Butoh: Metamorphic Dance and Global Alchemy

Sondra Fraleigh

Paperback

Both, a refraction of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a protest against Western colonization, Butoh is a form of Japanese dance theater that emerged in the aftermath of World War II. Sondra Fraleigh chronicles the growth of this provocative art form from its mid-century founding under a sign of darkness to its assimilation in the twenty-first century as a poignant performance medium with philosophical and political implications. Employing intellectual and aesthetic perspectives to reveal the origins, major figures, and international development of the dance, Fraleigh documents the range and variety of butoh artists around the world with first-hand knowledge of butoh performances from 1973 to 2008.

(Our founder Wilhemeena is mentioned in this book as well as the famed SOUL CENTRE venue in Titirangi which ran from 2005 - 2017)

Sondra Fraleigh visited Willa and the SOUL CENTRE for many years, running her trainings every summer in the studio!)