Tsujikaze Butoh Performance

Tsujikaze translated as dust-devil or whirlwind is the latest Butoh offering by Butoh dancer Xue. The bucolic performance will be accompanied by live instrumentals and sonic improvisations by Derrick Tay, Co-Founder of SAINOUSPACE, conjuring a forested world of soft breezes and dancing leaves.

Using the dust-devil as personification of the ‘empty-body’ state in butoh, Tsujikaze is given form through the corralling of dust and loose matter from the forest floor, stirred by the vibrations of singing bowls and deep vocalizations. Derrick’s music breathes life into Xue’s Butoh and maps the edges of a secret world shared by the two performers as they engage in a soft duality of sound and movement. The music element in Tsujikaze is an integral part of the performance, enhancing the sensory experience of the audience and supporting the narrative of the Butoh dance. The live instrumentals and sonic improvisations by Derrick Tay create a unique soundscape that transports the audience to a forested world of soft breezes and dancing leaves.

Through the use of singing bowls and deep vocalizations, the music becomes a vehicle for creating and sustaining an immersive atmosphere. The vibrations of the singing bowls complement the movements of Xue's Butoh dance, evoking a sense of harmony between the two performers. The music element in Tsujikaze also serves to personify the 'empty-body' state in butoh. The sounds and rhythms of the sonic improvisations and live instrumentals conjure the image of a dust-devil or whirlwind, as if the music is breathing life into the performance and animating the inanimate.

Accompanying the performance will be an artist talk between the two performers where they talk about their collaborative process and some of the textures, imagery and thematics behind the work.

Xue will also be conducting a 2 day workshop on the 28 and 29 of April that focuses on some of the wind and woodland imagery explored/ discovered in their development of the work. Some additional techniques introduced in the class will be about using breath to shape the body and maintaining one’s axis of rotation while picking up on subtle fluctuations within the environment.