It was once called the “dance of utter darkness.”
But one local artist who has been a devoted practitioner of Butoh for more than 16 years will tell you about the bright light that encompasses the Butoh way of life.
Maureen Freehill, a longtime South Whidbey resident, is not just a performer of Butoh, but also strives to embrace it in every moment of her daily life.
“The inner life is the motivation of Butoh,” Freehill said.
“It is the practice of leading from inside of yourself, living from your true nature in all ways.”
It is a quote from her teacher, Kazuo Ohno, one of the founding fathers of the Butoh movement with whom she studied for five years in Japan, that sums up Butoh’s power: “Not thinking; only soul,” Ohno said to her time and again.
Butoh evolved in the 1950s out of the turmoil of Japan’s postwar landscape, and the Japanese dancer and choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata was one of its first practitioners.
Later, when newcomer Ohno came to the form, he caught the eye of Hijikata after he created one of his masterpiece works, “La Argentina Sho,” inspired by memories of an Argentine dancer he had seen as a child. The title translates as “Admiring La Argentina,” and the piece was awarded the prestigious Dance Critic’s Circle Award. It is considered Ohno’s masterpiece, as well as Butoh’s.
Ohno, who is now 103, performed well into his 90s. He is one of the most significant Butoh performers of all time, and has performed all over the world, with many students having come to study with him, as Freehill did.
When she speaks of Ohno, it is with a reverence equal to that of a bee, perhaps, for pollen. Ohno, for her, is a life force of nature. He is a teacher who has inspired Freehill so intensely that she may be the only day-to-day practitioner of Butoh in the lineage of Ohno in all of America.
Her eyes tear up when she speaks of him.
“I feel responsible. I’m the only one holding this up. I want to see if I can plant this seed given to me by my teacher, and help it to grow,” she said.
Such an analogy to nature is entirely appropriate for Butoh, which is wholly entwined with the natural world.
That is evident in her daily practice. Freehill has included a series of daily dances on video and daily writings which she posts on her Web site’s blog. These postings demonstrate the dedicated connection to nature that is a necessary element of Butoh.
In an entry for March 20, a video of Freehill dancing near some daffodils on the bluff at Ebey’s Landing is accompanied by this blog entry entitled “Brimming Cup of Sunshine.”
“There were daffodils blooming at the precipice of the bluff, drinking in the sunshine and vast space. My slightly weary body … just melted at the sight. I wanted to open the cup of my own flower on the edge. Without planning it, my new Arizona cowgirl hat became the perfect daffodil cup extension of my body to gather warm and bright nourishment from the sun. Kazuo Ohno would remind us how Butoh costumes and props are like adding parts of the cosmos onto our bodies, and our bodies are costumes for the soul. Sometimes we performers pass our hats to receive support from our fellow humans. This is fine; but the true infinite nourishment and support comes directly from the sky and earth. So it is to these extremely generous patrons of the arts to whom I offer my weary dancing flower in gratitude today.”
Freehill explained that Butoh is not so much a form of dance as is modern, ballet or jazz — all of which she studied along with theater — but an exercise in the continual emergence of one’s true self.
“Like a flower opening, blossoming, never finished,” Freehill said.
“As a practice, it’s always proceeding from within and giving out.”
In this way, Butoh is not only connected to the aspiration to live in full awareness of nature, but also to be a healing agent, to be ever in a state of readiness of giving back to one’s community. In performance, it takes the form of offering oneself to the audience, while in everyday life it asks: Why are you here?
“For me, Butoh allows me to give light, truth, insight, delight, beauty, self-reflection, joy and to show a range of emotions,” Freehill said.
Freehill made it clear that Butoh goes beyond art and performance, and can be a valuable tool in one’s practical life. To that end, she’s not only a daily practitioner and performer of Butoh, but also holds private sessions and group retreats to extend her knowledge and the power of Butoh to others.
In addition to giving performances, Freehill holds group classes with live music, as well as mini-retreats or all-day workshops in a group setting that also include a meal.
She also works with individuals doing “personal work” in Butoh. She related the story of one client who was having great difficulties in his everyday existence, including being overweight and fraught with the inability to maintain healthy relationships in his life. After working with Freehill and incorporating Butoh into his routine, he experienced a transformation.
“Butoh changed his life,” Freehill said.
“He became a completely changed person, and now is happy and healthy in all aspects of his life.”
She spoke of other clients who sought out the practice of Butoh and managed to deal with debilitating issues such as stage fright and tinnitus (a constant ringing in one’s ears) by learning the practice.
Butoh, she said, is for every B-O-D-Y.
“You don’t have to be a certain age or shape,” Freehill said.
“I just teach people how to find their axis through rigorous training for the body. It’s all about finding the fodder for your flower to bloom.”
Freehill has been busy creating a Butoh connection to the world. Visitors to one of her several Web sites may find many things they’ve never seen before.
Daily Butoh dance articles, films and photos to inspire mastery in one’s life and art can be found here. For a year of Butoh Daily Dance films, click here and her personal Web site and performance archive can be found here.
Freehill also created the International Butoh Network Web site, with 550 worldwide Butoh enthusiasts; click here.
Butoh on the island
MomoButoh Dance Company Performance: 7 p.m. Friday, May 7 in Langley (location TBA).
Next class series: Tuesdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m., followed by an optional shared meal, starting April 6. Monthly Butoh Mini-Retreats in Nature: 1 to 6 p.m. Saturdays, April 24, May 22, June 12, July 24, Aug. 21, Sept. 18, Oct. 30, Nov. 13 and Dec. 11; includes shared meal and closing performance.
Private sessions at MomoButoh Studio in Langley or your home are by appointment anytime.
For more information and to get on the MomoButoh events list, e-mail Maureen Freehill at info@maureenfreehill.net or call 206-855-5836.
