Hijikata Butoh Method Intensive Workshop and Symposium 2016

Over the course of four days, we explored Hijikata Tatsumi’s method of Butoh notation as it developed from the 1970s through the period following his death in the 1980s and 1990s. The first three days were workshop focused, consisting of three hours per day with SU-EN and three hours per day with Yukio Waguri, allowing participants to engage directly with distinct phases of the Hijikata method. The fourth day took the form of a symposium featuring performance-demonstrations and a Q&A with SU-EN and Yukio Waguri, discussions with Butoh researchers and practitioners, and a screening of archival footage of Hijikata’s choreography Lady on a Whale String, performed by Ashikawa Yoko, presented for the first time outside of Japan.