Buto(s) (review)

Abstract

Butô(s) is the latest collection of groundbreaking and erudite essays from the Laboratory for Representational Arts of France's National Research Center (the pure research branch of the state educational system). In character with the sixty plus volumes in the Laboratory's two series, Styles of Theatrical Creation and History and Society, this first book-length study of butoh in French offers a wealth of illustrations, charts, and bibliographical material, including photos of key performances, comparisons of styles of butoh and of butoh and classical dance, chronologies of major performers, genealogies of schools and trends, a dateline of significant and corresponding cultural and political [End Page 560] events, and a film and video source list. The twenty essays include pieces by the editors on the place of Asian arts in France and on the two founding artists of the butoh movement, Tatsumi Hijikata (the violent) and Kazuo Ohno (the wondrous), as well as in-depth articles by Japanese specialists who place butoh squarely within the context of the Japanese avant-garde. Four personal accounts by participants of training sessions and workshops help readers grasp the extreme technical and psychological demands placed on butoh performers.