The Flower
At this point, if Butoh were to be defined as a very specific Japanese form or practice made only for Japanese bodies to express their souls, Butoh could be an inaccessible idea. Now, though, when many dancers and non-dancers all over the world try to find their own “Butoh”, the main concern about whether to be or not to be Butoh, seems to me unnecessary. Otherwise only a Japanese inheritor of the original Butoh could be the one to define it and to grant BUTOH labels. But fortunately it is not like that. The opening came at the end of the 80’s from Kazuo and Yoshito Ohno when they offered the term “Butoh” to the world as a universal symbol of the beauty of the inner-self: THE FLOWER. Through this many of us could assume the subtle inspiration to develop our own path, and to create conditions to let our spiritual selves dance without attachments to models, patterns, stereotypes or particular methods. We now have the chance to explore our darkness, ugliness, and craziness as well as their dualities of the light, the beauty and the joyful sides, all through a high level of consciousness.