Photo by Beth Macdonald on Unsplash

Dr. Wayne Stein : SPRING 2013 ENG 4910/ 5910 Japanese Vampires

Mindful Meditation Association (MMA): Restful Reflections on Releasing and Relaxing

The Silent Screams of Asian Cinematic Cultural Crossings

It starts with love. . .

I have studied dance all my life, for I did ballet when I was young, was a gymnast, and won a salsa dance one time.

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I am also a Zumba Dance Instructor, but in Japan they created a mindful dance for demons, that is so beautiful and so esoteric.

I have never seen Butoh in person, but it is like ballet for the dead, lol: WOW!

This was for my Japanese Vampire course that I taught at a university, so enjoy . . .

Dance Demo>

I once broke my weapon for a martial arts demonstration and had two minutes more to perform to the music, so I started to dance.

More people loved my dancing than my martial arts demo. They applauded and kept talking to me after the demo. LOL

Zen Dance and Zen Die: Dance of Darkness, Butoh

What if the undead could dance? What would they look like? Watch Butoh and you might have your answers.

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the Demon Dance of unDeath: Moving Zen

Tatsumi Hijikata (1928–1986) developed ankaku-buyo, the Dance of Darkness, which was later renamed Butoh. Let the dancers of Butoh be our guide to the undead for this class.

In their movements lies a wisdom of inaction of blood lost and beasts that wander about in our spirit. We may not feel comfortable when we see the whiteness of a dead body. But we understand the pain that demons can feel if they danced.

BUDO SOCIETY DEMONSTRATORS

Dr. Wayne Stein and the Budo Society Demonstration

This dance of demons teaches us what we already know: the horrors of pain and its the lust for purity. White is often the color of death in Asia where white is often worn at funerals.

Usually in our lives, we control and hide our emotions, but the dancers of Butoh present a welcomed honesty of primal emotions.

Borrowing the white make up used in Kabuki performances to enunciate actions while having dancers move about in an almost nude state often without any hair, Butoh, an old word for dance, was born in 1959. It has been controversial since its inception.

What does it mean?

Add some dashes of black, red, or other bold colors to contrast in the dead whiteness of the bodies, the dancers appear to be representations of the moving undead, hungry ghost lusting for artistic expression.

The dance often takes on the subject of taboo or sexual decadence, depression, repression, or oppression, and has a zen like quality along with a celebration of the grotesque and the macabre.

Sometimes, it appears that dancers have on dry white mud while wearing old dirty sheets. Look closely at the zen dirt of suffering (dukka) and the ugliness of stress, note the beauty in the wabi-sabi or the asymmetry of dance of darkness: Butoh.

Accept the unacceptable, the deadness of existences. We are all Japanese vampires who dance the dance of Butoh.

Thank you for reading. Please subscribe to my youtube channel

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It starts with love. . . Love more to be more . . Stop the wars.

Sources:

Hermon, Dan, “What is Butoh Dance?” Butoh Net.< http://www.butoh.net/define.html >.

Butoh Net. “Online Essay and Definitions of Butoh Dance. http://www.butoh.net/definitions.html