Butoh emerged as a dance-art form in the late 1950’s, as Japan struggled to redefine itself as a nation in the aftermath of WWII and the Allied occupation. It was a time of intense political, economic and social upheaval that proved the perfect growth medium for new ideas and forms of artistic expression.
Challenged to reconcile their history and deeply held cultural traditions with a new world order dominated by the Western economic development and Cold War politics, the people of Japan grappled with what it meant to be Japanese. As part of that process, Butoh led a revolt against the cultural and artistic affectations and conventions encoded in Japan’s classical tradition. Butoh’s founders, Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, sought to transcend the limits of traditional dance (both Eastern and Western) and connect with audiences at a primal, non-rational level to explore issues of Japanese identity and personal meaning.
