Lady Omega

So, yesterday we went to see the 60-year-old Butoh master Tadashi Endo, performing here at the local theater.

TADASHI ENDO developed his very special dance-style, which appears like a walk on the tightrope between eastern and western culture and between the arts Theatre, Performance and Dance. He calls it Butoh-MA.

MA in Zen-Buddhism means emptyness as well as spaces betweens the things. Tadashi Endo visualizes these spaces in their very fine changes. The moments, when one figure changes to the next or one image changes to the next, with nearly invisible movements and a very strong tension, are more important to him than the representation of the figure or the image. This tension, which he radiates with utmost concentration and perfect posture, transforms his dance to a representation of still movement. His body rests, although he dances. He is not dancing - he is danced.

The performance we saw was called “One-Nine-Four-Seven”. It was absolutely magnificent, the lighting was also directed by Tadashi Endo, the music pieces he used were from Osamu Goto, Kronos-Quartett and Tschaikowski. And of course, it ended too soon and we wanted to see more…

I felt it was unsuitable to take pix or film, so, i didn’t do it. Some people, though, did. The audience was not cool and not very appreciating, since the show was for free.

Anyway, i will post the video of Kazuo Ohno, one of the co-founders of Butoh, who is 101 years old and whom Tadashi Endo met in 1989 and continued collaborating with him since then.