Butoh Dictionary

In Shadowbody, this is an exercise in bug resonance by finding a real bug to put literally on the body or following it closely.

The process of placing gestures, objects, or actions into new, unexpected contexts, transforming their meaning and perception. In performance, it allows familiar movements or elements to gain fresh, often surprising or absurd significance.

Can function through a mechanism similar to that of puns.

Example recontextualization: An open-handed, shrugging gesture of “I don’t know” is recontextualized into the act of carrying heavy dishes in a restaurant.

Butoh carries an enormous affiliation with the body that is in some way reduced or compromised yet made to dance regardless.

The following are major manifestations of the reduced body: (1) drunk; (2) drugged; (3) sick; (4) sleepy; (5) old; (6) maddened.

Reduction by X is a Subbody term denoting the ability to increase or decrease the intensity of a butoh variable such as timing, flexibility, and size.

A reduction by X implies that a Regeneration by X is also possible.

When an object or system naturally vibrates at a specific frequency in response to an external vibration of the same frequency.

In butoh, it means embracing and embodying any particular qualia or world.

This is a Shadowbody exercise for those who have worked together over a period of time. In a circle, any participant comes in for one or two minutes, and it is the duty of anybody from the surrounding circle to call out a reduction or regeneration of whatever movement tendency the individual keeps coming back to. This is an exercise in noticing habits.

A Subbody term where ones whole body twists into a position and then changes the position into a completely new twisting position.

In Deleuze and Guattari, a rhizome is a non-hierarchical, non-linear network of connections, where any point can connect to any other, resisting fixed structures or central origins.

The concept is heavily associated with Rhizome Lee's Subbody method.

In Subbody, this is a frozen, solid glare that for some may even be terrifying, bringing back the archetype perhaps of the big eye in the sky that judges you or sees your every move.

A Subbody term used to describe a space or stage position of bodies that looks more random or chaotic, and appears to further approach the appearance of nature.

The contrasting term to this is the city park.

A popular exercise in various dance circles. The participants align themselves into a row of rolling logs on the ground. The log at the end of the row is to quickly get up and get to the other end of the row and continue rolling. This repeats.

In Shadowbody, this is a synesthetic tongue exercise where one tastes the space. the visual or even auditory. One stick their tongue out to taste the room. What does the taste provoke in the body? That is the dance.

A rotten eye term where the eyes are dysfunctional and moving in random directions as if it were taken over by bugs. This is a very good example of a nearly completely reduced or deterritorializedeye.

Term coined by Tatsumi Hijikata as a negative resonance with the in-between space, described as infiltrative, decaying, and giving life of its own.

Any transition from point A to point B can fall into rotting ma, where the dance glitches or gets lost. In Tatsumi Hijikata's words: “A hand ends up going for something and never coming back.” (Wind Daruma)

He adds, "[there is] a struggle with invisible matter inside the body."