Events

A solo piece by Yoshito Ohno, premiered in New York in 2007. By 2011, it had been performed in Brazil, Indonesia, Bulgaria, and Singapore. Earlier, in 1998, Yoshito Ohno gave a solo performance at the International Chang Mu International Festival in Korea under the title Kū. Although details of the 1998 Kū are unclear, it is presumed to have been similar in content to The Last Portrait of Dorian Gray. Nevertheless, it suggests that the concept of Kū had already begun to take root within Yoshito Ohno around that time.

While the structure varied depending on the theater, what remained consistent was the incorporation of a short piece choreographed for Yoshito by Tatsumi Hijikata in 1985, and the finale in which Yoshito danced with a puppet modeled after Kazuo Ohno. From the program notes for the Singapore performance, one can sense Yoshito’s determination to pass on what he had inherited from Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikata to the next generation. Before the appearance of the puppet, a video work titled Sehnsucht (2007) by Seiji Tanaka—Yoshito’s student as well as a filmmaker and butoh dancer—was inserted.

The program notes for the New York performance read as follows:

“My piece for this performance is entitled Kuu, or "Emptiness." I decided on Kuu to express my belief that I have been given my life by many people, or rather, by everyone around me. Kuu is the body itself. The idea of emptiness resonates with the themes I explore in my butoh work-non-attachｍent and freedom.”