Hybrid Butoh Vienna Art Festival with a World Star of Butoh
The first hybrid "Butoh Vienna Art Festival" from December 1 to 11 can boast a world star of Butoh. The festival, organized by Austrian-based Brazilian and top-class Butoh performer Will Lopes, from December 1 to 11, will bring Atsushi Takenouchi to Vienna. The 60-year-old Japanese is one of the most distinguished artists of this special form of dance theater, which does without a fixed form.
One of the participants of the festival is Taiwanese artist Hu Chia, producer of the Taiwan Butoh Festival. / Picture: © Te-Fan Wang
Butoh is a type of dance theater developed in Japan that does not require a fixed form. It emerged in the late 1960s as a "dance of revolt" against the Americanization of Japanese culture, which at the same time rebelled against the rigid codification of classical Japanese dance. The alienated, alienated bodies of the performers are made up of white and are often almost naked. A Butoh performance captivates above all with its enormous intensity and physicality, which probably leaves no one in the audience cold.
The festival will take place at various locations in Vienna, offering online meetings, street performances, jam sessions, exhibitions, sound installations, workshops and lots of Butoh dance. With Takenouchi, more than 70 artists from 16 countries will come to Vienna. They represent numerous variations of expressions and styles of Butoh dance.
The general theme chosen by Takenouchi, the arch, so to speak, that will span from December 1 to 11, is "EMBRACE and TRANSFORM", which will be developed and unfolded at all levels. Participants and spectators are invited to approach what is offered with open arms. To listen, to feel, to accept, to be together, to change, to experience transcending manifestations that meet the standards of being and expression.
The "Homebase" for the festival is the cultural center "LOT" in the old Ankerbrot factory in Vienna-Favoriten. Tickets are also available there, a festival pass for all events costs 180 euros (students: 150), one-way tickets are available for 25 euros.
All details about the events are available online here - https://www.viennabutohfest.com