BUTOH TRAINING FOR ACTORS
Our Butoh training is aimed at developing presence in actors, other performers, martial artists, or anyone with an interest in Butoh.
The exercises in our workshops are designed to increase sensory, physical, and psychological awareness, improve psycho-physical discipline, and enhance your ability to distribute and project energy, all essential elements in the development of presence.
Workshops can be conducted in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, throughout Australia or internationally, by request.
WHAT IS BUTOH?
Ankoku Butoh or Butoh, as it is more commonly known, is a Japanese body-mind performance discipline designed to develop presence in its practitioners.
It was created by dancer Tatsumi Hijikata (1928–1986), alongside fellow dancer Kazuo Ohno (1906–2010), in the late 1950s.
‘Ankoku Butoh’ can be broken down into two parts; ‘Ankoku’ (‘Utter Blackness/Darkness’) and ‘Butoh’ (‘Dance Step’). The general English translation for ‘Ankoku Butoh’ is ‘Dance of Darkness’.
The practice of Ankoku Butoh involves a psycho-physical search in which a practitioner metaphorically enters a dark maze and remains lost until they are able to discover the exit – to presence.
Over time, the term ‘Ankoku Butoh’ has been replaced with ‘Butoh’.
FORM VS FORMLESS
Although the terms ‘Ankoku Butoh’ and ‘Butoh’ are interchangeable, there are two distinct approaches to the practice.
Tatsumi Hijikata was opposed to improvisation and instead focused on the use of formulated movements and imagery compiled in his notational system of Butoh-fu. Kazuo Ohno, on the other hand, believed that movement should be spontaneous, with no inhibiting forms.
Those inspired by Ohno’s teachings maintain that spontaneous, unstructured movement is the most effective way to develop presence, while those who follow Hijikata’s training philosophy, contend that a combination of arranged movements and imagery is the only path to presence.
The focus on form vs attention to formlessness, defines the difference between Hijikata’s Ankoku Butoh and Ohno’s Butoh.
Our training adopts a hybrid approach of ‘choreo-impro’, that encourages improvisation within a choregraphed pattern of movements.
ABOUT DWAYNE LAWLER
Dwayne Lawler is an actor, martial artist, Butoh specialist and the founder of Shinbutoh.
He trained in Butoh in Japan under the following teachers: Yoshito Ohno (son of Kazuo Ohno), Yukio Waguri, Saga Kobayashi, Kayo Mikami, Natsu Nakajima, Seisaku & Yuri Nagaoka [Dance Medium], Kae Ishimoto, Yuko Kawamoto, and Akaji Maro’s Dairakudakan.
He was the artistic director of Japan-based Rising Sun Theatre and the co-founder and director of the Tokyo Fringe Festival. Acting credits include Macbeth (New National Theatre, Tokyo), Tokyo Vampire (Riant Theatre, New York) and the feature film The Vancouver Asahi.
He holds a third-degree black belt in Shotokai karate, is a master-teacher of the traditional Japanese energy practice of Komyo Reikido, and a practitioner of the stage-sword combat art of Tate-do.
Dwayne has a PhD specialising in the use of Butoh to develop presence in actors and has taught Butoh training techniques to actors and other performers at various institutions, including Sydney Acting Studio, Griffith University, and as a guest lecturer at NIDA.
