Ankoku Buto: The Premodern and Postmodern Influences on the Dance of Utter Darkness (Cornell University East Asia Papers, No. 49)

A brief introduction to the history, philosophy, and techniques of the Japanese avant-garde dance movement, Ankoku Butô. Evoking images of grotesque beauty, revelling in the seamy underside of human behavior, Butô dance groups such as Sankai Juku and Dai Rakuda-kan have performed to wide critical and popular acclaim, making Butô one of the most influential new forces in the dance world today. The monograph traces the development of Butô from its birth in the bleak post-war landscape of 1950's Japan, and then addresses the question of Butô as a post-modern phenomenon, before going on to examine the influence of traditional Japanese performance on Butô techniques. The last chapter analyzes a specific dance (Niwa - The Garden) by Muteki-sha, to show how these techniques are used concretely. Includes translations of four essays on Butô by contemporary Japanese dance critics.