mon - What are the mystic rites of the modern age?' in October. In his text 'A Message for the Susanoo Butoh Dance Troupe Performance in Kyushu' he wrote: "What on earth could the true spirit of the second opening of Ama-no-Iwato be if not the dance of Susanoo-no-Mikoto himself?" (Seirei Butoh)

  

  Performer(s)

  Tenshi-Kan

  Venue

  Meguro Public Hall

  Year performed

  1975

• YOASOBI

  Muronoi Yoko moved to Sapporo in 2000, where she started the group ANOYONODEKIGOTO with Takahashi Ikuro. She then also began a workshop called 'Dancing Bodies' at an art school in Tokyo in 2003, and frequently performed at Artland in Musashi Koganei, Tokyo. In YOASOBI, as in other works, she aims to be rid of any needless decoration, and to create a dance that comes from the body.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yoko Muronoi

  Director/Choreographer

  Yoko Muronoi

  Venue

  Musashikoganei Free Space Art Land

  Year performed

  2005

• Dance Oral History: Reflections on Kuni Masami’s “The Yellow Time”

  An oral history of dance in which participants recount their experiences while viewing archival footage. In this video, Reiko Noto (who studied under Masami Kuni from 1951) talks about Kuni's masterpiece "The Yellow Time". After studying with Kuni, Noto later established her own dance studio in Sapporo after going independent in 1959, and continues to work as a creative dancer to this day - now aged 94 (January 2026). It is now only possible to hear about Kuni's training including his "Dance Body Training" method and his approach to creating work through accounts such as these, by people who received his directly benefited from his teaching.

  

  Performer(s)

  NPO Dance Archive Network

  Year performed

  2026

• THE YELLOW TIME

  This piece consists of nine group dances. Five scenes titled “Category” are expressed through abstract movement shaped by spatial composition, while the other four are structured around concrete subjects with the subtitles “Love Disposition,” “Bargain Sale Counter,” “Peaceful Use,” and “Farewell Service.” Social unrest around 1960 served as the motif for the work, with a strong expression of a longing for peace. Silent 8mm film footage and open-reel audio survive as separate materials.
  
  - Premiered in 1959. The audio accompanying the footage was created by Kuni Masami himself, then mixed with audio used in the performance and added to the silent video footage under the supervision of the Kuni Institute of Creative Dance. It therefore differs from the live performance.

  

  Performer(s)

  Kuni Institute of Creative Dance

  Director/Choreographer

  Masami Kuni

  Venue

  Toshi Center Hall

  Year performed

  1961

• Yashagaike Pond Fantasy

  "Yashagaike Pond is home to a dragon who controls the water. A young maid who devoted herself to the dragon god to save the village of Imajo from drought is worshipped as Princess Yasha, and is depicted in Izumi Kyōka's novel 'Yashagaike' [Demon Pond] as the 'Snow Princess'.
  Set in the garden of an old thatched house in the town of Imajo, villagers who pray for water, a demon who brings drought, and various spirits that surround Yashagaike Pond make their appearance. The legend of the Snow Princess breaking the curse that binds her and bringing blessed rain to the village suffering from drought is performed anew through butoh dance."
  
  Waguri Yukio + Kozensha Butoh Performance

  

  Performer(s)

  Yukio Waguri + Kozensha

  Director/Choreographer

  Yukio Waguri

  Venue

  Imajo-cho, Fukui Prefecture

  Year performed

  1997

• Wives Tales

  "Wives Tales" draws on the countless histories embedded in the rice fields of the Tonami Plains, where the winds carry the footsteps of the past.
  At an open-air theatre built over the rice fiends of Hosono in Johana, the performers evoke the true strength of the wives, with the help of the rice field gods.
  Food stalls and other entertainment were available from two hours before the performance for the audience to enjoy as the sun set.

  

  Performer(s)

  Butoh Orchestra Daizu-ko Farm

  Director/Choreographer

  HOSHINO Rashinban

  Venue

  Johana-machi Temporary Rice Field Theatre (Toyama prefcture)

  Year performed

  2001

• With Hijikata

  Akiko Motofuji was with Tatsumi Hijikata for every step of his dancing life from when they first met in 1959. Born of the same year and of the same generation, together they used Asbestos-kan as a base to create butoh, train apprentices, and create an audience. This piece is dedicated to Hijikata in nostalgic remembrance of that exceptional dedicated journey. A collaboration with Kazuo Ohno and Yoshito Ohno, who were also heavily involved since the early days of butoh. This video shows the premiere performance staged at Asbestos-kan.

  Performer(s)

  Asbestos-kan

  Director/Choreographer

  Akiko Motofuji

  Venue

  Asbestos-kan

  Year performed

  1992

• Wings of Castle: Beyond Flamand’s House

  Kozensha's second butoh performance.
  
  Text from the flyer, written by sculptor Yoshie Shōzō:
  [Waguri Yukio] established Kozensha in 1979, after studying with Hijikata Tatsumi, opening with 'Wings of Castle'. He then fell silent for seven years, going into Edo-Komon artisanal work. Seven years later we have todays incident. The opportunity for this began to emerge in 1985, while he was assisting with the 'Tohoku Kabuki Project' at Studio 200. When his passion for butoh reemerged after the death of Hijikata, he must have been filled with a sense regret.

  

  Performer(s)

  Kozensha

  Director/Choreographer

  Yukio Waguri

  Venue

  Terpsichore

  Year performed

  1986

• Wings of Castle IV – Human Water

  This time, Kozensha presents the fourth Wings of Castle performance, 'Human Water'. It is a journey back to the origin of life that flows through all human beings. This water expands, condenses and moves. Encountering darkness and light that flows around me, I rely on the subtle flickering of starlight in my body, and move onwards. What kind of wind is blows there?' - Waguri Yukio
  Performed in remembrance of Hijikata Tatsumi, who taught Waguri that 'butoh is a journey of encountering oneself'.
  
  - Waguri Yukio + Kozensha Butoh Performance
  - 'Dedicated to Master Hijikata Tatsumi'

  

  Performer(s)

  Yukio Waguri + Kozensha

  Director/Choreographer

  Yukio Waguri

  Venue

  Atelier Fontaine

  Year performed

  1990

• Windscapes – Shanghai

  "I don't know whether the wind has a colour or not
  but there is a landscape to be seen in every changing wind.
  People have been dancing since seeing the landscape in the wind.
  Happily, if that landscape is seen when one is a boy
  that boy will surely become a dancer.
  But unfortunately, it is sad for those who see the landscape in the wind in the middle of their lives
  who might otherwise have reach the end without ever knowing."
  
  -Presented at the Modern Dance Performance funded by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 1983.
  -The brains behind Orita's work during the 1980s were:
  Script - Yuichi Konno
  Artwork - Tetsuhiko Maeda
  Lighting - Yuji Sawada

  

  Performer(s)

  Midori Ishii and Katsuko Orita Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Katsuko Orita

  Venue

  Kan'i Hoken Hall

  Year performed

  1983

• Winds, What Do You Carry

  The title of this performance is derived from song lyrics; "what do the winds carry, is it too heavy a load for my shoulders?". The performance featured solos by Akiko Motofuji and her pupil Keiko Yanagawa. Yanagawa learned ballet from a young age before joining Asbestos-kan where she studied butoh under Motofuji. She had previously performed in Motofuji's 'Letter to Abakanowicz', as well as some of her own solo works, but this was the first time she and Motofuji performed together.

  Performer(s)

  Asbestos-kan

  Director/Choreographer

  Akiko Motofuji, Keiko Yanagawa

  Venue

  Asbestos-kan

  Year performed

  2001

• White Dance

  When we left Japan and went to Europe in 1972, we had no concept of choreography. We just made up performances and always called it WHITE DANCE. But in the year between Europe and America, we were in Japan and choreographed this piece toward for our first performance in New York. Beate Gordon produced our debut with this piece at the Japan Society on May 6, 1976. We toured this piece widely. The video is from the performance at the American Dance Festival 2011.

  

  Performer(s)

  Eiko & Koma

  Director/Choreographer

  Eiko & Koma

  Year performed

  1975

• Whispers

  Second collaboration between hardcore contemporary dance company Kakuya Ohashi and Dancers and emerging alternative rock band Kukangendai. The work fuses live music with intense dance, exploring the theme of whispering. It portrays how bodies, weighed down by repressed whispers, can erupt in a violent clash as they collide with one another.
  
  -Kazuo Ohno Festival 2012

  

  Performer(s)

  Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Kakuya Ohashi

  Venue

  BankART Studio NYK

  Year performed

  2012

• When dance springs

  An ethnographic film that follows the life of butoh dancer Yuko Yuki, who has been performing in northern Japan for 50 years. The film is an ode to forests and people, to memory and all forms of life, documenting the moment when dance emerges from everyday life, the space where everything in the universe resides. It was screened at the Association of American Geographers and the Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology, among other venues, in 2021.
  
  - This project was funded by the Sumisei Woman Researcher Encouragement Prize.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yuki Yuko

  Director/Choreographer

  Yuko Yuki

  Year performed

  2020

• WHAT’S NEXT – Namerikawa Goro, Butoh Dancer

  A recording of Namerikawa Goro's works as featured in the 'WHAT's NEXT' documentary programme on TV Asahi, which introduces notable up-and-coming artists. This episode included footage of 'Natura Morta', which was performed at the 1988 World Expo in Australia, a 1989 street performance at the Togenuki Jizo in Sugamo, Tokyo, and footage from his workshop 'The Body Art of Memory' held in Shinagawa, Tokyo, in October 1990.

  

  Performer(s)

  Goro Namerikawa/Austro Arts Association Co.,Ltd.

  Year performed

  1990

• Wedding on the Field

  "To turn one's eyes to one's inner universe"... That is the starting point of butoh, and it is important to know where these eyes are. We have been lost ever since we grew two legs. I wish to be a one-legged picket standing in the wilderness. The secret staircase hidden in the depths of creation leads to our everlasting fields. I hasten in my preparations. The wedding begins. The wind blows.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yukio Waguri + Kozensha

  Director/Choreographer

  Yukio Waguri

  Venue

  Theater Kai

  Year performed

  1994

• Modan Dansu eno Michi (The way to Modern Dance)

  From 1936 to 1945, Masami Kuni spent time in Germany studying under Mary Wigman and Rudolf von Laban. Through narration and performance, he provides a clear historical overview of what modern dance is. Performances by members of the Kuni Institute of Creative Dance illustrate a wide range of forms, from prehistoric dance to the work of modern dancers around the world. Also presented are Kuni’s foundational training method “Dance Body Training,” which he studied in Germany and perfected in Japan, as well as two scenes, “The Last Category” and “Farewell Service,” from his masterpiece “The Yellow Time.”

  

  Performer(s)

  Kuni Institute of Creative Dance

  Director/Choreographer

  Masami Kuni

  Venue

  NHK Studio

  Year performed

  1963

• Water Pilgrimage

  I want to go home with the swans
  I thought.
  Hoo, hoo, hoo
  Under the silver sky
  To the moors where the lingering voices returned
  Fluttering softly
  --To the moors
  To immerse my body,
  To return my body.
  
  Butoh video piece filmed in 2011 during the "Primitive Sense Art Festival - Prayer in a lake", which was held around Lake Kizaki in Omachi, Nagano Prefecture. Performed alongside a reed boat and other artworks that were part of the festival.

  

  Performer(s)

  Yuki Yuko

  Director/Choreographer

  Yuko Yuki

  Venue

  By Lake Kizaki

  Year performed

  2011

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