Abbotsford Convent

ButohOUT! Festival 'Forbidden Laughter'
March — May 2019

The ‘ButohOUT!’ festival celebrates creative communities in Victoria and beyond through the profound performance art medium of Butoh. Originally called Dance of Darkness, Butoh was conceived in Japan in the late 1950s and early 1960s, during the social turmoil after the Second World War. Butoh goes beyond the confines of specific cultures and aims for universal expression that touches the soul of humanity. It crosses the boundaries between dance and theatre, creating unique expressions between body and landscape. 

Co-produced by Japanese-Australian artists Yumi Umiumare and Takashi Takiguchi, ‘ButohOUT!’ 2019 will challenge the commonly held conception of Butoh as dark and grotesque, and will ask: “Can the audience laugh at Butoh? Can we do comedy in Butoh?” The theme for the 2019 festival is ‘Forbidden Laughter’. ButohOUT! 2019 will focus on surreal comedy from multi-disciplinary performance mediums including Butoh, Cabaret, Bouffon, Burlesque, Physical Theatre and visual installations.

“The action of laughing is like the breaking of the stiff mask of ego. When we laugh, the authentic spirit jumps out from deep inside from us” — Keiichi Ueno

Following successful festivals in 2017 and 2018, this two-month program of public workshops, performance and discussion groups will run between March and May 2019, presented in partnership with the Abbotsford Convent Foundation.  Open to experienced dancers, newcomers and children and families, the ‘ButohOUT!’ programs present an exciting opportunity for audiences to learn from expert practitioners and experience this unique performing arts medium. Workshop participants will be mentored by the artists, with the option to present original solo and group works at the Convent during the public performance season in May. Children and families are also invited to explore Butoh through playful games like peek-a-boo and hide and seek, in a special free workshop with Yumi.

Artistic director: Yumi Umiumare
Producer: Takashi Takiguchi
Dramaturg: Maude Davey
Visual artist: Pimpisa Tinpalit

ButohOUT! Festival 2019 'Forbidden Laughter' Programs:

Convent Kids presents: Peek-A-Butoh
Saturday 23 March 2019, 10am – 10.45am and 11am – 11.45am

Weekly Butoh Workshop by Yumi Umiumare 
Every Tuesday from 12 March to 16 April, 6–9pm

Weekend Butoh Workshop: Breaking the Dark Mask Butoh, Theatre and Mask making
Friday 29 March, 6pm – 9pm
Saturday 30 March, 10am – 5pm
Sunday 31 March, 10am – 5pm

Weekend Intensive Butoh Workshop by Yumi Umiumare
Friday 5 April, 6pm – 9pm
Saturday 6 April, 10am – 5pm
Sunday 7 April, 10am – 5pm

Performance Season
Thursday 2 May – Sunday 12 May 2019
Further details available soon.

About Butoh

Butoh, originally called ‘Dance of Darkness’ was conceived in late 1950’s Japan, during the social turmoil after the Second World War. Butoh goes beyond the confines of specific cultures and aims for universal expression that touches the soul of humanity. It crosses the boundaries between dance and theatre, creating unique expressions between body and landscape. 

"In Butoh, dance is connected to the forces that come from the centre of the earth and simply pass through the body. The dancer is not doing movement; the movement is coming through them.” – Akaji Maro (DaiRakudakan)

‘ButohOUT!’ will seek Australian Butoh aesthetics, to evoke art, beauty, and darkness, through the exploration of the Australian landscape using this distinctive art form.

Yumi Umiumare Born in Hyogo, Japan, Yumi is the only Japanese Butoh Dancer in Australia and the creator of original Butoh Cabaret works. Originally a member of the seminal Butoh Company DaiRakudakan in Tokyo, she came to Australia to perform at the Melbourne International Festival in 1991.Yumi has been creating and teaching her distinctive style of works over the last 20 years and her works have received critical acclaim and garnered her and her collaborators several Australian Green Room awards. Yumi’s works are renowned for provoking visceral emotions, cultural identities with humour and they have been seen in numerous festivals in dance, theatre and film productions throughout Australia, Japan, East and West Europe, New Zealand and South East Asia. Through her diverse skills and unique aesthetics as a choreographer, she has also extensively worked in socially engaged theatre productions with aboriginal communities, culturally diverse communities and ESL groups, women from the sex industry and also people who has recovered from gambling addictions. Yumi is a recipient of the fellowship from Australian Council (2015-16) for her PopUp Tearoom Series, and the recent winner of the Green Room Awards of Geoffrey Milne Memorial Award for her contribution to Contemporary and Experimental Performance.

Takashi Takiguchi Originally from Japan, Takashi is a Melbourne-based dancer and producer who started his career at the age of thirty seven after encountering renowned Butoh performance artist, Yumi Umiumare.Since then, he has performed as a dancer at numerous festivals in Indonesia, India, Japan, Malaysia and Melbourne.  He has been working as a qualified social worker for decades and re-discovered the power of arts as a medium to re-connect to inevitable and fundamental consciousness through artistic practices and activities. This has led him to work with Sampang Agung Centre for Performing Arts (SACPA) in East Java, Indonesia as an operational manager since 2016. He has been working as a crucial role as producer, bringing Japanese Butoh masters to Melbourne, including Seisaku and Yuri Nagaoka (2015) and Kan Katsura (2016). Recently Takashi co-produced performing arts festivals, ‘Pelem Festival’ (2016) in Indonesia, ‘Evocation of Butoh’ (2017) and ‘ButohOUT!’ (2018) in Melbourne. He has been also an artistic and operational collaborator of Melaka Art & Performance (MAP) Festival since 2015.

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To discuss arts and cultural programming and partnership opportunities, contact the ACF’s Producer, Chloe Weavers.

Butoh Out 2019 is supported by Creative Victoria, WEAVE Movement Theatre, ImPermanence Productions and Auspicious Arts Projects Inc. The festival is presented in partnership with Abbotsford Convent Foundation.

Peek-A-Butoh is proudly supported by City of Yarra as part of the Abbotsford Convent’s Convent Kids program.