Butoh festival this weekend

[dirtydog]

Not many can dance way into their nineties and even fewer live to be 100. Butoh pioneer Kazuo Ohno has done both.
"Generations: The 2nd International Butoh Festival 2006 Thailand", organised by the Butoh Co-op Thailand and Tadu Contemporary Art, brings together two generations of butoh dancers to celebrate Ohno's centenary. Created in the 1950s as a reaction against traditional Japanese and Western dances, butoh was born of a desire to search for a new Japanese identity after World War Two. Butoh founder Tatsumi Hijikata rejected traditional ideas of beauty and, instead, looked to nature to create more organic and less deliberately controlled movements. Ohno met Hijikata in the 1950s and, inspired by the founder, began cultivating the dance form.

His first solo butoh performance, La Argentina Sho (Admiring La Argentina), directed by Hijikata, won a Dance Critics' Circle award. He went on to perform and teach all over the world. His last overseas performance, Requiem for the 20th Century, was in 1999 in New York. Ohno continued to dance even when he could no longer walk by himself.
Last weekend, the festival held butoh workshops, conducted by guest performers. This Saturday there are performances by second generation butoh dancers Mayte Vaos (Spain), Robert Webb (US), Takami (Japan) and Christina Braun (US). On Sunday, the first generation of Japanese dancers, Yumiko Yoshika, Koichi and Hiroko Tamano will be performing.
An exhibition of dance photographs by Stephan Funke is also on show from today until Sunday, at Tadu Contemporary Art. Butoh performances will be held on Saturday and Sunday at 7:30pm at Tadu Contemporary Art, 7th Floor, Barcelona Motor Building, Thiam Ruam Mit Road. Tickets cost 250 baht (200 baht for students). For more information call 08-9667-9539 or 08-9047-3016 (for information in English).
bangkok post

[Gerbil]

WTF is a 'butch festival'?