Butoh as practice

Domain X · Body, movement, breath & physical · Tatsumi Hijikata, Kazuo Ohno · 1959 · Japan

What it is

Butoh (ankoku butō, 暗黒舞踏, usually rendered "dance of darkness") is a Japanese avant-garde dance form that Hijikata co-created with Kazuo Ohno in the late 1950s; Ohno took part in Hijikata's 1959 movement. It is a performance art and a training tradition, not a therapy, and it has no single school,…

Format

• Kasai and Takeuchi Butoh Dance Method: three phases in fixed order: (1) playful movement, (2) relaxation (moving from socially conditioned "social time" into slower "body time"), (3) confrontation. Goal of phases 1–2: openness to internal and external stimuli; goal of phase 3: meeting what…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• A. The Ohno studio class (arts training). Format: a regular, typically weekly evening class at the Kamihoshikawa studio; in 1995 Kazuo Ohno opened every class the same way, talking from a notebook on his lap about creation and the creative process, before the movement work; a recorded session ran about two hours, with an interpreter for the many foreign students. Under Yoshito Ohno, one participant describes the…
• B. The Hijikata butoh-fu process (choreographic training). Five published stages: movements created from reference images; the words taught to dancers; dancers record the words in their own code book; the words are embodied; the embodied material is re-recorded. Movements are taught singly, then linked into chains that build scenes. Walking and standing are described as the foundation of training. This strand…
• Suggested clinical arc when a trained clinician adapts strand C: (1) assessment and screening (Section 5); (2) grounding and play sessions until the client can stop, orient and report sensation at will; (3) relaxation and slow walking, with images chosen to be neutral or pleasant; (4) image and transformation work only once the client reliably returns to baseline after each exercise; (5) confrontation-type material…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• self-blame; loyalty to a teacher that delays help.
• post-class joint pain, dizziness, faintness, overheating.
• locked knees and faintness; rigid holding. Invite small movement and sitting if light-headed.
• idealisation of the teacher; plans to start with a multi-day retreat; wishes to "break through" or push past limits.
• deliberate deep or fast breathing (tingling, light-headedness); straining into pain. Working: freer, less guarded movement.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.