Butoh

Butoh. The dance of the darkness. This form of dance emerged out of Japan, and became a more predominant art form after the bombing of Hiroshima. This 'dance' form was about the portrayal of death. Tatsumi Hijikata, one of the Butoh founders has some amazing literature out there about the art form that I highly suggest you look into if this strikes your curiosity. This video, of a Swiss performer, (Butoh has since become a global art form for many culture's to express the extreme juxtaposition of death and beauty) Imre Thormanne at the Hiyoshi Taisha Shrine in Shiga, Japan in the summer of 2006. This video follows and aligns the frame very well with performer. Perhaps a great sense of space with a wider shot- may have been a better establishment of space. However, a lot of other Butoh video's out there on the web have very poor quality and are the typical low-quality video of the theatre experience. Theatre, I must say, is absolutely ir-replaceable by film and certainly does not do the work justice, but then again film has provided me with a lot of opportunities to get a sense for dramatic theatre art forms that I have not yet had to opportunity to experience live. The art of Butoh makes for an outstanding visual image. It would be interesting to create a Butoh piece specifically for the digital video medium.