“A solo by Atsushi Takenouchi, which opened a week of programs at Cave, was something of a surprise. What made the 90 minute event come alive was not so much Mr. Takenouchi’s piece, “Skin: Improvisation No. I,” but the ambient or unplanned effects that accompanied it.
Audiences filing into the theater were greeted by the sight of Mr. Takenouchi, who has performed and taught his own Jinen Butoh style around the world since 1986, miming in very slow motion on the sidewalk. He then proceeded gradually into the space itself, accompanied by a videographer and audience members, one checking her cellphone as she walked. Then came the solo proper, set to delicate percussion music performed live by Hiroko Kamiya and featuring the familiar Butoh twisting torso and reaching, clawlike hands and feet, this time in soft paths of light and blazing green air. There were silent screams and a wagging tongue; frequent, sudden, thudding falls to the ground; and even a pretty spectacular climb up and down over audience bodies. With a murmured “Let’s go outside,” Mr. Takenouchi then drew his audience to the street and took several sets of bows, running nearly nude up the dark, cold street, hand in hand with his musician. But there was also a cat, apparently a tenant of the arts complex, that at one point wandered onto the stage, started in surprise at the sight of the audience and made a hasty retreat. The sound of litter-raking could be heard; then the cat returned to sniff the foot extended its way and once more retreated, to watch idly as Mr.Takenouchi laboriously removed his clothes in a doorway. The next ambient effect came with the drumlike, thudding heels of a toddler in the audience, who drew close to his mother when the tongue wagging started. The skimpy spaces between the rows of seats were responsible for a third, suggestive effect. My leg cramped, and the pain was nearly a relief: something pure, primitive and concentrated. Butoh was once like that too.”
– Jennifer Dunning, “Brooklyn Butoh, With Surpirse Guest Stars”, The New York Times, 2007
