Overview

• Title
• Performer
• Year

• Den Den Den

  Oguri's first solo performance after moving to Los Angeles in 1991. Originally presented as 'Untitled', the title was decided on the spot after a request from management. To this day Oguri continues to collaborate with composer Paul Chavez, who was in charge of sound for this performance. The venue, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), was a place of radical avant-garde art in one of the roughest areas of downtown Los Angeles. Housed in a brick building covered in barbed wire, performances attracted members of the punk scene and the gay and lesbian community, among others. Now relocated to Hollywood Boulevard, it continues to put on exciting programs.

  

  Performer(s)

  Naoyuki Oguri

  Director/Choreographer

  Oguri

  Venue

  LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibition)

  Year performed

  1992

• Dedicated to Janis | On a Poem by Joseph Brodsky

  - Winter Teachings -
  Let's wander the wild lands at the edge of the world.
  The land of wolves is my country.
  (From the words of the Sioux Native Americans)
  
  The piece begins with a recitation of a poem by Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996), a poet born in Leningrad and exiled to the United States. Yuki Yuko performs a solo dance to Janis Joplin's "Summertime".

  

  Performer(s)

  Yuki Yuko

  Director/Choreographer

  Yuki Yuko

  Venue

  Hirosaki Orange County

  Year performed

  2009

• Deadpan : intention

  "DEADPAN refers to the expressionless and serious manner of saying something often to comedic effect.
  
  The sound was provided by DJ Howie B, who was well-known at the time, and there are a few famous rock stars in the audience.
  The last few minutes of the performance are cut off in the video, but according to Oguri's memory, the performance ended without any further dance sequences."

  

  Performer(s)

  Naoyuki Oguri

  Director/Choreographer

  Oguri

  Venue

  Project Arts Center (Dublin)

  Year performed

  1996

• Dawn

  If the world is truly wonderful, then wonderful is the sadness I hold for the world.
  If the world is a mess, this sadness too is a mess.
  Do life and death, as morning and night, continue to live on in the same way?
  In this piece, the sadness of the 1930s - the beginning of the modern era - shows its face. The grief of an aging body slips into a frivolous romantic reminiscence of days gone by.
  
  - Participated in the ACA National Arts Festival 1977

  

  Performer(s)

  Wakamatsu Miki & Tsuda Ikuko Free Dance Performance

  Director/Choreographer

  Miki Wakamatsu, Ikuko Tsuda

  Venue

  Yomiuri Hall

  Year performed

  1977

• DasSHOKU SHAKE!

  Be ready to get lost in this funky cross cultural emo shake up! DasSHOKU SHAKE! is the fourth work in the award winning DasSHOKU repertoire - the unique culture-crushing dementia, which has been recognized by audiences in sell-out seasons nationally and internationally since 1999. Dasshoku means 'to bleach'.
  Butoh Punkess Yumi Umiumare ignites her next infamous DasSHOKU Cabaret, bursting from the shaking earth. Osaka’s legendary Theatre Gumbo, international guest artists from Japan plus four of Melbourne’s shock-toy acolytes bring things of darkness out into footlights. Jap-pop and white mysticism assault Buddhist Heart sutra! Comic! Bizarre!
  Does devastation transform us, cleanse us or bleach us?
  
  Performed at:
  2015 Mildura Wentworth Arts Festival
  2014 Japan Tour - Tokyo and Osaka, and workshop in Minami Sanriku (collaborated with Theatre Group Gumbo)
  2013 Darwin Festival
  2012 Melbourne Fringe Festival
  
  -DasSHOKU Butoh Cabaret Series
  -Australian GreenRoom Awards for INNOVATION(2012), Melbourne Fringe Festival Award (2012)
  

  

  Performer(s)

  Yumi Umiumare

  Director/Choreographer

  Yumi Umiumare, Kayo Tamura

  Venue

  fortyfivedownstairs

  Year performed

  2012

• Dark Wings

  This work was choreographed for ballet dancers of the Taras Shevchenko National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Ukraine by butoh dancer Yamada Ippei (aka Bishop Yamada) while he spent some months in living in Kyiv. An encounter with butoh by ballet dancers. It featured appearances by Anna Kouschneryova, national star of Ukraine at the time, and in August that same year, it was remade under the name 'The Door of Night for Odette' and performed at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre with most of the same cast.

  

  Performer(s)

  Hoppo Butoh-ha

  Director/Choreographer

  Ippei Yamada

  Venue

  National Opera of Ukraine

  Year performed

  1998

• 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

• 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

• 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

• dance comes out of time – with ancestors and friends not forgotten

  "Flower of the Season" is a series that Oguri and his wife Roxanne have been organising since 1999. This solo by Oguri was presented as part of the series, with longtime collaborator and composer Paul Chavez creating a live soundscape.
  The programme notes feature a quote from Paul Bowles: "How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless."
  
  Premiered on 16 June, 2023 at the Electric Lodge in Venice, CA, USA (performance dates: 16 June 2023- 18 June 2023).
  
  

  

  Performer(s)

  Naoyuki Oguri

  Director/Choreographer

  Oguri

  Venue

  Teatro Ensalle (Vigo, España)

  Year performed

  2024

• Curious Fish

  "Curious Fish" premiered at the San Francisco Butoh Festival in 2001 and received a five-star review at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that same summer.
  The dance piece was inspired by Minamata disease and mercury poisoning. In the 1970s, many areas of Japan were plagued by environmental pollution, and as rapid economic growth led to toxic waste in the rivers and seas, it gave rise to deformed fish. Cats, dogs, and chickens ate these fish, performing a Death Dance, and humans too fell victim by consuming them. This fragmented dance piece serves as a requiem for the spirits that could not fully manifest as human, for the lives erased before they could come into being.
  
  - Edinburgh Festival Fringe

  

  Performer(s)

  Kan Katsura

  Director/Choreographer

  Kan Katsura

  Venue

  The Garage

  Year performed

  2001

• The Crocodile Time – Study of Tick Tuck Crocodile

  Solo by Furukawa Anzu, this is the fourth work in her 'Anzu'ology' series. It premiered in Tokyo 1991, and was inspired by a crocodile's sense of time as it lies still for hours on end. According to Furukawa, crocodile time has no beginning or end. If you hold your breath until your face turns red, you can experience that sense of time.
  
  Act 1: Study of the Tick-Tock Crocodile
  Act 2: Puapua the Unreasonably and Excessively Excited Maiden
  
  -Anzu’ology: Anzu's Altas of Animals IV

  

  Performer(s)

  Anzu Furukawa

  Director/Choreographer

  Anzu Furukawa

  Venue

  The Helsinki City Theatre - Studio Elsa

  Year performed

  1995

• 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

• ‘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

• 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

• Come Home

  "Come Home" was created in the year of the Great East Japan Earthquake, driven by a sense of crisis. In the wake of the nuclear disaster and global recession, a profound sense of stagnation set in, as many people lost their sense of direction in life, edging ever closer to collapse. As a butoh dancer, Nagaoka sought to open her body to the present world and take sincere steps on stage, hoping to resonate with the audience and share the message of living fully. All life in this world is blessed. "Come Home" is a journey toward the affirmation of life. Even death and decay are the beginnings of rebirth.
  
  - Received the Dance Critics Society of Japan Award

  

  Performer(s)

  Dance Medium Nagaoka Yuri

  Director/Choreographer

  Yuri Nagaoka

  Venue

  theatre Tokyo-Babylon

  Year performed

  2011

• Clear-Eyed Spirits

  This collaboration between Ohno Yoshito and Anohni is deeply rooted in mutual respect, with Anohni holding both Ohno Kazuo and Ohno Yoshito in high regard. The two first performed together in 2010 in "Antony and the Ohnos", and later shared stages in London and São Paulo, before this performance in Tokyo. At the beginning of "Clear-Eyed Spirits", photographs taken by William Klein in 1961 of Hijikata Tatsumi, Ohno Kazuo, and Ohno Yoshito are projected onto a screen above the stage, offering a vivid glimpse into the early days of butoh. Against this historical backdrop, Ohno Yoshito takes the stage. He selects costume pieces and dances in response to Anohni’s songs, while Anohni plays the piano and sings, drawing inspiration from Yoshito’s movements. Together, they create a free and improvised performance marked by a quiet tension.

  

  Performer(s)

  NPO Dance Archive Network

  Director/Choreographer

  Yoshito Ohno, Anohni

  Venue

  Warehouse TERRADA G1-5F

  Year performed

  2017

• 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

• 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

• Celebration: antologia di KAZUO OHNO

  In 1999, Ohno Kazuo was awarded the first Michelangelo Antonioni Award for the Arts. Two-days of performance "Celebration: antologia di KAZUO OHNO" [Celebration: An Anthology of Kazuo Ohno's Works] were held at Venice Biennale, with the award ceremony held on stage at the end of the first day. "Celebration" features excerpts from Ohno Kazuo's key works including "Admiring La Argentina", "My Mother" and "The Dead Sea", as well as the award ceremony.
  In commemoration of Ohno Kazuo receiving the Michelangelo Antonioni Award for the Arts
  
  -Biennale Danza

  

  Performer(s)

  Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio

  Director/Choreographer

  Yoshito Ohno

  Venue

  Teatro Carlo Goldoni

  Year performed

  1999

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