Stephanie Wu 18Core Japan 167C Prof. CalamoneriButoh Response PaperButoh is a Japanese dance form that was initiated by Hijikata Tatsumi. It is a very peculiar dance form that explores the boundaries of human perception and experience through extreme exhaustion and executing specific postures through which the dancer is separated from the body and becomes the object he/she tries to embody. Initially, I found the concept of Butoh hard to understand and relate to, and I found it very otherworldly. Through the Butoh master class however, I gained first-hand insight into what Butoh training is like, and what some Butoh concepts, such as becoming, all or nothing, complete passiveness and birds eye view mean, which increased my appreciation for the art form. We first started the master class with a series of exercises that were meant to put us through physical exhaustionan important element of Butoh training. The key idea of training is to reach our physical limits and separate ourselves from the body. We had to be conscious of [our] physiological senses and objectify [our] bodies (Kurihara, 16), in order to then reconstruct our bodies as material things or concepts. By putting ourselves through continuous physical exercises we experienced what its like to move around without consciousness, as if our bodies are being moved by external sources. This concept was further emphasized as we went onto the next activity, by which we had to move across the room slowly, while imagining ourselves being constrained by multiple things such as being pulled both forwards and backwards by a wire, having a parachute behind us and holding two heavy water buckets. While doing this, I understood more of the concept that one had to be it, not merely imagine it (Kurihara, 16)and that there is a deep connection in Butoh between movement, breath and the atmosphere that we have to be deeply aware of, while trying to immerse ourselves into the experience.Lastly, we also did an activity where we had to envision ourselves as falling buildings, growing flowers or beasts, and try to embody these objects and concepts. This activity emphasized on the fact that for Hijikata, the body is a metaphor for words, and words are a metaphor for the body (Kurihara, 16). Separating our own senses of self to embody another character solidified my understanding of the concepts becoming and all or nothing, and overall, I enjoyed the master class a lot as it helped me understand the art of Butoh through actual experience. Works Cited:Kurihara, Nanako. "Hijikata Tatsumi: The Words of Butoh." TDR: The Drama Review 44.1 (2000): 10-28.