Dancing Into Darkness: Butoh, Zen, and Japan

5 stars for Sondra Horton Fraleigh's essays, which she wrote while staying in Japan. Her personal insight and discussions and workshops and performances with masters of this dance philosophy are an essentail read to delve deeper into the subject.

Butoh is a dance 'genre' that, for the most part, is hard to pin down into a digestible definition. Perhaps that is the beauty of it, perhaps the nature of it. Butoh, one could say, evades definition and just 'is'. Fraleigh's book takes this quality account; in the form of diary entries and snapshots of classes and performances, Fraleigh writes from a personal place, describing events and ideas of her own while providing some kind of context for Butoh's background, variability, and poetry. I was particularly interested in her exploration of the way butoh explores/uses the feminine principle. I suggest this book for those who have grown tired of reading purely academic journal articles or textbooks. Fraleigh is a dance scholar and and thus, an academic, but writes this particular book in a way that it is both beautiful and readable. She gives us a good sense of what butoh involves, but also humbly acknowledges her position as someone writing from a Western perspective.

Fraleigh's book is a hidden gem in the search for documentation regarding Butoh. When recently trying to research the subject for a performance art project I found myself confronted with the task of gaining access to this impentratable medium; There is not a lack to discover, just merely a lack to provide."Dancing Into Darkness," acts as both journal to Fraleigh's personal descovery of Butoh and also the relationship that the medium has today (for some of artists) with Zen - which ultimately results in her internal descovery - an experience, that as a reader, is overwhelmingly beautiful on ocassion.The text also acts as a kickoff point in understanding the conceptulization of the movement and gives reference to the facts and exploration of these to a certain point. Chapters are headed by instances of caligraphy and haiku, which perfectly set mood and pace.The only negative criticism that one may have is that in terms of pure research, though this does provide the necessary spiritulaism that one needs in understanding the peice, it lacks the essay like critques that some may desire for their own work. Either way this is a book that should suit all, purerists, intellectuals, newcomers and those seeking the spiritual.

"Dancing into Darkness: Butoh, Zen and Japan" is an excellent resource for Drama and Dance Teachers who are truly trying to understand an art form that they may not be too familiar with. I found particularly useful the author's ability to describe some of the dances she witnessed, the language creates clear and beautiful images in the reader's mind and if read to a class with music in the background or with the students lying down eyes closed it could definitely help their understanding of this unusual style.Maureen Billiau