2009 International Butoh Conference in Japan

The following announcement arrives courtesy of butoh site member, participator and scholar Michael Weis.
For anyone in Japan at this time, this is sure to be an extraordinary gathering of experienced butoh performers, teachers, practitioners, scholars and enthusiasts. Do not miss it!

International Butoh Conference, IBC1

Butoh Abroad Today
—Its Extension and Succession—

Organizer:
Cooperation: Research Center for the Arts and Arts Administration, Keio University
Date: January 23rd , 24th and 25th 2009 (25th : video showing day)
Time: 2pm-6pm
Location: 8th floor Conference Room, East Research Building, Keiko University (Mita Campus).
Guest Speaker: Pages Sylvians (France), SU-EN (Sweden), Endo Tadashi (Germany), Katjya Centonze (Italy)
Panel: Ohno Yoshito, Nakajima Natsu, Kasai Akira, Murobushi Ko, Waguri Yukio, Kuniyoshi Kazuko,
Moderator: Kosuge Hayato, Morishita Takashi
Goal: In this conference, the status of Butoh overseas—how Butoh is received, understood, studied and practiced— will be presented by Butoh dancers and Butoh researchers who are active in Japan and overseas.
Based on these information presented, the present status of Butoh overseas is discussed in order to consider the future of Butoh.



Related Event
Butoh, Abroad Today
—Embodied Theory in Practice—


Organizer: Research Institute for Digital Media and Content, Keio University/ Portfolio BUTOH
Cooperation: The Saison Foundation、 Liaison of International Butoh
Date: January 20th and 21st
Time: 2pm-6pm
Location: Morishita Studio of Saison Foundation
Workshop Instructor: SU-EN (Sweden), Endo Tadashi (Germany)
Panel: Ohno Yoshito, Nakajima Natsu,Murobushi Ko, Waguri Yukio
Moderator: Morishita Takashi, Mizohata Toshio
Goal: Butoh dancers and Butoh researchers who are active in Japan and overseas will present methods of Butoh training and education by leading workshops.
Meanings and issues of the methods of Butoh instruction and education that has become an international phenomenon will be considered by observing and participating these workshops.
SU-EN and Endo Tadashi will lead these workshops. Workshop is open for public.

Butoh Abroad Today
—Its Extension and Succession—

Organizer: Research Institute for Digital Media and Content, Keio University/ Portfolio BUTOH

In 1978, Butoh traveled overseas for the first time. Thirty years after its first performance in Paris, Butoh has deepened and expanded its field of activity. Diverse styles of Butoh and numbers of brilliant Butoh dancers have emerged all over the world. Butoh today is an established current of theater arts. Butoh is more acknowledged overseas than it is in Japan. For example, numbers of non-Japanese researchers and dancers visit Hijikata Tatsumi Archive at the Research Center for the Arts and Arts Administration in Keio University, throughout the year. As a consequence, more studies on Butoh and Hijikata Tatsumi are publicized by non-Japanese researchers and dancers than by Japanese researchers.
These facts suggest that there are larger fields outside Japan which Butoh dancers can take active parts in, and that there are more non-Japanese audiences that are strongly interested in Butoh.
In other words, Butoh is internationalized.

Butoh by itself has been, however, difficult to define since it still has been diffused, transformed from its original state, and expanding all over the world. In order for the genre of Butoh to survive in the future, it should be important to learn about this internationalized state of Butoh.
The goal of Portfolio BUTOH in organizing this conference is to grasp current status of Butoh, especially its activity abroad and how it is received outside Japan today.
By learning the information from researches who are studying Butoh over seas, dancers and producers who are contributing to the practice, development and promotion of Butoh abroad, we would like to create an opportunity discuss in depth about Butoh today. By doing so, we are hoping to contribute to the further research on Butoh and to the future of Butoh practices.

image: Suen Company in Sweden