Yoshito Ohno
Lecture - Performance : It Was That Way

Performed by Yoshito Ohno

In 1959, Yoshito Ohno was chosen by Tatsumi Hijikata as a partner for his dance piece Kinjiki (Forbidden Colours) – regarded as the first-ever Butoh performance. After this first duo, Yoshito Ohno appeared in all Hijikata’s main pieces in early the 1960s. In this lecture-performance, Yoshito Ohno will talk about Butoh’s genesis and history, demonstrating movements from his experience with Tatsumi Hijikata and his father Kazuo Ohno.

Thursday 11th February 20:30

Friday 12th February 19:00

Saturday 13th February 17:30

※Duration: about 60 minutes
※Questions
Please send us the questions you would like to ask Yoshito Ohno by e-mail in advance. We will prepare our archive materials in such a way that we can answer them during the Ohno lecture-demonstration. Please write us your name, your questions, and your contact information to info@kazuoohnodancestudio.com.

Tatumi Hijikata (1928-1986) and Kinjiki (Forbidden Colours)

Born in Akita-city, Hijikata studied modern dance under Katsuko Masumura after the Pacific War. In 1948, he moved to Tokyo. Influenced by French art and literature, he developed his own concept of dance during the 1950s, while in parallel studying jazz dance and classical ballet under Mitsuko Ando. His performance Kinjiki in 1959 paved the way for the foundation of Butoh, developing movement forms that embraced avant-garde and experimental tendencies. With works such as Masseur, Rose Coloured Dance, Tatsumi Hijikata and the Japanese: Rebellion of the Body he was constantly at the vanguard of the underground movement, while elaborating his concept of Butoh. During the 1970s Hijikata also developed a surreal choreographic language known as “butoh-fu”. Kinjiki was shown at the 6th Newcomers Presentation event sponsored by the All Japan Arts Dance Association in May 1959. Though a short piece lasting no longer than 15 minutes, its erotic themes and expressive techniques led it to being regarded as the first-ever Butoh performance. Empathising with the lifestyle and writings of Jean Genet, Hijikata chose Yoshito Ohno in the role of his partner in a work based on the theme of homosexuality. Its innovative use of sound and lighting with a soundtrack containing groaning sounds on a dimly lit stage were to spark controversy, as was the scene in which killing a chicken was simulated.

Yoshito Ohno

Born in Tokyo in 1938, Ohno appeared in Tatsumi Hijikata’s Forbidden Colours in 1959, in the role of a young man. He then participated in the happenings at “House of Artaud” and the Ankoku Buto-ha. After a lengthy hiatus following his solo recital in 1969, he co-performed with his father, Kazuo Ohno in The Dead Sea in 1985. Since 1986 Yoshito directed all Kazuo Ohno’s stage works. In 1998, he performed a solo piece The Last Portrait of Dorian Gray based on Masakatsu Gunji’s script. Recent works include: A Promising Morning (2010), Time Wind (2012) and Flower and Bird (2013). He authored Food for the Soul (Film Art-sha/ Wesleyan University Press). The DVD Flowerbird: Butoh, A Way of Life (Canta Co.Ltd) was released in 2015.

Kumotaro Mukai
Butoh? Presentation Show / A La Maison De M. MUROVECI

Directed and performed by Kumotaro Mukai

On stage, anything is possible. This was the very thing brought to life by Tatsumi Hijikata in Kinjiki, the first-ever Butoh performance in 1959. Underlying this concept was a skeptical attitude; mistrusting one’s assumption and prevalent social stereotypes, and his idea of “to hell with common sense!” I wonder what Butoh is all about. Is it a contemporary dance form that developed in Japan? Is it a dance form that once was at the vanguard of its time? Or, is it an underground theater art -form, which remains largely unknown? Is it without limits, absorbing everything around it? This piece is a presentation of such an elusive Butoh. "Butoh is hybrid", Ko Murobushi once said, as "Hybrid is unlimited" by William Burroughs.

Saturday 13th February 21:30 Late show

Sunday 14th February 18:00

※Duration: about 65 minutes

Ko Murobushi (1947-2015) and quick silver

After studying under Tatsumi Hijikata, Murobushi co-established Dairakudakan with Akaji Maro in 1972. After founding an all-female butoh company, Ariadone no Kai, he established his own company Sebi in 1976, and opened a butoh theater Hokuryukyo in Fukui prefecture, Japan. In 1978, The Last Paradise ran for a month in Paris, serving as introduction for many to the Butoh world. Murobushi’s Butoh performance quick silver was premiered at the 2005 Kazuo Ohno Dance Festival at BankART Studio NYK, before repairs began there. In this solo piece, his naked body painted in silver rolled over the dust-covered floor. Quicksilver is another name of mercury; the title of his piece, however is written in small letters because “it feels quicker”. In 2006, he presented this piece at the Venice Biennale.

Kumotaro Mukai

In 1994, Mukai joined Dairakudakan and trained under Akaji Maro. Since 2001, he has presented seven pieces of his own choreography, directing them both in Japan and overseas. He won the “new comer award” at the 37th Dance Critics’ Circle Award. In July 2012, Mukai left Dairakudakan, initiating a solo career. After presenting five works, he founded Deux Shrine with Double Sun in 2014, and presented The Rite of Spring in 2015. At the core of his work are two constants: his own form of “butoh” that he has been working on, and “the atomic bomb”. He is also a senior fellow of The Saison Foundation.