The women in white

The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre’s second annual Performative Art Festival draws to a close this weekend with the eighth edition of the International Butoh Festival Thailand.
Organised by the Butoh Co-op Thailand and B-Floor Theatre on the theme “Butoh Women” – “Butoh Tua Mae” in Thai – it got underway this past weekend with workshops by Thai, Japanese and Hong Kong artists in BACC’s black-box theatre.
“Except for the first few editions, B-Floor has been part of this festival as the organiser, while Butoh Co-op’s founder Terry Hatfield has been working as the programming director from the start in 2005,” says Teerawat “Ka-ge” Mulvilai, B-Floor’s artistic director.
“This small-scale festival is quite unique as it has a very specific focus. It’s an opportunity for artists, local and international, to share through workshops and performances. Because of this narrow scope, we’ve drawn audiences and workshop participants who we’ve never seen at other festivals or performances. A strength of this festival is that there are always international participating artists, some here for the first time and others returning with new works.”
Ka-ge, though, is slightly disappointed at the slow rate of development of this art form since its introduction here by Japanese master Katsura Kan in late 1990s.
“In terms of both artists and audiences, growth has been very slow. Some may think that the art form is strictly Japanese but in fact it has developed farther than that. For example, this past year, I’ve only see two local works that have made extensive use of Butoh: Bo Kittiphon’s ‘Whispers of the Shadow of the Shadow of the Quivering Leaf’ was one and B-Floor’s ‘Sandan Ka’ [a multi-award winner at last month’s Bangkok Theatre Festival] was the other.
“Local audiences often complain it’s difficult for them to understand Butoh which they find more abstract than other dance forms. I notice that, in Europe especially, Butoh has been blended with contemporary dance and some of the artists who practise Butoh there do not call themselves Butoh dancers. The concept and philosophy behind Butoh is very contemporary anyway. While some masters continue to perform Butoh the way it was originally designed, it may be difficult for the audience to understand it – perhaps they find it too Japanese.
Ka-ge hopes that the upcoming festival will change that perception.
“A way for Butoh to develop here is for the new generation of artists to think of how to mix it with other performance forms. They should perhaps also learn more about Butoh and then find the content they feel strongly about. As for the audience, those who do not like the rigidity of the choreography in other dance forms may enjoy Butoh, which is stripped of choreography.”
Performances this weekend, which offer evidence of different sub-styles of contemporary Butoh, are divided into two programmes. The first, on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon, features “Jump Jump Jump”, a collaboration between Japan’s Yuko Kawamoto, South Korea’s Natalie K Kim, Malaysia’s Yeow Lai Chee and Hong Kong’s Vinci Mok, as well as “Womanities”, a premiere by B-Floor member Sasapin Siriwanij.
“I think that being a woman is like an amenity that helps make things more convenient. I don’t look at womanhood in terms of gender or as
 opposed to manhood. And so in this work, the female body is like a container of all these qualities. I’ve been in Butoh workshops by Bo Kittiphon and [B-Floor colleague] Sarut Komalittipong who’ve been trained in different styles, and now I’m choosing which of their elements best suit my work,” Sasapin says.
Ka-ge has also been forced to change the schedule, as French artist Sylvie Bruzeau, who was to give a workshop and perform, has suffered an injury. She’s being replaced by Japanese artist Yuko Kaseki.
Thus, the second performance programme, on Saturday and Sunday evenings, now consists of Kaseki’s solo “Unspelled” and Bo Kittiphon’s “Whispers of the Shadow of the Shadow of the Quivering Leaf”.
In addition to performances, the festival will also feature an exhibition of photographs, videos and installations inspired by the art of Butoh. These are works by Ka-ge himself as well as Tawit Keitprapai, Nithiwat Cholvanit, Stephen Funke and Boaz Zippor.

BOOK NOW
Butoh Women: The Eighth International Butoh Festival Thailand continues this weekend at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre’s fourth-floor studio.
Performances are Friday (Programme A) and Saturday (Programme B) at 7pm and Sunday at (A) 3pm and (B) 7pm. Tickets are Bt600 (Bt400 for students).
For bookings, call (085) 160 1677. For more details, check out Facebook.com/TheInternational|ButohFestivalThailand or e-mail [email protected].