Butoh

My next dance project (must be shown in 2 days already).. is in the form of Butoh. Butoh is incredible. Yet very hard for me to explain. This semester I've witnessed a lot of personal weakness and also growth because of this type of dance. Since it's so hard for me to put words to it.. I'll give you an explanation from the internet and I'll show you some pictures to show you kind of the boundaries of what I am asked to do with this project.

Wikipedia's explanation of Butoh =  
Butoh (舞踏, Butō^?) is the collective name for a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement inspired by the Ankoku-Butoh (暗黒舞踏, ankoku butō^?) movement. It typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally performed in white body makeup with slow hyper-controlled motion, with or without an audience. There is no set style, and it may be purely conceptual with no movement at all. Its origins have been attributed to Japanese dance legends Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno.....

"Hiroko Tamano considers modeling for artists to be butoh, in which she poses in 'impossible' positions held for hours, which she calls 'really slow Butoh'. "

-As you can see, it's sort of strange but such a deep, self-finding process that is so personal to each individual that practices this form of dance. So far, Butoh has effected me in such a deep way that during the class... almost every time we had the class, I have experienced such intense emotions. One class this semester, right when the class ended.. I was laying on the floor literally crying my eyes out and was experiencing SUCH strong feelings in ways that I never have experienced before. (If you are interested in a deeper explanation about what I went through... ask me any time. I would be happy to try and explain it in more detail to anyone). But anyway, for this project.. we can go anywhere in the city of Tilburg that we want and our teacher is going to cycle around the city this Wednesday and watch/record/grade our performance. I have already decided my place. I will be in a cemetery here in Tilburg. This performance means a lot to me. It is going to be pretty spiritual for me.

I believe it was 2 years ago on Easter that my Grandmother past away. Her favorite color was yellow. I am kind of tying her into my mind as I will be doing my Butoh performance. I've been scared ever since we recieved this assignment because it's so... different.. so European.. so foreign to me. It's something I probably would have never done in Utah. So honestly, I've put off actually getting out and DOING it until now. Something is finally giving me the strength and courage to let go of that dang fear of just going and doing something new. Cheers to me for stopping myself from being a scaredy cat finally! Wish me luck, I'll let you know how it goes.