Butoh

by Fraleigh, Sondra Horton

• ISBN13: 9780252077418
• ISBN10: 0252077415
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-09
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

Both a refraction of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a protest against Western values, butoh is a form of Japanese dance theater that emerged in the aftermath of World War II. Sondra Fraleigh chronicles the growth of this provocative art form from its midcentury founding under a sign of darkness to its assimilation in the twenty-first century as a poignant performance medium with philosophical and political implications. Employing intellectual and aesthetic perspectives to reveal the origins, major figures, and international development of the dance, Fraleigh documents the range and variety of butoh artists around the world with first-hand knowledge of butoh performances from 1973 to 2008.

Author Biography

Sondra Fraleigh is a professor emeritus of dance at the State University of New York College at Brockport. She is the author of Dancing into Darkness: Butoh, Zen, and Japan and Dancing Identity: Metaphysics in Motion.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Alchemy and Morphology
Butoh Alchemy	p. 11
The Morphology of Butoh	p. 37
Is Butoh a Philosophy?	p. 63
Alchemists: Essays and Poetry on Transformation
One Thousand Days of Sunshine and Peace	p. 81
Whole World Friend	p. 91
History Lessons	p. 102
Crocodile Time	p. 112
Goya La Quinto del Sordo	p. 116
The Sounding Bell	p. 123
Ancient Dance and Headless	p. 129
Salt	p. 135
Da Vinci	p. 139
The Cosmos in Every Corner	p. 149
Risky Plastic	p. 155
Fine Bone China	p. 161
Moving MA	p. 167
Weak with Spirit	p. 172
Waking Woman	p. 183
Torn	p. 187
Butoh Ritual Mexicano	p. 191
Mourning the Earth	p. 196
Quick Silver	p. 201
Daemon of the Riverbank	p. 205
Ursprung Unfinished
Ursprung	p. 213
Kuu (Emptiness)	p. 218
Biographies of Dancers	p. 227
Notes	p. 237
Bibliography	p. 247
Index	p. 253
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