Butoh : metamorphic dance and global alchemy / Sondra Fraleigh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fraleigh, Sondra Horton, 1939-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Butō.

Modern dance--Japan.

Modern dance.

Zen arts--Japan.

Zen arts.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 264 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

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. Through highly descriptive, thoughtful, and emotional prose, Fraleigh traces the transformative alchemy of this metaphoric dance form by studying the international movement inspired by its aesthetic mixtures. While butoh has retained a special identity related to its Japanese background, it also has blossomed into a borderless art with a tolerant and inclusive morphology gaining prominence in a borderless century. 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 from around the world with first-hand knowledge of butoh performances from 1973 to 2008. Her definitions of butoh's morphology, alchemy, and philosophy set a theoretical framework for poetic and engaging articulations of twenty butoh performances in Japan, Europe, India, and the West. With a blend of scholarly research and direct experience, she also signifies the unfinished nature of butoh and emphasizes its capacity to effect spiritual transformation and bridge cultural differences.

Contents:

Introduction

Part one: Alchemy and morphology

Butoh alchemy

The morphology of Butoh

Is Butoh a philosophy?

Part two: Alchemists: essays and poetry on transformation

One thousand days of sunshine and peace

Whole world friend

History lessons

Crocodile time

Goya la quinto del sordo

The sounding bell

Ancient dance and headless

Salt

Da Vinci

The cosmos in every corner

Risky plastic

Fine bone china

Moving MA

Weak with spirit

Waking woman

Torn

Butoh ritual Mexicano

Mourning the Earth

Quick silver

Daemon of the riverbank

Part three: Ursprung unfinished

Urspring

Kuu (emptiness).

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613028761

9781283028769

128302876X

9780252090134

0252090136

OCLC:

708738115