A Summer Storm: Butoh of Dark Spirit School(2003)

A Summer Storm: Butoh of Dark Spirit School Synopsis

Ankoku Butoh is a style of avant-garde dance that established itself in the counter culture experimental arts scene of post WWII Japan. The dance form is thought to have been founded by Tatsumi Hijikata, who both created and performed in butoh pieces from the late 1950’s - through the early 1970’s. In butoh, the style of movement is extremely stylized and deliberate, vacillating between slow and sharp, expressing feelings of dread, sexualization, violence, calmness, birth and “creatureness” among other things. This performance of Summer Storm was originally recorded in 1973 at Westside Auditorium, Kyoto University, Japan, and was Hijikata’s last public performance before his death in 1986 with Butoh of Dark Spirit School. Video version produced in 2003.

A Summer Storm: Butoh of Dark Spirit School (2003) is a documentary film directed by Misao Arai, released on January 1, 2003 with a runtime of 1h 11m. It stars Tatsumi Hijikata, Yoko Ashikawa, Kobayashi Saga and Nimura Momoko.