Dancing the Elemental Body: Butoh and Body Weather: Interviews with Tanaka Min and Yumi Umiumare

Jonathan Marshall

Abstract


The article below reproduces Tanaka Min’s contemporary reflections on the Japanese avant-garde dance form of butoh, its development and Tanaka’s career, providing an update on the influential 1985 interview conducted by Bonnie Sue Stein which was reproduced in The Drama Review in 1986. His comments provide an important addition to the primary documentation available on both the history of butoh and on Tanaka’s own practice, particularly with respect to the relatively limited English language resources in the field.

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