Distilling principles – an investigation of the role of consciousness in butoh training

Abstract

This essay provides a personal and critical approach to the Japanese contemporary performance expression of butoh through an investigation of the role of physical consciousness in contemporary performance training. Butoh is presented here as a performing entity containing its own existential movement aesthetic as well as reflecting social, political and cultural debates which surround the body in performance. In aligning butoh to certain initiatives within contemporary western dance theatre pedagogy, the article considers the shift from a range of contemporary form-based movement techniques which can be copied and accurately replicated in the body of the student, towards a conscious expression of movement that is cultivated out of a dialogue existing between internalised sensibilities and externalised movement forms. In comparing the author's own performance training experiences in Decroux Mime technique and contemporary dance with those in butoh, this paper aims to locate the distinct relationship between physical and aesthetic consciousness in the interface between butoh training and performance practice.