Butoh

Emerging from Japan in the late 1950s, Butoh is a dance that defies simple categorization. It translates as the ‘dance of darkness’ and many aspects of the performances echo its origins in the agonised scream of post-nuclear holocaust Japan. But the interpretation by Café Reason Butoh Dance Group has taken the essence of this and set it in the context of modern day Oxford. The taboos challenged by the first Japanese performances are not the taboos of today and the catharsis of performances today stems from a very different set of pressures.

All photographs are copyright Hugh Warwick - if you would like to use any of them, please contact me: +44 (0)1865 716498, or hugh@urchin.info