The expression of Christian faith through Butoh dance

April 12, 2025

Conference 11

Butoh dance theater was born in Japan in 1959 by Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno. The creation was a result of their influence from within the Japanese Fluxus artistic scene as well as a desire to create a new dance expanding the idea of what dance could entail.

Tatsumi Hijikata felt a strong pull to resonate in the body with the world of suffering, the underclass, common laborer, marginalized, and physically sick segments of society. Kazuo Ohno, whose Christian faith generally remained a private matter, brought to Butoh a poetic, ethereal, and spiritual quality informed by his experiences of loss and grace.

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This seminar will focus on the expression of Christian faith through this art, particularly the “descent into the depths” called “khenosis” for Christ, and the journey of Light through these depths, leading to the Resurrection.

We wanted to place it just before Holy Week and Easter, as the significance of this art is particularly linked to them.

For this seminar, we welcome Marilyn GREEN, Butoh choreographer at Trinity Church in New York, and Adam KOAN, Butoh dancer and choreographer, creator of the Theokinesis method.

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Program : https://cid-ds.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/S33-Agenda.pdf